UKRAINE MEDIA PROJECT (U-Media) ANNUAL REPORT October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-121-A-11-00002 WAYNE SHARPE CHIEF OF PARTY JOSH MACHLEDER VICE-PRESIDENT FOR EUROPE AND EURASIA 1640 RHODE ISLAND AVE. NW, 7TH FLOOR WASHINGTON, DC 20036 SUBMITTED: DECEMBER 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Approach to Implementation ................................................................................................................ 7 Media Environment ............................................................................................................................. 10 Key Activities and Results by Objective ............................................................................................ 16 Performance Measurement and Media Research ............................................................................. 21 Communication & Coordination ........................................................................................................ 36 Challenges ............................................................................................................................................. 38 Other Activities .................................................................................................................................... 39 Attachment 1: List of Sub-grants Issued ........................................................................................... 41 Attachment 2: Subgrant Reports ....................................................................................................... 53 Attachment 3: Performance Measurement and Evaluation Plan ………………………………… Page 2 Ukraine Media Project USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-121-A-11-00002 Annual Report October1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 Acronyms AFJ Association of Free Journalists AUP NGO Academy of Ukrainian Press (www.aup.com.ua) CMG Crimean Media Group CVU Committee of Ukrainian Voters (www.cvu.org.ua) CSO Civil Society Organization CUA United Action Center UA CURE Center for Ukrainian Reform Education (www.cure.org.ua) DIF Democratic Initiatives Foundation (www.dif.org.ua) DG Democracy and Governance EC European Commission EU European Union GoU Government of Ukraine IAB Independent Association of Broadcasters (http://www.nam.org.ua/) IMI NGO Institute of Mass Information (http://imi.org.ua/) IMTUU Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (http://nmpu.org.ua/) IPCS NGO Information Press Center (http://www.ipc.crimea.ua/) IR Investigative Reporting IT “Informtavrika” (IT) of “Kafa” newspaper IUA NGO Internews Ukraine (http://www.internews.ua) IWP Institute for World Policy (http://iwp.org.ua) KhPC Kherson Press Club LCD Local Capacity Development LPC NGO Lviv Press Club (http://pressclub.lviv.ua/) MLI NGO Media Law Institute (http://www.medialaw.kiev.ua/) MSI Media Sustainability Index NG NGO “Nashi Groshi” OCVU Odessa Committee of Voters of Ukraine PACT Implementer of UNITER program (www.pactworld.org) PI NGO “Platforma Idey” Page 3 Ukraine Media Project USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-121-A-11-00002 Annual Report October1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 PMEP Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan RAIR Rivne Agency for Investigative Reporting (http://4vlada.com/) RPDI NGO Regional Press Development Institute (http://www.irrp.org.ua/) SF “Suspilnist” (Society) Foundation SVDM Bureau of Investigative Journalism "Svidomo" (http://www.svidomo.org) TIRD Tavriya Institute for Regional Development (http://www.blackseanews.net/) TK NGO Telekritika (www.telekritika.ua) TPC Ternopil Press Club UAPP Ukrainian Association of Press Publishers (http://www.uapp.org/) UCU Ukrainian Catholic University U-Media Ukraine Media Project (previously the Strengthening Independent Media in Ukraine program) (www.umedia.kiev.ua) UPC Uzhhorod Press Club USAID US Agency for International Development Page 4 Ukraine Media Project USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-121-A-11-00002 Annual Report October1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 Introduction Internews is pleased to submit the Ukraine Media Project (U-Media) Annual Report for the October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 period. The Ukraine Media Project was awarded by USAID to Internews in August 2011 and launched on October 1, 2011. The Ukraine Media project follows the eight-year USAID media support program, Strengthening Independent Media in Ukraine, also known as U-Media and implemented by Internews. U-Media is implemented according to the following program Objectives: 1. Support and Promote Freedom of Speech and Media Independence; 2. Increase the Variety of News Sources and Improve News Quality; 3. Improve the Enabling Environment for Media and Freedom of Speech; and 4. Improve Organizational Capacity of Ukrainian Media CSOs. Internews would like to highlight key accomplishments for the reporting period: • The Academy of Ukrainian Press (AUP), with U-Media support, launched a pilot media literacy program in 2011 to give college and secondary school teachers the skills they need to instruct their students in media literacy. In March 2013, the Ministry of Education and Science recognized the success of this pilot when it announced the introduction of a media literacy course for Ukrainian secondary schools and pedagogical universities (the schools that train people to become secondary school teachers). AUP employed international best practices to develop a media literacy curriculum for Ukrainian universities, colleges and schools in cooperation with the Institute of Innovative Technologies and Content of Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Twelve of the 36 pedagogical colleges participating in the AUP program have included the media literacy course into their 2013-2014 curricula so far: six launched the course in September and six others will offer it beginning in January 2014. AUP continues to offer support for teachers through its regional training centers in Kharkiv and Crimea as well as through a variety of resources on its website. • Two investigations of the Center for Investigative Journalism (Crimea) on land issues resulted in investigations by the General Prosecutor’s Office in Crimea. IPC’s investigation on the illegal closure of Black Sea beaches to public use in Crimea led to a General Prosecutor’s investigation and helped Crimean citizens regain access to several beaches. In August 2013, Deputy Prosecutor of Crimea Igor Shapkin1 reported on the results of the investigation in his interview for the IPC TV program “Issues of National Security.” In another case, the Center investigated collusion between authorities and developers to clear Simferopol’s publicly-owned forest to make way for housing developments.2 As a result of the investigation, Crimean Chief Prosecutor Vyacheslav Pavlov promised to stop corrupt land development schemes in an interview in the April 2013 “Weekly Mirror” newspaper. • Through six 10-minute documentaries featuring EU integration case studies, the “Ukrainian House” NGO (in cooperation with Chernomorskaya TV) demonstrated to a Crimean audience how EU membership promotes reforms in all sectors and how citizens can make an impact on important decisions about the future direction of Ukraine. The documentaries premiered on the Chernomorskaya TV channel and were then shared through U-Media partner Independent Association of Broadcasters’ content-sharing system, the Nonprofit TV and Radio 1 http://investigator.org.ua/articles/71077/, http://investigator.org.ua/articles/96570/ 2 http://investigator.org.ua/articles/83932/ Page 5 Ukraine Media Project USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-121-A-11-00002 Annual Report October1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 Courier. Each program focused on important social sector issues such as health care reform, local government performance, creation of a favorable environment for small and medium enterprise development, education reform, and land reform. The audience for each documentary in Crimea was up to 30,000 viewers. • The Kyiv Investigative Reporting Agency published an investigative story «President’s Friends Earned Money on Social Facilities Renovations» (November, 2012, http://bit.ly/WarAX4) about the misuse of UAH 2 billion that was allocated under the Kyoto Protocol for renovation of hundreds of schools, kindergartens, hospitals and elder care houses. The report revealed that the contractors chosen by the GoU to do this work were close to President Yanukovych, procurement prices were over-estimated by several times, and most of the renovations were never done. Politicians took note of the investigation, and the Parliamentary Committee on Fighting Against Crimes and Corruption established a temporary investigative commission to investigate the case. • After 4 years of external assessment of partners’ institutional capacity, U-Media pioneered the innovative SATT/OSS Self-Assessment Program that equips partners with the skills they need to evaluate their own institutional capacity beyond the U-Media project. The SATT/OSS Self-Assessment Program was launched in March 2013, when U-Media organized a training in monitoring and evaluation systems and organizational self-assessment techniques for institutional and core partners. Internews consultant Catherine Barnes, who specializes