By A new regional project, “Key challenges: Improving journalist safety, labour rights and resilience in the Western Balkans”, has launched an ambitious Training of Trainers (ToT) programme that will create a strong pool of local experts on journalists’ safety and working conditions in five countries: Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo.
The ToT is led by the Fojo Media Institute in close cooperation with regional partners – Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM), Association of Independent Broadcast Media of Kosovo (AMPEK), Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (IAJS), the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia (SSNM) and Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together, they will identify and support a group of trainers and media professionals who are already working closely with journalists and have the potential to multiply knowledge in their own communities.
What the ToT programme will do
The ToT is designed as a three-step regional learning path. Over the course of the programme, a selected group of 15 participants from all five countries will build solid expertise in journalist safety, digital security and labour rights, while also strengthening their pedagogical skills. The expectation is that, after completing the programme, these trainers will be able to design and deliver their own workshops or mentoring activities at national level, thereby extending the project’s reach far beyond the initial cohort.
Participants will not only deepen their thematic knowledge but will also learn how to structure an effective training, work with adult learners, adapt content to different target groups such as freelancers, local media or editors, and evaluate whether their trainings have actually led to change. In parallel, they will continuously refine their own training plans, which they will later put into practice in their home countries with mentoring support from Fojo and regional experts.
Everyone who completes the full ToT track and successfully implements their national training assignment will receive a certificate issued by Fojo and the regional partners, confirming their competence to train on journalist safety, wellbeing and working conditions.
Starting from real challenges: what partners shared at the online launch
The shape of the ToT programme is directly informed by a joint online conference that marked the start of the project. During this launch event, partners and participants from all five countries shared what they see as the most pressing challenges in their own contexts.
Across Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo, the same themes kept coming up: digital safety, legal safety, risk assessment and physical safety, psychological safety, SLAPP and other forms of legal intimidation, and precarious working conditions. While the details differ from country to country, there was a clear sense that journalists in the region face a combination of digital threats, harassment, legal pressure and insecure employment, often without adequate institutional support.
These priorities now form the backbone of the ToT curriculum. The topics are shared, but the way they will be addressed will be adapted to each national context through the work of partners and the trainers they are helping to develop.
Beyond the ToT: national trainings, advocacy and regional networking
The ToT is part of a broader 20-month initiative running from September 2025 to April 2027. Once the trainers complete the main modules, partner organisations will support them to implement national trainings in priority areas, tailored to the needs of their media communities. These activities will target journalists, editors, media managers and, where relevant, representatives of media-support organisations and trade unions.
Alongside the ToT and national trainings for journalists, the project includes a second, closely connected component focusing on the justice sector. In Serbia and Kosovo, the project will organise activities with prosecutors and other justice and law-enforcement actors dealing with threats and crimes against journalists.
To ensure that knowledge and tools remain accessible, the project will establish a digital repository of best practices, manuals, guides and other materials produced or collected during the project. This online resource will serve journalists, trainers and organisations across the Western Balkans, long after the final activity has taken place.
