Tag: Hub

Advancing Sustainability of Independent Online Investigative Journalism

BIRN Hub – past programme

BIRN’s advancing sustainability project promotes the democratisation process in the region by training journalists and publishing quality content.

Austrian Development Agency (ADA)

DONOR
Austrian Development Agency, ADA, implements the Austrian Development Cooperation’s bilateral programmes and projects, which support countries in Africa, Asia, Central America and Southeastern and Eastern Europe as they work to obtain sustainable social, economic and democratic development.

In Southeast Europe, the ADA aims to promote private sector development to generate employment and income.

It works to harness synergies with the Austrian private sector and industry, and devotes particular attention to mobilising youth.

The agency’s projects assist in modernising the educational systems, bringing higher education and vocational training into line with European standards and labour market requirements.

In addition, the ADA is committed to advancing rule of law and civil society as well as measures to combat human trafficking.

The Austrian Development Agency is a donor to the Paper Trail for Better Governance programme.

Web: https://www.entwicklung.at/en/

Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD)

DONOR
The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) is an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe.

This award-winning public-private partnership was created in 2003 by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. BTD’s original ten-year mandate came to an end in May 2013. BTD then entered into its second mandate (2013-20) with structural changes to geographic coverage and grantmaking scope.

The Balkan Trust for Democracy operates with a small, experienced staff that actively seeks out and incorporates expertise from a wide variety of partners. These experts, along with GMF staff, make up the grantmaking committee that reviews proposals to ensure that BTD’s programs are effective, responsive to local needs, and complementary to other initiatives supported by the international community.

An Advisory Board of experts from Southeastern Europe and key international organisations guides the Balkan Trust for Democracy’s strategic development.

BTD is structured to allow both European and U.S. partners to join the effort to strengthen transatlantic cooperation in the Balkans. Since its founding, additional contributions from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade, Compagnia di San Paolo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Robert Bosch Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and Tipping Point Foundation have made BTD a true transatlantic partnership.

Web: http://www.gmfus.org/program/balkan-trust-democracy

ERSTE Foundation

DONOR
ERSTE Foundation is a creative workshop for ideas and innovation, a lab for topics of the future which increases its effectiveness through the strategic cooperation with networks.

As the main shareholder of Erste Group ERSTE Foundation secures the independent future of one of the largest financial services providers in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

As a private Austrian savings banks foundation, the foundation is committed to serving the common good. ERSTE Foundation invests parts of their dividends into the region in which Erste Group operates.

ERSTE Foundation focuses on three thematic fields: Social innovation, European cohesion and democracy, and contemporary culture.

Web: http://www.erstestiftung.org/en/

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

DONOR
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a government agency working on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government, with the mission to reduce poverty in the world. Through their work and in cooperation with others, they contribute to implementing Sweden’s Policy for Global Development (PGU).

They work in order to implement the Swedish development policy that will enable poor people to improve their lives. Another part of their mission is conducting reform cooperation with Eastern Europe, which is financed through a specific appropriation. The third part of their assignment is to distribute humanitarian aid to people in need of assistance.

Sida carries out enhanced development cooperation with a total of 33 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The selection of cooperation countries is based on political decisions made by the Swedish government.

Sida’s mission is to allocate aid and other funding. Their operations are managed by the government’s guidelines, describing the goals for each year’s operations and the size of the development aid budget.

Three thematic priorities determine the direction of Swedish development cooperation and all interventions should relate to them. Those are democracy and human rights, environment and climate, and gender equality and women’s role in development.

In the period 2015-2019 Sida provides core support to BIRN Hub for implementing cross-regional programmes and enhancing the capacity of the Network.

Web: http://www.sida.se/English/

Paper Trail for Better Governance I and II

BIRN Kosovo

The Paper Trail Investigations is a project by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Kosovo and BIRN HUB – to promote the rule of law, accountability and transparency in the Balkans and Moldova.

Summary

The Paper Trail Investigations is a project by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Kosovo and BIRN HUB – to promote the rule of law, accountability, and transparency in the Balkans and Moldova.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
Contribute to better functioning of the public sector that abides by principles of transparency and accountability to its citizens which will in the long-term contribute to human security to the whole South-Eastern Europe/Danube Region.

Purpose of the program: Exposing wrongdoings of the governments, public and private companies, as well as individuals, through the promotion of the rule of law, accountability and transparency

Specific Objectives: 

Exposing wrongdoings of public institutions, public or private companies, and individuals, through multimedia investigations, in-depth analysis of institutions’ openness to freedom of information requests, and the establishment of an online database.

Main Activities:

  1. Implementing investigative projects.
  2. Two televised debates and reports produced and broadcasted.
  3. Cross-border report on institutions’ compliance with Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation.
  4. Creating an online, searchable database of documents obtained using FoI legislation in each country.
  5. Workshops and on-the-job training for journalists.

Target Groups:

The main target group of the project consists of investigative journalists, researchers, journalists from other media and public in general in the region and worldwide.
Highlights:
The programme is focused on five key themes which are critical for good governance in the region – energy, road building, the financial sector, the influx of money from the Middle East and the arms industry.

Through the extensive use of public documents, the investigations are exposing wrongdoing in government, public and private companies and among powerful individuals.

The project also addresses the transparency of public institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Moldova.

As part of our drive for openness, we have also established a free, user-friendly, searchable online library of public documents and scraped databases, BIRN Source.

Working with some of the biggest names in international journalism, BIRN has produced dozens of hard-hitting investigations which are reshaping the public perceptions of their governments, business elites, and journalism.

BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting

BIRN Hub

The BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting works to enhance the reporting skills and journalistic standards of journalists from the Balkans and beyond, training 20 journalists from the Balkan region and 10 international journalists each year.

Summary

Every year BIRN gathers renowned international investigative journalists and experts to train the Summer School participants, including Sheila Coronel, professor at Columbia University; Nick Davies, the journalist for The Guardian who revealed the Rupert Murdoch affair; Mark Schoofs, a ProPublica Senior editor and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner; and Paul Bradshaw, one of the UK’s most well-known bloggers.

BIRN also provides financial support for the top story ideas generated during the School. Summer School participants are divided into groups, where they develop their story ideas, and they then conduct investigations and produce a story that BIRN publishes on its flagship news portal- Balkan Insight. The Summer School also provides networking opportunities for the journalists who attend.

The training, which is held over five days each year, uses a curriculum based on the Investigative Journalism Handbook ‘Digging Deeper: A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans’, which was published by BIRN and has been translated into Albanian, Macedonian, and Serbian.

BIRN’s Summer School is organised in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Media Program- South East Europe, and funded by the Open Society Foundation, the OSCE Missions to Serbia and Skopje, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the US Embassy in Skopje, BIRN Kosovo and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Zagreb.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
Bringing high quality and high standards to investigative reporting in the Balkans, with the opportunity for wide dissemination of summer school journalists’ work in the Balkan region, and internationally.
Specific Objectives:
  • Enhancing investigative reporting skills and journalistic standards of 20 journalists from the Balkan region and 10 international journalists each year;
  • Providing networking opportunities for the journalists attending the school;
  •  Promoting investigative journalism in the Balkans by publishing investigations produced by journalists trained at the Summer School.

Main Activities:

  • Training – BIRN provides five days of training based on the curriculum ‘Digging Deeper’.
  • Financing investigative stories – BIRN provides financial support for the best story ideas put forward during the School. An average of three stories are produced each year.
  • Publishing – BIRN publishes investigative pieces from Summer School participants on BalkanInsight.com

Target Groups:

Journalists, media experts, investigative reporters from the Balkans; International journalists and media experts; Local, regional, and international media outlets.
Highlights:
Digging Deeper handbook for investigative journalism, translated into Albanian, Macedonian, and Serbian languages.

Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence

BIRN Hub

Through its Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme, BIRN works within the region to foster quality reporting, initiate regional networking among journalists and advance balanced coverage on topics that are central to the region as well as to the EU.

Summary

The programme provides training and networking for 10 journalists from the region every year, each of whom produces an investigative or analytical article with regional relevance.

Fellowship journalists receive training and editorial support from the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network’s team of editors, as well as a bursary of €2,000 and additional travel and research funding of up to €2,000.

The reporters attend seminars in Vienna and in the region, and enjoy extensive republication of their articles in regional and international print and online media, as well as a chance to win monetary awards.

Fellows are given a unique opportunity to network with other fellows, alumni and international experts.

This programme is very competitive and receives more than 100 applications annually, while the number of republications of the participants’ articles has grown every year, reaching an average of 500 republications in the region and abroad.

BIRN promotes the journalists and their work, securing public recognition and increasing the visibility of the programme.

In addition, the BIRN team strengthens the Alumni network through bi-annual meetings and a small grants scheme for quality content production.

Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence was initiated in 2007 by ERSTE Foundation and Robert Bosch Stiftung, in cooperation with BIRN.

Since 2014 it is supported by the ERSTE Foundation and Open Society Foundations, while the Robert Bosch Stiftung remains committed to the development of the programme alumni initiative.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
  • foster quality reporting,
  • initiate regional networking among journalists and
  • advance balanced coverage on topics that are central to the region as well as to the EU

Specific Objectives:

  • To provide training and networking for 10 journalists from the region each year
  • To produce 10 investigative or analytical articles with regional relevance
  • To promote journalists and their work, securing public recognition and the visibility of the programme
  • To strengthen the alumni network through bi-annual meetings and a small grants scheme for quality content production

Main Activities:

  • Training for journalists
  • Production and publishing of quality content
  • Strengthening regional network of journalists
  • Promotion of programme findings through dissemination of articles and organization of public discussions

Target Groups:

  • Journalists from targeted countries

Highlights:

  • In 2011 alone four alumni and fellows were awarded for the outstanding results in their work. Adrian Mogos received the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and the Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism; Marius Cosmeanu and Ivan Angelovski were awarded with the Milena Jesenska fellowship; and Stevan Dojcinovic received the Daniel Pearl – Raising Star Award, as part of the OCCRP project team.
  • Alumni fellows participated in some of the most prestigious media and political conferences organized in the region and the EU (Commission on Media Policy, Political Forum Alpbach, Global Investigative Journalism Conference)
  • Romania’s national journalistic competition Superscrieri has given awards to Elena Stancu and Vlad Odobescu, both 2013 fellows of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.
  • In December 2013 three awards were given to the alumni from Kosovo – Selvije Bajrami was honored for contribution to the fight against the corruption by the UN Development Programme in Kosovo and Arbana Xharra was presented by KOHA Group with ” Rexhai Surroi ” award for journalism for the series of articles “Kosovo alarmed by conservative extremists “, while organization INPO Ferizaj awarded her with the “Stirring Debate”, for sparking debate in society on difficult topics, including religious radicalism.
  • Sorana Stanescu, alumnus from Romania, has won the 2013 Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies, UACES award for her article ‘Cheap and Far from Free’ produced through the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Project
  • Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme and its editor Neil Arun have been nominated for the European Press Prize 2012 in the Innovation Award category for the outstanding innovation of the year
  • Adrian Mogos, a Romanian journalist and Fellowship alumnus was nominated for the European Press Prize 2012 in News Reporting Award category, for the reporter or specialist expert whose work has made a decisive impact
  • Number of alumni fellows were awarded for their work in 2012, including Stevan Dojcinovic who has won the prestigious “Jug Grizelj” award for investigative journalism.
  • A 2015 alumna of the BIRN Hub Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme received a commendation from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Albania, UN Women, for the “creation of a professional model of investigative journalism for the reporting on trafficking of women and girls”.
  • Following publication of a story about women in Romania and Bulgaria enduring low pay, long hours and gruelling work to make clothes for luxury Western clothing brands – produced as part of BIRN Hub’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence 2015 programme – Labour inspection issued three fines for one of the factories in Romania.

Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Alumni Network

BIRN Hub

The Alumni Network, drawing on the work of the Fellowship, aims to promote the ideas of journalistic excellence and spread the concept of free and professional media throughout the region.

Summary

The project has brought together past fellows of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence since 2008. The Fellowship, which was launched in 2007, provides training and networking for 10 journalists from the region each year, each of whom produces an investigative or analytical article with regional relevance.

Participants come from Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Albania.

The Alumni Network aims to strengthen the professional links between journalists from the region, produce high quality content, and promote excellence and professionalism in the media industry in the Balkans.

The Network holds bi-annual meetings and coordinates cooperative reporting projects between alumni of the Fellowship.

Alumni fellows have participated in some of the most prestigious media and political conferences organised in the region and the EU, and many alumni and fellows have received regional and international awards for they work.

These awards include the Europe Reporting Prize, awarded by the Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies, UACES, CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and the Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism, as well as the  Daniel Pearl award for international investigative reporting and a TED fellowship for innovation.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
  • Promoting the ideas of journalistic excellence in its work, spreading the concept of free and professional media throughout the region.

Specific Objectives:

  • Strengthening the professional links between journalists from the region;
  • Production and promotion of high quality content;
  • Promotion of excellence and professionalism in media industry

Main Activities:

  • Bi-annual meetings
  • Reporting projects

Target Groups:

  • Journalists from the Balkans

Highlights:

  • In 2011, two alumni of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Ivan Angelovski from Belgrade and Marius Cosmeanu from Bucharest – were selected to take part in the prestigious Milena Jesenská Fellowship for Journalists.
  • Stevan Dojčinović, a 2011 fellow from Serbia, received a national award for investigative journalism.
  • Dojčinović and 2008 fellow Stanimir Vaglenov, along with other members of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project team, were awarded the Daniel Pearl award for international investigative reporting.
  • The 2010 Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism honoured our 2009 alumni fellow Adrian Mogos, who in the same year also received the CEI – SEEMO award for outstanding merit in investigative journalism.
  • Yana Buhrer Tavanier, a 2009 fellow from Bulgaria, was the first fellow from Southeast Europe to be awarded the prestigious TED fellowship for innovation.
  • Barbara Matejcic, a 2009 fellow from Croatia, was the first Croatian journalist to win the Zagreb Pride award for her coverage of LGBT topics.
  • The short story Zlatka, written by 2009 Croatian fellow Maja Hrgovic, was included in the Best European Fiction 2012 anthology (Dalkey Archive Press) and published in Granta magazine. Shooting for a short movie based on the story is about to begin in Croatia and will be included in the Deep Cuts compilation film.
  • Selvije Bajrami, a 2011 fellow from Kosovo, was awarded first prize by the United Nations Development Programme for reporting on corruption.
  • Romania’s national journalistic competition Superscrieri has given awards to Elena Stancu and Vlad Odobescu, both 2013 fellows of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.
  • Selvije Bajrami was in 2013 awarded for contribution to the fight against the corruption by the UN Development Programme in Kosovo
  • In December 2013 Arbana Xharra, editor of Kosovo daily Zeri, and alumnus of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence was awarded with two awards for her journalistic work during the year. KOHA Group awarded Xharra with ” Rexhai Surroi ” award for journalism for the series of articles “Kosovo alarmed by conservative extremists “, while organization INPO Ferizaj awarded her with the “Stirring Debate” for sparking debate in society on difficult topics, including religious radicalism.
  • Sorana Stanescu, alumnus from Romania, has won the 2013 Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies, UACES award for her article ‘Cheap and Far from Free’ produced through the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Project
  • Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme and its editor Neil Arun have been nominated for the European Press Prize 2012 in the Innovation Award category for the outstanding innovation of the year.
  • Stevan Dojcinovic, editor of the Centre for Investigative Journalism Serbia and an alumnus of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalism Excellence, has won the 2012 Jug Grizelj award for investigative journalism.
  • Jeton Musliu, an alumnus of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, has won an award for the best culture story published in Kosovo in 2012.
  • Eldin Hadzovic, an alumnus of BIRN’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, was honoured by UNICEF for his outstanding contribution to journalism in Bosnia in 2012.