Freedom House, in cooperation with the Institute of Mass Information (IMI, Ukraine) and the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM, Moldova), is organizing a six-day Anti-Corruption Exchange Workshop for 40 Ukrainian and Moldovan citizen journalists, bloggers, and activists on 7-12 December 2015 in Odesa (Ukraine), with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Date: 7-12 December 2015

Location: Odesa, Ukraine

Description of the workshop:

The aim of the Workshop is to enhance participants’ investigative journalism skills and capacity; to foster meaningful cross-border cooperation between Moldovan and Ukrainian citizen journalists; to facilitate the sharing of experiences and best practices; and to develop concrete plans to undertake investigations of cross-border corruption that affects both Moldova and Ukraine.

Participants will take part in sessions that will address best practices, experience-sharing, and lessons-learned from reporting on corruption within the context of Ukraine and Moldova. They will also participate in advanced sessions on investigative journalism and reporting, addressing how to cover cross-border corruption issues, as well as how to conduct advocacy campaigns. The Workshop will also address data journalism, innovative ways of collecting data, infographics, and other data presentation and collection tools. Given the sensitivity of some corruption issues, in particular money laundering and public budgeting, the workshop will also focus on digital security measures, including e-mail and data encryption, smartphone safety, and device prevention from hackers and phishing.

Participants will have a chance to meet and develop contacts with Ukrainian, Moldovan, Russian, and Turkish journalists from Freedom House’s existing networks and beyond; international trainers; and experts on anti-corruption and investigative journalism. Sessions will be held in Russian and English (interpretation from English into Russian will be provided).

In order to bring greater public attention to the issue of cross-border corruption and to engender support for increased transparency, Freedom House and its partners will open the Workshop with a one-day public event on Monday, December 7, in which regional and international stakeholders will take part, including European Commission, Canadian Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, the Governor of Odesa Oblast, and prominent anti-corruption experts.

The Workshop will result in identifying specific cross-border corruption issues and developing joint task-forces of Ukrainian and Moldovan journalists that will work further on investigating these issues.

Who can apply:

We are looking for motivated citizen journalists, investigative journalists, bloggers and activists working in Ukraine and Moldova, whose areas of work include anti-corruption issues and who are interested in Moldovan-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation and joint investigations. Moldovan and Ukrainian journalists from border regions (Bukovina, Chernivtsy, etc.) are especially encouraged to apply.

How to apply:

If you are interested in applying, please fill out the online application form HERE. The deadline for applications is November 20, 2015 (23:59 EET). For more information please contact Freedom House project assistant Joanna Szymanska-Godard, [email protected], Zoryan Kis (Ukraine): [email protected] or Tatiana Puiu (Moldova): [email protected]