20.12.2018. – Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans has the honour of presenting outputs of Small Grants Programme, which took place during years 2017 and 2018 within the bigger project “Protecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans”. One of the funded projects was “Real Voice of Journalism”, implemented by Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) BiH, the WARM Foundation, and Balkan Diskurs.
Their project team produced the report ‘’Challenges to Media Freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Real Voice of Journalism’’, published five articles depicting the biggest challenges and pressures journalists in BiH face, organized a one-day conference and created a set of recommendations for the improvement of the status of journalists and prevention of violations of freedom of expression.
This project aimed to improve the overall position of journalists and media activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as well as to prevent further derogation and violations in the area of freedom of expression.
Specific objectives were to implement a country-wide research on challenges, obstacles and pressures journalists face in everyday work, with a special emphasis on local media houses and outlets, to create joint recommendations for the improvement of journalistic work and freedom of expression and to create an informal, interethnic network of journalists and start a constructive discussion on needs and constraints that trouble journalists in BiH.
The Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) is a Sarajevo-based non-governmental organization dedicated to restoring a culture of peace and preventing violent conflict in the Western Balkans by creating, implementing and supporting unconventional and innovative approaches to peace education, post-conflict research, human rights and transitional justice. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in BiH (BIRN BiH) is a nongovernmental media organization which specializes in monitoring and reporting on war crime trials. WARM is an international Foundation based in Sarajevo working on the world’s contemporary conflicts.
The report ‘’Challenges to Media Freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Real Voice of Journalism’’ is HERE.
The article “Herzegovina’s Media: A Problem of Ideology and Self-censorship” in English is HERE.
About Small Grants Programme
During 2017. and 2018. 15 projects were funded through the Small Grants Programme in two LOTs (4 regional and 11 national projects) in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo* and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Small Grants Programme supported locally and regionally rooted civil society initiatives, engaging human rights activists, journalists and media, aiming to protect the freedom of expression and freedom of media.
The small grants programme was funded by IPA /EU with co-financing from the Croatian Government Office for NGOs and matching funds from grantees; it is part of a regional project Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety implemented through partnership of five regional journalists’ associations and one journalists’ union– Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (IJAS), Association of BH Journalists (BHJ), Croatian Journalists Association (CJA), Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM).
Croatian Journalists’ Association and its regional partner journalists’ associations thank all subgrantees and other participants for their interest and effort in engaging in the Small Grants Programme and for their cooperation throughout the whole application and project implementation process.
