Collaborating with local non-governmental organisations and educational institutions, RI will implement the THR programme via the following activities:

1. Curriculum on the Media and Human Rights: RI will develop a curriculum on the role and responsibility of the media in democratic societies, with a focus on freedom of expression and the role of the media in promoting human rights. Based on RI’s previous work in the Media Access and Education for Human Rights (MAEHR) programme and on the partners’ expertise on this topic, the curriculum will be used for trainings and will be available online (activity 2.1.).

2. Professional Development Workshops on the Media and Human Rights: RI will organise professional development workshops on the role and actions of the media for the promotion of human rights in each of the target districts, reaching 30 media professionals per workshop, for a total of 600 attendees. The workshops are designed to start a conversation among Bangladeshi journalists regarding the role of the media in promoting human rights and to act as a recruitment tool for the proposed NNCJ (activity 1.3.).

3. Establishment of National Network of Concerned Journalists (NNCJ): Participants in the professional development workshops (activity 1.2.) will be briefed about the upcoming establishment of the NNCJ and provided with membership applications. RI will collect and screen application and will create a roster of new members for the NNCJ. The mission of the NNCJ will be to address issues related to human rights through various strategies, including investigative reporting, monitoring and evaluation of media representations of such issues, awareness raising campaigns, and coalition building for the purpose of advocacy. Members of the organisation, who will form district-based chapters, will commit themselves to the goal of promoting human rights through participation in professional and advocacy activities.

4. Capacity Building of NNCJ: RI will organise 20 follow-up workshops for the journalists accepted to membership in the NNCJ, which will introduce participants to basic principles of organisation management and allow them to explore practical ways to maintain a sustainable association and promote human rights through a transparent media. The workshops will also serve as training of trainers (ToT) opportunities for participants, who will learn techniques for peer training utilising the curriculum developed in activity 1.1. Each chapter of the NNCJ will hold bi-monthly meetings to recruit and welcome new members and to plan activities undertaken to further the mission of the NNCJ. RI representatives will attend all of the meetings to provide support and monitor, evaluate and report on progress. Each NNCJ chapter will receive minimal financial support for administrative and organisational costs.

5. Peer Training on Reporting Pertaining to Human Rights: RI will award 40 competitive mini-grants to be disbursed three times during the programme to individuals or groups of journalists participating in the NNCJ to conduct a series of three peer training workshops in their localities, using the curriculum and information obtained during the ToT. Grantees will deliver the workshops to a total of at least 30 peers each and will be encouraged to seek partnerships with and support from local CSOs.

6. Rural Reporter Linkage Initiative: Building on the MAEHR programme currently implemented by RI in Bangladesh, NNCJ chapters will pair journalists from rural areas with journalists from major urban media outlets, to provide the former with opportunities for publication in national media outlets. Rural journalists will be mentored by their peers from larger media outlets and will be awarded scholarships/stipend to investigate and report on human rights violations happening in their localities. They will be invited to submit portfolios for consideration for awards during the regional conferences on THR (activity 2.5.).

2.1 Transparency for Human Rights Virtual Community: RI will create a web portal in Bengali and English to provide media professionals, human rights advocates, and the public with the opportunity to network, report on human rights violations, and share their views. The portal will serve as an information clearinghouse on human rights in Bangladesh and will feature a media monitoring mechanism (activity 2.2.), audio recordings of radio talk shows (activity 2.4.), moderated discussion forums on human rights, and various media outputs (podcasts, digital videos, photos, etc.) about human rights. The portal will also facilitate an SMS-based alert system, which will be used to report human rights violations and advocacy opportunities by and to registered users.

2.2. Media Monitoring: RI and the NNCJ will establish a media monitoring mechanism to identify and document human rights abuses as well as success stories. NNCJ members will participate in the media monitoring project by scanning local and mainstream media and submitting weekly reports for publication on the web portal. NNCJ district chapters will receive a monthly allowance for purchase of subscriptions and communication costs related to this activity. Weekly and monthly results and reports of the monitoring will be featured on the web portal. Annual reports of news and related analyses will be printed and distributed to media outlets, educational institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) and government agencies.

2.3. Development and Dissemination of Media Materials: RI will offer 50 competitive small grants to journalists, educators and youth groups participating in the programme to produce relevant, creative media materials promoting human rights (short video documentaries, public service announcements, leaflets, posters, etc.). All materials and publications generated under this activity will be made available on the programme web portal and will be printed and disseminated to schools, media outlets and local CSOs. The NNCJ with support from RI will publish and disseminate quarterly newsletters (in Bengali and English) activities and issues related to human rights in the target districts. 2,000 copies of each newsletter issue will be distributed to schools, media outlets, CSOs and government agencies.

2.4. Radio Talk Show Series: A series of eight bimonthly radio talk shows addressing human rights in Bangladesh will be organised at a nationally broadcast radio station in Dhaka. The talk shows will be organised jointly by RI, partners and the NNCJ and will involve human rights activists, community and religious leaders, government representatives, scholars, educators and youth. Audio recordings of the talk shows will be made available on the web portal and as a CD compilation, to be distributed to media/journalist outlets and organisations, relevant CSOs, government agencies, and educational institutions in 3,000 copies.

2.5. Transparency for Human Rights Mini-Conferences and Awards: RI will organise four regional mini-conferences for circa 250 participants each (journalists, government and CSO representatives, educators, etc.). In addition to addressing issues related to the media and human rights, the conferences will honour three journalists and opinion makers having made outstanding contributions to reporting on and awareness of human rights in Bangladesh during the previous year. The award categories will include: investigative reporting, media monitoring, and awareness/advocacy.

2.6. Respect Human Rights Regional Roundtables: NNCJ members from pairs of neighbouring districts will organise a total of 50 Respect Human Rights roundtables for community and religious leaders, educators and youth, where participants will discuss topics related to human rights and plan follow-up awareness campaigns, to be implemented in the interim period between roundtables. Journalists in attendance will present their findings regarding the situation of human rights in Bangladesh and moderate the conversations. Participants in the roundtables will be invited to register on the programme web portal.