Nexus: Cross-Border Center for Investigative Reporting
NEXUS is a cross-border initiative using investigative journalism to counter Kremlin influence globally. The program supports journalists and civil society in exposing disinformation, coercion, and interference. During 2023-2024, IRI and Jinn ran workshops in four cities, training journalists from Central Asia, Mongolia, Africa, and the Balkans to investigate foreign influence. A second phase will launch in 2025-2026 to expand cross-regional collaboration.
About the program
The project Nexus. Cross-Border Center for Investigative Reporting aims to investigate and counter the Kremlin’s malign influence, including economic coercion, disinformation, cyber-attacks, interference in elections, and support of proxy conflicts. The project team of the International Republican Institute and the Berlin-based NGO Journalists in Need Network (jinn) provides training, mentorship, and finance support for media projects on awareness-raising campaigns, investigative reporting, media content production for media professionals, investigative reporters, and CSO representatives from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Sub-Saharan Africa and West Balkans.
Agenda
Building a Global Democratic Nexus to Counter Foreign Authoritarian Influence
Countering Foreign Malign Influence in Western Balkans
Two-day in-person training for independent journalists, media representatives, and CSOs from Western Balkans on investigative reporting in cooperation with senior Bosnian, Russian, US, and German media professionals and investigative researchers.
Countering Foreign Malign Influence in Kazakhstan and Mongolia
Two-day in-person training for independent journalists, media workers, and CSOs from Kazakhstan and Mongolia in cooperation with local and foreign media professionals and investigative researchers in Ulaanbaatar in April 2024. The training covers strategies and case studies of the authoritarian malign influence in Kazakhstan and Mongolia and facilitates the development of media campaigns and cross-border investigative projects. The participants can pitch their individual and cooperation project concepts and be consulted on synergies within the Nexus cross-border network, mentorship, and financial support for the project implementation.
Countering Foreign Malign Influence in the Sub-Saharan Africa
The webinar covers strategies and case studies of the Kremlin’s malign influence in the Sub-Saharan Africa. It invites independent journalists, media representatives, and CSOs from the target regions to participate and pitch their domestic and cross-border media projects and campaigns.
Content Grants Application
The Nexus project invites media professionals, investigative researchers, and CSO representatives from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Sub-Saharan Africa and West Balkans to apply their individual and cross-border project concepts for media content grants. The projects should focus on foreign malign influence in one or several target regions, including economic coercion, money laundering and corruption, disinformation, and election interference, support of proxy conflicts, etc.
The selected media projects will be awarded from $1,000 to $10,000 each in micro-purchase contracts to develop a short-term independent media product that fills a demand in the regional media market. Illustrative examples of different types of media content may include but are not limited to, short audio products or videos, podcasts, social media posts, text articles for print and/or online media, and mini-documentaries.
Application deadlines
- February 7, 2024 For training in Sarajevo for participants from West Balkans
- April 8, 2024 For webinar and training in Ulaanbaatar (for participants from Kazakhstan and Mongolia)
- May 15, 2024 Webinar for participants from the Sub-Saharan Africa (webinar date tba)
- May 31, 2024 Deadline for financial and mentorship support
Eligibility criteria
- The program is open to teams of journalists, media organizations, and CSOs from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Sub-Saharan Africa and West Balkans;
- An application can be submitted by individual participants and teams located in one of the target regions or operating in exile;
- Strong commitment to editorial independence and high standards of journalistic ethics;
- Applicants must not be connected to a political party, political institution, or businesses and individuals sanctioned by the EU or US government;
- For media content grants: Applicants must have published media articles, social media posts, and/or investigative reports in the past 12 months;
