RRM3 Strengthening Community Radios Phase 3
Project Activities
This third phase of the Strengthening Community Radios project aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of the network of regional community radios.
The network plays a vital role in disseminating information on human rights throughout North Africa. This phase will build the capacities of the network to consolidate its position as a key regional media actor. It will also strengthen the advocacy, leadership and mentoring skills of the network’s founding members, to ensure the network is structured around transparent governance, shared objectives, and joint activities around media programming.
Key Events Timeline
- February 2025: Training of trainers on using AI in journalism
- February – June 2025: Mentoring of members of the network and support to produce radio emissions using AI technology
- April 2025: International exchange visit – participation in the Assises de Journalisme in Marseille and peer2peer exchanges with other international community radios
- May 2025: Regional meeting of network in Tunisia
Donors
- NED
Partners
- Association Initiatives Citoyenneté (AIC)
Mahalla - Strengthening the Media Community in Uzbekistan
Project Activities
The project supports regional independent media outlets across all regions of Uzbekistan in becoming strong actors in democratization.
The project will work to strengthen the capacities of local media to provide quality content to their audiences whilst increasing citizens’ demand for objective, fact-based and reliable information in local communities via media literacy tools. We will also strengthen the resistance of vulnerable youth to online hate speech, gender issues and propaganda through the educational game platform “QLEVER”.
Among the main objectives of the project is to further the development of a viable and sustainable Uzbek fact-checking community across the country involved in trainings, events, fact-checking and related activities. Training and media tours for journalists and bloggers on social and environmental topics will enhance their skills, foster connections with civil society, and amplify coverage of these key issues.
Milestones
- Three Media Hackathons organized for local media outlets to increase networking, intersectoral collaboration and to develop fundraising capacity.
- Follow up small grants and long-term mentorship are available for media to strengthen their organizational capacity, improve content and increase their audiences.
- Three media tours on social and environmental issues for local and international journalists
- Developing a fact-checking methodology and strengthening the capacity of the fact-checking editorial team
- Three Fact-Checking ToTs for 36 local journalists from the 12 regions of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan Republic organized
- Trained journalists organize a series of 72 events and discussions for journalists, bloggers, students, etc. from their regions on the importance of fact-checking, promoting the program’s tools
- A Factcheck Accelerator, a three-day intensive training workshop focused on fact-checking.
- 16 new educational games for the QLEVER platform
Donors
- US Department of State Bureau of Democracy
- Human Rights
- Labor (DRL)
Partners
- Modern Journalism Development Center – MJDC
Pride ++ (phase 3)
Promoting Rights Inclusiveness Dignity and Equality for LGBTI in Albania and Kosovo (Phase 3)
Project Activities
PRIDE II builds and expands on the results of the EU-funded PRIDE I project (Feb 2018 – Feb 2020) and PRIDE II (2020-2023).
The project aims to empower LGBTI organisations and develop a stronger network of organisations and activists in order to support a maximum of LGBTI individuals and improve the visibility and acceptance of the LGBTI community in Albania and Kosovo.
The capacity building activities should result in stronger LGBTI organisations and CSOs with increased advocacy skills, resources and efficiency to develop and implement cohesive and sustainable projects aimed at improving services and acceptance and visibility of the LGBTI community members in Consequently, the LGBTI community and individuals will feel better supported and more inclined to reach out to basic services.
In the longer term, this will help develop a stronger and more diverse Albanian society which will ensure that the rights of their minorities are better protected.
Project Launch
- PRIDE campaigns
- Psychological support and anti-burnout support to activists
- Retreats to LGBTI organisations
- Queercubator program (Social entrepreneurship incubation program for professional reintegration to community members)
- 1 to 1 mentoring and capacity building for CSOs
- A range of services (psychological, legal and reintegration) offered to community members through Aleanca center and Streha shelter
- Stratigic litigation on same sex marriage within the advocacy work
Donors
- European Union (EIDHR)
- Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
Partners
- Aleanca
- Streha Shelter
- CEL Kosova
QLEVER+ a Special Game for Youth Critical Thoughts
QLEVER+ : Empowering Marginalized Youth in Central Asia to Resist Hate Speech and Propaganda through Educational Gaming
Project Activities
The QLEVER+ project aims to promote critical thinking and to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable youth in Central Asia to misinformation, propaganda, violent radicalism and hate speech online, as well as strengthen the capacities of the local media to provide quality content to their audiences.
Central to this goal is the QLEVER online platform, which offers interactive educational games that engage young people through a reward-based system. The aim of this incentive system is to attract young marginalised people who might not otherwise engage with educational material, enabling them to access content in an engaging and entertaining way. Through this variety of games, key themes are explored such as propaganda, hate speech, corruption, image manipulation, as well as misinformation and misconceptions on subjects such as gender equality and medicine. The aim is to build resilience to online hate messages and extremist propaganda, while developing critical thinking and media and information literacy skills.
In parallel, the project supports independent media and civil society initiatives focused on media literacy and combating disinformation through a series of subgranting efforts.
Key Events
- 2 regional fact-checking networking and capacity building events for journalists and media
- Follow up grants and long-term mentorship are available for media to carry out project focused on media literacy and combating disinformation
- 2 regional MIL Camps gathering teachers, youth and youth focused CSOs representatives
- Follow up small grants and long-term mentorship are available for camp alumni to carry out project focused on media literacy and combating disinformation
- 10 new educational games for the QLEVER platform
Donors
- US Department of State Bureau of Democracy
- Human Rights
- Labor (DRL)
Partners
- Medianet
- Gurdofarid
- MediaSabak
QLEVER+ app photo
SIMR - Supporting Independent Media and Reliable Information in Moldova
Project Activities
Supporting Independent Media and Reliable Information in Moldova (SIMR) is a 24-months project designed to consolidate the proficiency of independent Moldovan journalists and media’s sustainable business models. Through delivering tailored capacity building trainings on fact-checking and investigative reporting, the project team aims at increasing the production of quality content countering disinformation.
SIMR targets Moldovan independent media workers and journalists (bloggers and fact-checkers), independent media support organisations or individuals, business and entrepreneurs, having in mind the final beneficiary – the Moldovan population and society at large.
Key Events
- One hands-on training program for investigative journalists from regional and small media outlets
- Grants to produce investigative stories addressing key issues of public interest
- One Mediathon aimed at fostering collaborative projects between journalists and civil society activists, with follow-up grants for project implementation
- Small capacity building grants to enhance the digitalization and digital security of media outlets, along with support for legal aid, psychological assistance, and team-building activities
- A series of trainings and consultations on diversifying media monetization strategies
Donors
- Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova
Partners
- CU SENS
C.A.R.E. - Central Asia Resilience & Empowerment for Media
C.A.R.E. is the Central Asia component of the Brave Media project, co-funded by the European Commission, a global initiative to enhance the resilience of independent, public interest media in 20 countries, through innovative, locally-led solutions.
Launched in October 2024, the three-year project is led by BBC Media Action in partnership with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), Equal Rights and Independent Media (ERIM), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Fondation Hirondelle, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Samir Kassir Foundation, SembraMedia, and the World Association of News Publishers WAN-IFRA.
Project Activities
The project aims to strengthen Central Asia’s media ecosystems, making them more resilient in defending democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. It also seeks to combat misinformation and disinformation in the face of restrictive laws, political pressure, and regional instability.
The project will be focusing on:
- Strengthening the capacities and resilience of independent media and supporting journalists and media outlets as credible sources of information.
- Enhancing understanding of Kyrgyz and Kazak legal requirements, rights, and obligations while promoting quality content and financial sustainability.
- Empower civil society to advocate for digital rights, media freedom, and democratic values through the organisation of an AI Lab for regional independent media and 2 annual conferences.
Key Events Timeline
- Spring 2025 and 2026 : Annual conferences about digital rights and applied solutions to identify and counter mis/disinformation online in Kazakhstan
- Summer 2025 : Deman-led grants for independent media
Donors
- European Commission (EC)
MIIM - Market Innovation for Independent Media in Lebanon
Project Activities
ERIM collaborates with The Samir Kassir Foundation to strengthen the long-term financial sustainability of independent media in Lebanon.
ERIM’s innovation, first introduced in Central and Eastern Europe, is to open an independent advertising/marketing agency that secures marketing revenue exclusively for independent media.
ERIM and SKF founded the Agency for Equality (AE) in 2022 In the framework of the MIIM project and now accompany the agency’s development to support more independent media in the region.
Agency for Equality identifies and secures clients willing to advertise in independent media or who needs the agency or independent media competences to provide marketing services (such as content creation or community management). The agency combines clients’ payments with donor funding as an incentive for them to invest in independent media in the first place.
Since its creation in 2022, Agency for Equality channelled more than 100 000USD to 10 independent medias in Lebanon, Jordan and Tunisia.
Donors
- US Bureau of Democracy Human Rights Labor (DRL)
Partners
- Coordinated by The Samir Kassir Foundation (SKF)
- Led in partnership with ERIM and Agency for Equality
Agency For Equality logo
JAMIL.Net - Jeunesse Active, Médias Inclusifs et Littératie Numérique
Overview
JAMIL.Net stands for Active Youth, Inclusive Media and Digital Media Literacy and aims to help young Tunisians better engage in society by giving them the skills and tools to become active participants in their local communities.
JAMIL.Net particularly engages with young people in the interior and poorer governorates through a program of Media and Information Literacy (MIL), access to employment in the field of Media and Information, and support to local community media.
Our project targets 5 governorates Kasserine, Beja, Gafsa, Kebili, Gabes ; and provides the infrastructure needed by building a network of MIL centres in local communities that will facilitate access to employment for the most vulnerable youth. It will also strengthen the local community radios, including their financial sustainability, increasing their capacity to engage with youth via targeted MIL and youth-focused productions that cover important social and human rights issues.
TimeLine
- October 2018: Project launch
- July 2019: First Training of Trainers
- November 2020: Launching of the MIL centers
- May 2021: Hackathon for youth
- August 2021: Advertisement platform for community media
- February 2024: Partnership agreement with the Ministry of Youth in Tunisia.
- May 2024: Regional training of Trainers in Sousse (Tunisia)
- May 2025: Closing ceremony
- June 2025: End of the project
Donors
- AFD
- EIPP
- Fondation de de France
- Fondation Drosos
- DRL
- NED
Partners
- L’Association tunisienne des médias alternatifs (ATMA)
- Tunisian Forum for Youth Empowerment – TFYE
- Dancers Citizens South – DCS
- Hayouna, Association Afaak
- Forum des Jeunes pour la Culture et la Citoyenneté (FJCC)
- Association Renouvellement et Appartenance (ARA)
Photo: Training session for Trainers - Sousse may 2024
SaMMa - the voice/s of equality
The project “SaMMa – the voice/s of equality” aims to promote a culture of equality and combat gender-based violence in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. It operates by providing support to local CSOs involved in preventing violence and protecting and assisting women and girls, survivors of GBV. Additionally, the project collaborates with the media to address gender stereotypes that contribute to inequality and violence.
Led by a coalition of civil society organizations from the region in partnership with ERIM, the project supports young feminist organisations, especially young and recently established ones, as well as alternative and independent media.
The project’s actions target primarily youth in the three countries, employing innovative approaches that combine online communication and campaigning, capacity building training and activities for local CSOs. Lastly, SaMMa relies on the expertise of partner organizations that engage in collaboration and dialogue with national and local authorities to bring changes in legal frameworks, practices, and attitudes.”
Donors
- The French Development Agency
Mahalla - Strengthening the Media Community in Uzbekistan
This programme is aimed at supporting regional independent media outlets across all regions of Uzbekistan to become strong actors of democratization. The program will work to strengthen the capacities of the local media to provide quality content to their audiences whilst increasing citizens’ demand for objective, fact-based and reliable information in local communities via media literacy tools. Among the main objectives of the program is the development of a viable and sustainable Uzbek fact-checking community across the country involved in trainings, events, fact-checking contributions, etc. We will also strengthen the resistance of vulnerable youth to online hate speech and extremist propaganda through the educational game platform “QLEVER”.
Milestones
- Two Media Hackathons organized for local media outlets to increase networking, intersectoral collaboration and to develop fundraising capacity (March 2023 and 2024)
- Follow up small grants and long-term mentorship are available for media to strengthen their organizational capacity, improve content and increase their audiences (from April 2023)
- Factcheck methodology developed based on Uzbekistani context and factcheck website is created (December 2022 – April 2023)
- Three Fact-Checking ToTs for 36 local journalists from the 12 regions of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan Republic organized (February 2023)
- Trained journalists organize a series of 72 events and discussions for journalists, bloggers, students, etc. from their regions on the importance of fact-checking, promoting the program’s tools (from April 2023)
- Media tour for the most active contributors to the factchecknet.uz to Kazakhstan (May 2023)
- Uzbek factchecking community is further expanded through awareness raising events among key stakeholders (from April 2023)
- 6 new educational games for the QLEVER platform based on factcheck developed (October 2022 – December 2023)
Project Activities
- Community Radio Experience Exchange (Leadership)
- On-the-Job Mentorship (Management/Leadership)
- Training- Audience Research for Enhanced Radio Content and Income Generation
- Training- Radio Program Production/Adobe Audition
- Training- Radio Program Production/Adobe Audition for Women Journalists
- Experience Exchange- Radio Program Production around Gender/GBV
- On-the-Job Mentorship- Journalism & Radio Program Production
- Community Radio Experience Exchange- Digital Tools for Community Engagement
- Community Radio Experience Exchange- Preventative Equipment Maintenance
- On-the-Job Mentorship- Digital Tools, Social Media for Community Engagement and Journalism
Donors
Special thanks to our donors:
- US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)
Partners
Special thanks to our partners:
- Modern Journalism Development Center – MJDC