OVERVIEW

USAID’s Rasana program supports the independent Afghan media sector to provide reliable and balanced information to citizens across the country.

The program achieves this goal through four areas: (1) support and training for women journalists; (2) investigative journalism initiatives; (3) advocacy and training for the protection of journalists; and (4) expanding the outreach of media through small grants for content production in underserved areas.

ACTIVITIES

• Nationwide training and mentoring of female journalists.
• Support women-run and women-owned radio stations in provinces across Afghanistan to produce high quality public service content, particularly on issues important to women.
• Support media outlets and mentoring journalists to produce in-depth and investigative reporting.
• Develop localized safety guidelines and providing practical training to journalists on physical and digital security.
• Monitor and advocating for the implementation of government commitments to protect journalists at the provincial and national level.
• Provide openly competed small grants to local radio and TV outlets in underserved areas of Afghanistan to produce informational content not otherwise available through national media.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Increased the professional knowledge and skills of 700 female journalists to produce clear, accurate, balanced, and in-demand media content.
• Increased the capacity of 17 women-run or women-managed provincial radio stations to produce public-interest content.
• Increased the quality of local news and information coverage in unstable areas by 300 percent.
• Trained 200 journalists in the practical aspects of digital and physical security.
• Increased the implementation of government commitments to ensure the safety of journalists at the provincial level.