THIRD PARTY EVALUATION REPORT

ON

FOSTERING CITIZEN JOURNALISM AMONG YOUTH

A project of

January 2017

Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 2 Evaluation Report ............................................................................................................ 3

Background: ................................................................................................................ 3

Objective: .................................................................................................................... 3

Data Collection Method ............................................................................................... 4

Data Entry and Analysis ................................................................................................ 4 Quantitative Study Findings ............................................................................................. 4 Findings of Focus Group Discussions with the Editorial Board Members ............................... 6 Findings of In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) with University Focal Points ....................................... 9 In-depth Interview (IDI) Findings Seminar Speaker ............................................................... 9 In-Depth Interview with the Donor .................................................................................. 10 Total Outreach ............................................................................................................... 11 Work Products ............................................................................................................... 11 Overall Effectiveness and Sustainability Plan ..................................................................... 11

Effectiveness ............................................................................................................... 11

Sustainability .............................................................................................................. 12 Project Staff Observations ............................................................................................... 12

Challenges Faced and Foreseen .................................................................................... 12

Suggestions ................................................................................................................. 12 Recommendations from the Study Findings ...................................................................... 12

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Executive Summary The practice of citizen journalism may have come of age in the developed world but the concept is still nascent in the societies where the word journalism hardly finds a footprint beyond the traditional club. Keeping up with its core objectives of utilizing Pakistan’s demographic dividends to the full advantage, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) has been actively pursuing the cause of mobilizing the youth for greater good in every possible arena. The project titled “Fostering Citizen Journalism among Youth” can be termed as a worthy milestone achieved which resonates with the founding principles of PYCA.

To ascertain the effectiveness of the initiative, an impact assessment was conducted using a bi-modular research methodology which included Focus Group Discussion (FGD, In-Depth-Interviews, (IDIs) and quantitative Survey. The study took into account trainer’s performance, suitability of the curriculum, total outreach of the project, impact of the web portal in terms of traffic and content, and effectiveness of sustainability plan as the key determinants of the project’s success.

Findings of the evaluation show an overall very positive response of the project beneficiaries on all aspects of the project, encompassing trainer’s performance and suitability of the curriculum. The students have appreciated the training sessions as well as the calibrated content. In pursuit of gaining meaningful sustainability, PYCA has formed four Editorial Boards (EB), one in each university. The students managing the editorial boards have been found to be well versed with its establishment purposes, working methodology, principles of citizen journalism and its applications. The web portal Bolo Jawan is considered to be the pivotal platform for professional as well as personal growth of the youth. Similarly, university faculty members who participated in the Training of Trainers (ToT), as well as the seminar speakers have expressed full support for PYCA and commended its initiative. However, they have mapped the sustainability factor with active support from PYCA in the post project period along with the inclusion of local journalists, actual citizen journalists and students of other departments. The project efforts stand vindicated with appreciation from the donor for PYCA’s dedication and professional code of conduct that was observed during the project lifecycle.

With reference to total outreach, PYCA has been able to reach students higher than the initially planned 800. Through the social media it has reached to 12,411 (page views) from October 2016 to December 2016. There is high probability of rapid growth in this number due to the promotional and publicity campaign being implemented by PYCA. A review of the portal shows that it publishes all types of content to introduce plurality and diversity. Further, the revenue generated through Google Ad Sense is projected to bring financial sustainability for the portal.

Overall, PYCA has been successful in achieving its objectives. The critical component has been and will remain the sustainability factor which, if achieved can make this project an epitome of success and a vibrant model for others to follow.

Evaluation Report

Background:

Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) has been mobilizing the country’s youth who usually find themselves in unchartered waters when it comes to professional cognizance. “Fostering Citizen Journalism among Youth” is an Open Society Foundation (OSF) funded project which aimed to inculcate the practice of citizen journalism in Pakistan where the concept is yet to take roots. PYCA has been the implementing partner of this project which engaged the students of three universities (Gujrat University, Hazara University and Karachi University), and an Institute by the name Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) which facilitated the students pool in Islamabad.

The project’s fundamental deliverable has been the establishment of an Editorial Boards (EB) in each of the above mentioned institutions. And hence these EBs became the prime source to gauge the true impact of the project. The Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) were conducted with the members of the editorial board to gather a professional insight into the workings and performance of these boards. A detailed In-Depth Interview (IDI) was conducted with the university faculty members of Journalism department who were also the part of this project as a Trainer and Facilitator. Semi Structured questionnaires were used to interview the students who attended the trainings. Out of total 215 trained students with 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval, 138 students were selected for interview about Trainer’s Performance and Curriculum Suitability. Further, feedback of seminar speakers and donor representative has also been the part of the study.

Table 1: no. of students randomly selected from each university with number of students who were interviewed.

Students

University of

Karachi

Institute of

Hazara

Total

Gujrat University Policy Studies University

Sample 50 33 22 33 138

Interviewed 50 10 10 32 102

Note: the sample is 64% of the total students who attended trainings. Response rate is 75%. As out of 138 students 102 shared the response.

Objective:

To explore the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the project “Fostering Citizen Journalism among Youth” through conducting FGDs with students, IDIs with university focal points, seminar speaker, donor, and the project team.

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Data Collection Instrument

1. Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) Guide 2. In-Depth-Interview (IDIs) Questions 3. Semi Structured Questionnaire

Data Collection Method FGDs Respective universities were visited for this activity. Overall 20 students of four universities participated in the FGDs. IDIs A face to face interview format was used to get the feedback of university focal points. Survey Questionnaires were sent to students through faculty focal points and filled-out forms were handed over to the evaluation team. Data Entry and Analysis Data was punched into MS Excel and analyzed in the same software.

Quantitative Study Findings

1) Trainer’s Performance Performance of the trainer was assessed on following aspects:

1. Communication Skills 2. Time Management 3. Participant Management 4. Interaction with Students 5. Overall Performance

There was unanimity of opinion amongst the students regarding the trainers’ sound

preparation, effective communication skills and efficient time management. An

overwhelming 98% confirmed that the trainers answered their questions satisfactorily.

Similarly, a good 97% of the participants showed satisfaction on overall performance of the

trainers and did not share any further recommendations. 2) Suitability of the Curriculum There has been a mammoth appreciation for a very high degree of suitability and relevance of the curriculum. Upon zooming in, the following topics were mentioned as the most relevant ones:

1) Online journalism 2) Ethics in journalism 3) Reporting 4) Investigative and citizen journalism 5) Grey areas of journalism 6) Professional objectivity 7) Social journalism

A majority, i.e. 72% of the students said that in terms of ethics, the content was much more

practical, interesting and informative as compared to their university curriculum. Also, the

updated information and practical examples of the content made learning easier. 90% of the students stated that the training was a complete package. All 100% students claimed that since attending the training, they apply the principals of citizen journalism for every post they share. These are the principles mostly adhered to:

1. Ethics 2. Investigation of the news 3. Authenticity of the news 4. Free of bias, hatred, discrimination etc.

About 55% of these students share the same principles within their social circles to further foster the messages through Facebook, and articles discussion with friends etc. Whereas, about 14% of the students said that they write for Bolo Jawan. 3) Challenges 78% of the respondents said that they didn’t face any challenges. The rest of them mentioned the following challenges:

Citizen journalist carries a great responsibility

Time management

Safety issues Resistance from people

Rejection of the content

Application of citizen journalism in an environment where tilted policies are followed.

4) Suggestions Out of the total number of feedbacks, only 11% gave their recommendations that are as under:

Increase the number of training days Add more practical work Add camera work Solution based content Introduce individual exercises

89% of the respondents did not share any feedback and termed the training curriculum as “Good”.

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Findings of Focus Group Discussions with the Editorial Board Members

1) Structure of Editorial Board and Selection of office bearers All the board members were familiar with the board’s hierarchy, its mandate and the role of

all the members. Members were performing their duties as assigned under the supervision

of the focal faculty member of the department. All the board members were well aware of

the selection process and showed satisfaction with the mechanism. The participants

confirmed that they had received e-mails to share articles and had filled out online forms to

avail the board membership. Upon fulfilling the requirements, they were selected as

members of the Editorial Board. 2) How the Editorial Board works The board works under self-defined deadlines and receives a huge volume of content from both internal and external resources. I have recently edited 6 articles. (Student, Karachi University) Members of all the editorial boards follow the same mechanism in which all the content is

thoroughly reviewed and the qualifying items are duly forwarded to the Chief Editor. They

generate their own content and also collect from others. Alongside, they are also promoting

Bolo Jawan. On the event of Tehelka Pakistan, I got the opportunity to speak. I introduced Bolo Jawan and received very positive feedback. (Student, Islamic International University) 3) The Role of Training Overall, the training session was termed as highly interactive and practical oriented. Post

training, an increase in the level of awareness regarding citizen journalism was observed.

The students were familiarized with the positive and negative aspects of a story, and or

news. The training developed their concept of citizen journalism and made them conscious

of the consequences of its misuse leading to distress in people’s lives. Now I seek permission from the person before publishing any material related to him/her. (Student, Hazara University) We publish their news with their names. I have learnt the art of presenting a negative

situation without actually being negative. (Student, Gujrat University) 4) Principals of Citizen Journalism We don’t copy from others or download from the internet; we develop our own content. (Student, Hazara University)

Students were found to have adopted a more sensitive approach towards every post, story,

blog and picture they shared on any social media. They try to adhere to all the principals of

Citizen Journalism, especially ethics. They have become extra sensitized about their roles as

citizen journalists. They have adopted the measures to ensure that principals of citizen

journalism are being earnestly adhered to e.g. taking permission from others; using positive

and unbiased words; highlighting positivity; and, avoiding publication of hate based opinions

etc. 5) Material Production and Content Selection Students of all Editorial Boards confirmed that all type of content is thoroughly reviewed in

line with the principles of Citizen Journalism before publication. It is ensured that the

content is unbiased, neutral and correct. Three stories of EB of Hazara University, three

articles of Gujrat University, and all the stories of IPS students have been published so far.

However, Karachi University students have worked on many articles but no content has

been published as yet, since at the time of the FGD, the Editorial Board was not fully

functional. 6) Role of Bolo Jawan This is a comparatively bigger and more effective platform, contrary to our own personal

social media accounts, where only a limited number of people have access. This is an opportunity for us to reach maximum people with our new agenda to spread positivity. Bolo

Jawan has followers in thousands which is very effective. (Student, Hazara University) The Board members termed the portal as a very useful and effective one to promote Citizen Journalism that can be use to shed light on the local issues. It is premature to say anything. We came here for this main purpose and have not used it yet so can’t comment on it. (Student, Karachi University) 7) Satisfaction with the Work The members of the Editorial Board were generally found to be satisfied with the work. We are satisfied with this workshop as it has given us practical work opportunity. (Student, Hazara University) Time is a constraint for us as we are students of final year but we will manage. (Student, Gujrat University) We get the appreciation in form of content publication so it is the main source of our satisfaction. (Student, International Islamic University) 8) Challenges Since all the members are students, their academic activities and engagements keep them from carrying out the board’s activities in true spirit.

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Maintaining public relations is very difficult. And we need time to run PR campaign as Bolo

Jawan is a new platform. Right now we are unable to get external stories. Many people are

not getting the concept of Bolo Jawan because we need extra efforts and time. (Students, Gujrat University) 9) Suggestions All the students gave the following suggestions for the sake of further improvement in future.

Increase the number of training days Allocate more time to students for practical work Provide equipment like cameras, recording equipment etc.

Invite all participants for meetings; and/or focal person of PYCA should visit the

university so that every student could get the opportunity to better understand the concepts

10) Sustainability of the Editorial Board For sustainability of the board, new students will be taken onboard. Sustainability can be ensured only if PYCA keeps on providing support in terms of training and follow-ups to new students who will join this in future. (Student, Hazara University) The students believed that the portal will continue to get quality content because for many

people with good writing skills, this is the platform that helps them get published. In the present

age of social media, developing creative content is very easy. Thereby, the portal should increase

the pictorial and audio visual section alongside the written content, to widen the opportunity for

other aspiring creators. It will be sustained as it provides liberty to publish any topic on it. It has good objectives. It is addressing citizen journalism. (Student, Karachi University) If we get likeminded people like writers and photographers etc. sustainability will be easy. (Student, Karachi University)

Findings of In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) with University Focal Points

Training Topics In general, the topic of training and its entirely student centered delivery approach was highly appreciated by all focal persons. The training was termed a good combination of theory and practicum. Further, inclusion, of ethics as a topic was appreciated as the right choice, owing to the present day scenario. Social media has widely spread and there is need to tell people about its correct use. And as a citizen journalist we can bring positive change by using this social media. (Focal Point, Hazara University) Although we do offer courses on online journalism, but the topics like citizen journalism, social media role, and ethics have been found to be very relevant. (Focal point, Gujrat University) For further improvement, it was suggested to involve other groups like students from other departments, local journalists, and actual citizen journalists. Introduction of media awards and inclusion of Citizen Journalism in the syllabus of journalism studies were also among the recommendations. Regarding sustainability of the Editorial Boards, it was emphasized that after one year PYCA should train new students. All the participants affirmed that this training increased their sensitivity towards the appropriate use of social media as a citizen journalist. Editorial Board is a great and effective source of learning for the students and also a bridge

between PYCA and the University. It is helping the students in multiple ways. Besides their

communication skills, their managerial, coordination, and public relation skills are also being

polished. (Focal Point, Gujrat University) I think after passing out, the students of this EB will not sustain. PYCA will have to train new students to sustain the board. This is an ongoing process which requires engagement with the students. (Focal Point, Karachi University) To promote citizen journalism, citizen journalist should be brought on board. In Pakistan, Geo Dost tried to promote citizen journalism, but they did not receive as overwhelmed response as it should have been. (Focal Point, IPS)

In-depth Interview (IDI) Findings Seminar Speaker Interview: Faysal Qureshi Interview mode: Telephonic Date: 04 – Jan- 2017

Background: The seminar speaker is a well- known media person, a journalist and an anchor who conducted four seminars for PYCA. To analyze his experience with this project, an In-depth Interview was arranged.

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Findings The speaker generally appreciated the topic selected for the training. PYCA has done a wonderful job by selecting and engaging youth in the field of Citizen Journalism. (Faysal Qureshi) He termed his experience with the present project as “amazing”. He found the students of

all universities very vibrant and active and admitted being pleasantly surprised at the students’ level of participation. This training has given the students a new perspective of thinking which will help them to

ask questions, cross questions and argue, which traditionally they don’t do. Through

engagement in this training PYCA tried to break students’ hesitation and speech barriers

which is wonderful. (Faysal Qureshi) Suggestions Identify the students who actually want to be citizen journalists and train them rigorously on

“Citizen Journalism”. Afterwards, PYCA can groom them through sustained guidance. Thus,

this dedicated group will take this mission forward. Overall the project is very good and

should continue. It should not stop here. (Faysal Qureshi)

In-Depth Interview with the Donor Meeting venue: Open Society Foundation Office

Date: 28-12-2016

Time: 20 minutes

A. Project Execution: The donor representative was found to be generally satisfied with the entire project (concept, execution, close out) as implemented by PYCA. The donor appreciated PYCA’s planning in terms of back up institutes. If any university disagreed, alternatives could be arranged). The donor was also satisfied with the progress sharing pattern of PYCA which included progress

briefs, and presentations besides the monthly progress reports. According to the donor, a

realistic target was fixed to ensure quality and PYCA has been successful in accomplishing more

than the mark. B. Concept of the Project: OSF wanted to fund a project with a widespread social impact, and the core concept of the

present project gelled in well with this requirement. Through this project, OSF has tried to

enable students to share their own prospects for the betterment of their areas. The training and

the portal provide the students with all the skills and techniques necessary to highlight issues of

their areas in their own way.

I read a very interested blog on Dr. Abdul Salam on Bolo Jawan. This is a platform for those

who did not have any voice before on the main stream media. Furthermore, when students

feel they have the skills, resources and freedom to do something, it develops a sense of empowerment as well as responsibility. (Focal Person, OSF) C. Impact and Sustainability: Regarding impact, donor is of the view that though this one-year project can’t bring a drastic change as it’s a fact that training of 40 people can’t bring a revolution. However, whatever change this project has brought can be termed as “remarkable”. D. Challenge: The only challenge mentioned was the 03 months long summer break which delayed the completion of the activities in line with the work plan developed initially.

Total Outreach

To find out the total outreach through Bolo Jawan portal, Google analytics were reviewed. Data from October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016 shows a trend which at this stage can be

considered optimistic. In three months’ duration, there were 2762 users and 12,411 page views.

Majority of the users are from Pakistan. However, PYCA needs to focus on increasing the users,

and viewers, as well as the revenue, to ensure long term sustainability. PYCA can use the services

of the students of editorial boards to promote the portal within their universities and they can

encourage other students to write the content as well.

Work Products Project aimed to produce the following work products:

1. Documentary 2. Project brochures 3. Press releases 4. Opinion articles.

All the work products have been developed successfully. The documentary is at the final stage.

Overall Effectiveness and Sustainability Plan

Effectiveness The project has overall been effective in terms of achievement of its specific objectives. This includes the following: Training of 800 students:

Instead of the initially targeted 800 students, PYCA has reached around 2000; a figure, far higher than the set mark. It can be taken as a sign of dedication on part of PYCA which took the message to maximum audience within the limited budget available.

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Youth Led Web Portal:

PYCA has successfully developed and launched a youth led citizen portal titled Bolo Jawan. The portal has been live since October 2016 and has been accessed by a reasonable number of visitors. Analysis of the content uploaded on Bolo Jawan shows that it is also meeting the objective by allowing the students to share their ideas on any issue, topic and theme, hence, meeting the objective of promoting greater plurality and diversity of media.

Sustainability

The main output of the project is sustainability of Editorial Boards and Bolo Jawan portal. Regarding the portal, the sustainability plan is sufficient to meet the needs up till August 2017 and onwards. Discussion with the website builder also shows that after getting website approval from Google Ad Sense, it can publish ads and generate income. The anticipated income will be sufficient to run and maintain the portal. PYCA has made an effective sustainability plan for the portal.

Project Staff Observations Challenges Faced and Foreseen Due to summer vacations project activities halted for three months. Sometimes management of public university’s late response rate caused unnecessary delays. Further, sustainability of the Editorial boards will be a challenge as engagement of University focal point’s involvement in post project period will require budget which PYCA does not have at the moment. Suggestions 1. Students of mature age groups like Masters level should be selected for the project

intervention to receive a serious response 2. Students of far flung areas have less exposure, and thus take time to understand a concept

but owing to the very same context, more efforts should be directed towards them.

Recommendations from the Study Findings PYCA has put a lot of effort in implementation of this project and if it has with it demographics of all the beneficiaries, it could demonstrate the diversity and spread of its outreach. This could make PYCA draw more inferences for similar planning in future. In the light of study findings, to make Bolo Jawan sustainable, PYCA can introduce the following measures: a) Before passing out, the senior trained batch, ensures peer learning of new students b) Arrange quarterly follow ups with the new students to know their problems and guide them

accordingly c) Ensure financial stability of the Bolo Jawan portal and payments to students for the most

read content to keep their interest and motivation alive. d) Students being paid can be used for follow ups and for keeping the project alive in their

institutes. e) Portal might be handed over to students interested in running it as a social entrepreneurship

model, upon completion of their studies. They can publish the content of new comers, can train them and use the revenue generated.

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