With the overall objective to contribute towards greater access of war-affected citizens to reliable information by strengthening editorial and/or organizational capacity of the independent regional media, and specific objectives 1) to increase resilience of independent regional investigative journalism outlets (IJOs) and media; 2) to increase critical issues coverage by independent regional IJOs and media; and 3) to facilitate IJOs and regional media collaboration contributing to individual and organisational capacity and editorial performance, the Action comprises three Components: 1) Emergency Support to Regional Media; 2) Capacity Building Support to IJOs; and 3) Wider sectoral support, networking & lesson capture/learning.

In 2022 IWPR successfully launched the Ukraine’s Regional Media Emergency Support (URMES) programme and provided 12 subgrants to 6 regional and 3 national IJOs, 2 regional media outlets and a local media development NGO, yielding 1,650 media materials which reached 41.8 million people. In addition, 46 journalists benefited from targeted mentoring support which resulted in the application of new and improved knowledge and skills at work. Subgrantees also reported the establishment of eight peer collaborations, while 42% of Action partners collaborated with national authorities.The Action supported the participation of 25 journalists to the 14th annual Ukrainian Investigative Journalism Conference (UIJC), run by the co-implementor – the Regional Press Development Institute in November 2022.

Overall objective of the Action is to contribute towards greater access of war-affected citizens to reliable information by strengthening editorial and/or organizational capacity of the independent regional media.
The specific objectives of the Action are:
1. To increase resilience of independent regional IJOs and media;
2. To increase critical issues coverage by independent regional IJOs and media;
3. To facilitate IJOs and regional media collaboration contributing to individual and organisational capacity and editorial performance.

• At least to 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens across Ukraine have increased access to high quality, impartial, and reliable information, leading to greater trust in the media and informing their decision-making.
• At least 70% regional media subgranted demonstrated greater resilience or increased editorial performance and/or organizational capacity
• At least 50% of regional media which received capacity development support will have demonstrated application of new knowledge and skills;
• At least 50% of regional media subgranted reported retained audience reach, at least 10% of regional IJOs and media subgranted reported increased audience reach
• Journalists and editors, civil society activists, and lawyers have benefited from shared knowledge and best practice, and increased collaboration between themselves as well as national or international authorities (at least 5 confirmed peer collaborations or partnerships established within or across the regions among regional IJOs and media; at least 20% of regional IJOs and media reported collaboration with international and/or national authorities and CSOs