U.S. Embassy Dushanbe PDS Grant: English for Journalists Program

The U.S. Embassy Dushanbe Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) is soliciting proposals to manage the English for Journalists Program from accredited non-governmental schools, institutes, teacher training centers, universities, or organizations. Applicants should pay close attention to the Public Diplomacy Section’s goals, priority program areas, and target audiences when developing their proposals.

Current Situation & Problem Statement:  English is the most commonly used language on the Internet and in global media. Yet, journalists in Tajikistan generally do not make use of this global resource as their capacity in English language is low. As a result, journalists cannot research stories in English and are not able to access accurate sources of information that will allow them to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet. Additionally, many journalists miss out on opportunities to learn skills in high quality field reporting through studying the most prestigious international sources of information, or even adequately cover international stories. 

Review of Past Projects:  The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe previously supported English for Journalists projects that trained hundreds of journalists and bloggers in professional reporting skills; past projects have increased participants ’ability to read and write stories in English and strengthened their investigative journalism skills. Projects have also trained journalists in new techniques and approaches to make the transition to digital journalism.

Proposed Project Introduction: This funding opportunity seeks to equip journalists with English language skills to access English language news sources, write articles in English, and conduct interviews and reports in English. During this program, journalists will also become familiar with international standards of journalism ethics, and how to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet.

The Embassy welcomes creative proposals to establish English for Journalists courses that can both boost the English language ability of journalists and improve their reporting and develop their critical thinking and decision-making skills. The program should consist of English language courses for intermediate and upper-level English-speaking journalists, of at least 20 hours per month, with a total of 240 hours of English language instruction over one year. The projects can be implemented in Dushanbe, Khorugh, Khujand, and Kulob. The project should include between 75 and 175 professionals in journalism from private and independent media organizations in Dushanbe, Khorugh, Khujand, and Kulob. Projects that involve higher numbers of journalists with lower costs are encouraged. 

To be eligible for consideration, the organization must use instructors who can demonstrate relevant teaching experience, with at least three years of experience teaching English to adults.

Project Goal:

Strengthen the capacity of journalists and content creators in Tajikistan to produce diverse, high-quality media content through English language development.

Project Audience(s): The primary target audience for this project is between 75 and 175 Tajik professionals in journalism from private and independent media organizations, including journalists, managers, editors, and translators of media outlets, and social media influencers who demonstrate a commitment to engaging on social issues in English, as demonstrated in published or online work. Participants will have demonstrated English language proficiency: Pre-intermediate A2–B1, Intermediate B1, Upper-intermediate B2, Advanced C1–C2

Project Objectives: Successful proposals will achieve one or more of the following objectives: 

Objective 1: Over a 12-month period, participating journalists will improve their English language proficiency, namely their speaking, writing, reading, vocabulary, grammar, and listening skills by at least one standardized level on the CEFR scale, with a specific focus on journalistic language style and terminology.

Objective 2: Over a 12-month period, participating journalists will improve their critical thinking, investigative journalism, source evaluation, fact-checking, and media literacy skills by participating in activities with English as the language of instruction.

Objective 3: Over a 12-month period, participating journalists will improve their understanding on current trends and best practices in global journalism, specifically in the areas of digital journalism, multimedia storytelling, data journalism, and citizen journalism.

Objective 4: Over a 12-month period, Journalists will learn how to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet by participating in activities with English as the language of instruction. 

Objective 5: Over a 12-month period, participating journalists will establish connections with international journalists and media professionals through virtual conferences, webinars, and online forums.

Examples of activities include but are not limited to:

·        English language classes for journalists focused on developing speaking, reading, and writing, skills Immersive English language camps for journalists.

·        Lessons or seminars in English that focus on advancing skills specific to journalistic contexts, such as news writing styles, interviewing techniques, and media terminology.

·        Practical reporting assignments, including conducting interviews in English; analyzing and summarizing English-language news reports, and producing original media content in English.

·        Analyzing real-world journalism case studies to learn from successes and failures, analyze ethical dilemmas, and discuss best practices.

·        Expert lectures and panel discussions from journalism experts on topics such as digital journalism, data-driven storytelling, media ethics, and cross-cultural communication