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Success Story

Photo: ACCELS - Kazakhstan

Zhanna Prashkevich (back row, third from left) at the International Visitors Center, Philadelphia, PA.

“When I visited universities and mass media outlets in the United States, the idea of how to professionalize the Kazakh media came to mind,” said Zhanna Prashkevich.

Media outlets in Kazakhstan face a variety of challenges including outdated education and training programs, legal restrictions, self-censorship, harassment, and government control. A 2008 Freedom of the Press report characterized the media in Kazakhstan as “not free.” Zhanna Prashkevich, who works at a non-profit organization in Pavlodar in northern Kazakhstan, is working to change the situation using ideas she gathered during a USAID-sponsored U.S. study tour.

“When I visited universities and mass media outlets in the United States, the idea of how to professionalize the Kazakh media came to mind,” Prashkevich said.

Prashkevich was one of ten representatives from independent Kazakh media organizations who traveled to Philadelphia for a study program on capacity-building. The USAID Community Connections program organized this study program to familiarize Kazakh specialists with American medias’ approaches to management, public outreach, and transparency of operations. Prashkevich was impressed by the professionalism of the American journalists and their level of expertise in the subject areas that they cover. She felt that outdated journalism curricula were a key problem in Kazakhstan. Upon returning from the study tour, she designed a two-year project aimed to expand the range of courses taught to journalism students.

“I met with Kazakhstan media organizations to present my project proposal, which was enthusiastically supported,” Prashkevich said. She secured cooperation from nine local media organizations for her project and received a grant from the European Commission to implement it. The project designs at least ten new courses on subjects currently not taught to journalism students, such as business, rights protection, Internet journalism, and new media. The courses will then be piloted by eight universities. Prashkevich believes that this initiative will generate interest among future media professionals and help strengthen the media in her country.

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