Grants for Saving the Free Press in the 21st Century Project

Grants for Saving the Free Press in the 21st Century Project

U.S. Mission to Pakistan seeking Applications for Saving the Free Press in the 21st Century Project.

The U.S. Consulate General Karachi Public Affairs Section (PAS Karachi) is pleased to announce an open competition for one assistance award through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), contingent on funding availability, through the Public Diplomacy Grants Program.

The project will train Pakistani journalists in skills that will contribute to their professional success and provide greater financial stability and independence.

Leveraging both business and technical skills, the grantee will help journalists become a one-stop shop for producing comprehensive reporting as well as build and promote their brands.

Programs will take place primarily in the main media hubs of Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.

Project Goal: Over 12 months, the grantee will design and execute a hands-on, skills-based training program — to be presented in the form of interactive workshops throughout Pakistan — to improve Pakistani journalists’ competency and technical skills in writing, shooting, editing and publishing content for their desired audience. Workshops will also focus on building a brand and identifying their audience.

The training program should include a culminating project by each participant demonstrating a portfolio of developed, edited, and taped stories of broadcast quality, using industry standard techniques.

As part of the funding, the grantee should solicit Pakistani and American experts working in the following fields: new media innovation and digital entrepreneurship, online content writing, and/or media entrepreneurs who have launched successful new media start-ups.

By the end of the workshop, journalists should be able to create and distribute content online from which they can furnish or significantly supplement their income, thereby reducing the need for government-sponsored advertising.

Objectives