TRACK project

Internews will be implementing an 18-month project called Transparency through Reporting & Advocacy Campaigns in Kyrgyzstan (TRACK) to build the capacity of broader civil society to address corruption and promote greater transparency within the Kyrgyz Republic.

Project objectives include the following:

• Investigative Journalism Intensive Course. To build the local capacity to design and conduct investigative reporting projects that expose corruption, Internews will hold an investigative journalism intensive course for approximately 36 journalists and content producers from 10-12 media outlets, who will break up into teams of two to four people. The course will consist of three five-day sessions over three months that will blend lectures with practical, hands-on modules and will be developed with guidance from investigative and data journalist experts such as Eva Constantaras, Internews’ Data Journalism Advisor and the creator of Internews’ data journalism training methodology; Vladimir Thoric, a Moldovan investigative journalist from RISE Moldova who conducted trainings under Internews’ EC-funded project; and Anastasiya Valeeva, from School of Data Kyrgyzstan who mentors Media-K’s data journalism fellows.
• Small grants to support investigative reports. At the end of the course, Internews will invite the teams of journalists to submit formal applications for grants and mentoring to complete and publish their proposed investigations. Internews expects to award nine grants, based on the team’s participation in the course, the feasibility and potential impact of the project, and the potential for audience engagement on the selected topic, among other criteria.
• Advocacy Campaign Bootcamp. At the end of the intensive course on investigative journalism, Internews will compile a list of the topics that the journalists plan to address through their investigations and distribute this list to the most dedicated NGO and activist participants as part of a call for applications to a five-day bootcamp in Bishkek on creating and disseminating effective advocacy and information campaigns.
• Small grants to support advocacy campaigns based on investigative reports. After the bootcamp, participants will be invited to apply for grants to create and promote an advocacy campaign around the topics of the project-supported investigations to increase awareness of issues that are either caused by, or that can lead to, corruption, and spur demand for transparency and reform.
• Chyndyk forum
  At the end of the project, Internews will organize a one-day wrap-up event that will bring together journalists and representatives of civil society, local authorities, anti-corruption bodies and other interested stakeholders to discuss the successes and shortcomings of the investigations and advocacy campaigns and new approaches to ensuring transparency and accountability based on the findings of the investigations.