English for Journalists Program 2025-2026

• Eligibility Criteria
  The following organisations are eligible to apply:
  – Not-for-profit organisations;
  – For-profit organisations;
  – Civil society/non-governmental organisations;
  – Educational institutions;
  – Organisations may sub-contract with other entities, but only one, non-governmental entity can be the prime recipient of the award. When sub-contracting with other entities, the responsibilities of each entity must be clearly defined in the proposal.
• Type of Funding: Programmatic
• Target Region: Tajikistan
• Application Language: English

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 organisations.

This funding opportunity for the English for Journalists Program 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 recognise, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet.

Project Audience

The primary target audience for this project is between 75 and 175 Tajik professionals in journalism from private and independent media organisations, 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.

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 standardised 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 recognise, 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.

Eligible Activities

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; analysing and summarising English-language news reports, and producing original media content in English.
• Analysing real-world journalism case studies to learn from successes and failures, analyse 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

Funding Information

• Estimated Award Ceiling: $50,000
• Estimated Award Floor: $35,000
• Length of performance period: 12-18 months

See here to learn more and apply.

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