Media managers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,  Moldova, and Ukraine are invited to apply to take part in the WAN-IFRA Women in News Digital ABCs capacity building programme ‘Foundations of AI in the Newsroom’, supported by DT Global as part of the EU4IndependentMedia programme, of which WAN-IFRA is a consortium partner.

The Foundations of AI, or Module E of the WAN-IFRA Women in News Digital ABCs series is an interactive and intensive 9-week programme to impart the foundations and implications around generative AI on the news media industry, while facilitating peer exchange and networking between media throughout the European neighbourhood countries of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Delivered through 5 sequential lessons which culminate in a final assignment, participants will walk through the newsroom and operation applications of the new technology alongside ethics of adopting the rapidly changing technology. Each lesson is accompanied by an assignment that must be completed in order to progress to the next lesson.

Local Facilitators will review the assignments and give feedback during semi weekly local chapter online tutorials. During these local tutorials, guest presenters from other local chapters will share their own stories of usages of AI in the newsroom either through production or processes, to encourage peer-to-peer exchanges and best practice share. Lyndsey Jones, course architect, will join in each local chapter tutorial at the mid-way point of the course.

The final assignment will serve as a platform to apply for DT-Global funded production support that will be issued in Q2 2024. Proposals should incorporate key learnings and tools imparted from the programme. Completion of Module ‘E’ is a prerequisite to consideration for the grants.

Proposals will be reviewed by an impartial expert panel. A possibility of up to 30 awards, carrying maximum value of EUR15,000 each, may be issued. Proposals are submitted as the 4th and final assignment in the AI Module.

Additionally, the top proposal within each local chapter – as voted on by your peers – will travel to Copenhagen to participate in the WAN-IFRA News Media Congress taking place from 27-29 May 2024.

Application deadline: Friday, 16 February

Mark your calendars: Official launch webinar to be held 28 February at 9:00 CET

Please note, successful candidates should have a strong working knowledge of English. While course content and live interactions through webinars will be delivered in local languages, all assignments throughout the programme must be submitted in English. There are a total of 4 assignments, with the final assignment serving as the proposal for content production support that will be provided to a select group of successful applicants.

The total approximate time investment required by participants is 1-2 hours per week for a period of 9 weeks, excluding the final assignment.

If you are facing any issues with the application form, please contact us via email at info@womeninnews.org