Call for Applications: Rural Media Support Programme (Pakistan)

Donor Name: Pakistan Press Foundation

Category: Events

Publish Date: 03-Sept-2024 12:00 am

Deadline Date: 15-Sept-2024 12:00 am

Country: Pakistan

Are you an independent media outlet based in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, or South Punjab? Pakistan Press Foundation invites you to apply for a unique two-year programme designed to strengthen your internal capacities, enhance your content production, and foster joint advocacy and collaboration with fellow rural media outlets.

Benefits

By participating in this programme, media outlets will be able to:

• Strengthen their internal capacities to operate in a safer, more inclusive, and resilient manner.
• Elevate their content production skills and amplify the representation of rural voices in media.
• Connect with fellow independent rural media outlets for cross-regional learning and advocacy.

Programme Structure

Coaching Sessions

Throughout the programme, selected media outlets will participate in a series of coaching sessions designed to strengthen their internal capacities in the following areas:

• Gender and inclusion
• Digital safety
• Internal governance and organizational procedures
• Audience engagement
• Alternative production models and SWOT analyses

Fellowships

Selected media outlets and their respective pools of (freelance) journalists will also participate in four rounds of six-month fellowships designed to enhance content production skills and amplify rural voices in Pakistani media.

Media outlets will elevate their content production skills through a series of workshops facilitated by experts. These will focus on the following topics:

• Digital storytelling, audience engagement, and alternative production/business models, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Ethical journalism, fact-checking, and pre/debunking mis/disinformation
• Inclusive reporting

Advocacy

Selected media outlets will also have the opportunity to engage, exchange, and connect with fellow rural media outlets through the creation of a dedicated network. As part of this initiative, three coalition-building workshops will be organized to foster collaboration and stimulate joint advocacy on the following thematic challenges:

• Press freedom and journalists’ physical safety
• Gender, diversity, and inclusion in the media sector
• The influence of emerging technologies on media
• Financial sustainability

Eligibility Criteria

They welcome applications from media outlets that meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Located in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, or South Punjab
• Operational for at least 1 year
• Financially and editorially independent
• Committed to gender equality and inclusion
• Actively engaged in public interest journalism
• Able to prove reasonable capacity, recent activity, and on-the-ground presence

For more information, visit: Pakistan Press Foundation