E VA LUAT ION R E P OR T

Executive summary
Ukraine and Moldova
Improving journalism education and advancing
Media and Information Literacy in Ukraine and Moldova

dw-akademie.com

BackgroundIn both Ukraine and Moldova, the mostimportant source of information is television, a medium dominated by oligarchs,
who influence the available content asmeans of protecting their own economic
and political interests. As a result, citizens
have great difficulty accessing balanced
and reliable information. The region also
suffers from a lack of qualified journalists.
In Moldova, local offshoots of Russian online media outlets and social networks
increasingly transmit exclusively Russian
propaganda; only about 16% of Moldovans have access to independent news
outlets. For children and young people,
social media has become the most important source of information. However,as fake news and manipulated reportingare on the rise, children and young people
lack the literacy to deal responsibly with
online media.
The project builds on previous achievements supported by DW Akademie andaims to further improve the quality of(youth) journalism development programs and the promotion of Media andInformation Literacy (MIL) in the educational systems of Ukraine and Moldova,supported by a wide range of civil society
organizations, media outlets and educational institutions. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (BMZ) from January 2020 toDecember 2022, the project follows two
specific objectives: one, to provide journalists in Ukraine with access to structurally reformed and practice-oriented
journalistic qualification programs; andtwo, to support regionally networked MILchange agents in enabling children andyoung people in Ukraine and Moldova touse media responsibly and critically.
This evaluation aims to review the progress made in terms of the project’s impact on the region, the fulfillment of its
expected outcomes and outputs throughthe planned activities, as well as develop
tailored recommendations to guide andinform future programing around media
development and MIL in Ukraine, Moldova and the Eastern Partnership region.
The evaluation is guided by the OECD/DAC
criteria and uses a mixed method design.
It includes primary and secondary datacollected through a desk review, remotesemi-structured individual interviews andfocus group discussions tailored to thebackground and role of the respondents.
The sampling included 75 individuals representing DW Akademie’s project teams,including program directors in both countries, implementing partners, beneficiaries and target groups (students, youth,teachers, multipliers) as well as otherstakeholders. The evaluation did not encounter any significant methodologicallimitations.

Project evaluation results
Relevance: The evaluation concluded thatthe project is highly relevant to the national contexts of Ukraine and Moldova. It is inline with the aims of the project partners
in both countries and addresses the key
developmental problems of the target
groups and was designed in close consultation with the key stakeholders. An analysis of the intervention logic and the links
between the expected results, activities
and inputs shows that the project design
was appropriate and set up realistic targets and approaches in line with the operational environment. The human rightsbased approach is central to the design as
the project targets “right holders” (journalists, children, youth, media outlets, project
partners), who were trained on media literacy and supported in media production,
but also the “duty bearers” (universitiesand schoolteachers) who were supported and equipped with MIL materials. The
pandemic restrictions generated certain
justified project design adjustments andinfluenced the daily operations of the project, but without changing the logic of theintervention and the initial targets andchain of results. In summary, the project

has “comprehensively fulfilled” the criteria
for relevance.
Coherence: The project activities complement and support the existing efforts ofthe partner organizations, for the mostpart coordinating with their other activities in the media development and MIL
arena. The internal coherence of the project is thus strong. In terms of the external
coherence, cross-sectoral cooperation andnetworking between the media development and MIL actors in both countries,
improvements were made, and mostly
positive perspectives were expressed, asconfirmed by the respondents consulted
during the project evaluation. Overall, theproject has a robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system based on quick andthematic surveys, reflection sessions, andself-monitoring, as well as written andverbal post-training assessments undertaken by the project partners. The M&E
system contributes to the identificationof the strengths and weaknesses of theapproaches and stimulates learning, improvement and accountability. However,there is a need for more in-depth M&E of

the post-training changes. The project canthus be rated as having “overall fulfilled”
the criterion of coherence.
Effectiveness: The project was effective
and performed well for the most part. It
fulfilled or is likely to fulfill the main targets,
namely improving the quality of journalism
development programs and increasing media literacy. It promoted practice-oriented
journalistic education and MIL training atdifferent levels. Ukrainskaia Pravda continued to successfully operate the School for
Business Journalism and the DW Akademie
supported the trainers through thematicworkshops, which covered a wide range
of issues, including consumer journalism.
The Ukrainian Media and Communication
Institute made a positive contribution tothe current offerings in the targeted journalism departments and increased thecompetencies of the university professors,
who are now teaching more practicallyoriented journalism. The Media Center Nakipelo, jointly with the Kharkiv-based public broadcaster, increased the professional
competences of the targeted editors as aresult of the highly appreciated journalistic

traineeship program—a new way of engaging in practical journalistic training beyond
academic settings.
During the previous phase of the DW Akademie project, the Ministry of Education
and Research of Moldova launched MIL as
an elective discipline. During the current
phase of the project, this work was continued through the Independent Journalism
Center (IJC), which promotes MIL and trains
schoolteachers. A cooperation with theFaculty for Lifelong Learning, the training
unit of the State Pedagogical University,
was successful in implementing an online
training course for teachers and school
headmasters. In the third year of the project (2022), the University is committed tointegrating face-to-face components in order to adapt to the post-pandemic period.
Four other Moldovan partners (YMC, BASTV, TUK, the NGO Diversitate) were quite
effective in supporting MIL influencers
and developing and implementing the MIL
campaigns and thematic extracurricular
media activities. However, pandemic restrictions widely affected the MIL-related
projects in the schools. In Ukraine, Insha
Osvita joined the project and expanded
the MIL activities previously initiated by
the Academy of Ukrainian Press. It added
new features to the practical training ofMIL multipliers for the creation of media
content by and for target groups.
The project stimulated and enhanced
multi-dimensional cross-border MIL initiatives launched by MIL change agentsfrom Moldova (YMC, Diversitate and TUK),
Ukraine (Insha Osvita) and Georgia (MediaDevelopment Foundation). The respective actions generated inter-generational conversations between young people
and their parents about their media use,developed thematic expertise, stimulated
the exchange of experiences between theproject partners, and consolidated the MIL
networks. In summary, the project “overallfulfilled” the criteria for effectiveness.
Efficiency: The implementation modalityand dynamic of the project were affectedby the pandemic restrictions, but adjustments allowed for the avoidance of bottlenecks and diminished any negative effects.
The project was managed according to DW

Akademie procedures without any micromanagement. The communication with theimplementation partners was comprehensive and prompt. The forms of cooperation,communication and project management(direct in case of experienced project partners from Moldova and Ukraine and indirect in case of less experienced partners
from Moldova) illustrates the flexibility andadaptability of the project. As can be seen in
the evaluation report, it proved to be clear,smooth and efficient in the first case andless efficient or even inefficient and problematic in the second case.
The partners contributed in-kind technical,
material and human resources. The evaluation did not establish the existence of any
extra-project financial contributions. The
expertise and financial resources invested
in the interventions were adequate andmostly sufficient for achieving the plannedresults. The resources were used cost-effectively, and the evaluation could not pinpoint any alternative, more cost-effective
services or resources. The project thus“partially fulfilled” the criteria for efficiency.
Impact: The findings show some early signsof impact. The project generated some potential long-term changes and contributed
to improving the quality of journalism anduniversity journalism education, as well as
media literacy development programs. It
enabled children and young people fromUkraine and Moldova to use media offerings more responsibly and critically andincreased youth involvement in media
production. The interventions (especiallythe multi-phase ones) positively impacted
the main target groups and beneficiaries,
namely young people and children fromUkraine and Moldova, allowing them tomake use of their rights to freedom of expression and access to information and improve their media literacy. The project thus
“overall fulfilled” the criteria for impact.
Sustainability: The sustainability of theproject is somewhat uneven: the projectis relatively sustainable in Moldova, but
impossible to assess in Ukraine becauseof the still on-going war, which—among
other issues—has generated significant
instability and forced a large number ofpeople to flee. In terms of policy sustainability, the IJC’s activities were geared

DW Akademie

is Deutsche Welle’s center forinternational media development,journalism training and knowledgetransfer. Our projects strengthen thehuman right to freedom of expression
and unhindered access to information.
DW Akademie empowers people
worldwide to make independent
decisions based on reliable facts andconstructive dialogue. DW Akademie isa strategic partner of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic
Coopera­tion and Development. We
also receive funding from the Federal
Foreign Office and the European Union
and are active in approximately 60
developing countries and emerging
economies.

CONTAC T

Dr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany
DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration
dw.com/mediadev

t­ oward strengthening the sustainability ofthe project and influencing existing educational policy in Moldova by mainstreaming MIL across the curriculum. While there
have been no notable achievements asof yet, the stakeholders are committed
to continuing the work. The MIL subjects
mainstreamed into the educational curricula of the Pedagogical University, which isin the process of accreditation, are likely tobe sustainable.
In terms of institutional and financial sustainability, the training of trainers, MIL
trainings and media development programs strengthened the thematic capacity of the targeted participants and partners, who learned interactive methods
for teaching MIL, improved their media
production and increased their journalistic competencies. These achievements
hold the promise of sustainability and, asstated by one of the stakeholders, “thoselearnings and skills cannot be accidently
lost or forgotten.”
The methodological support provided tothe project partners in making the switch
to an online format (in response to the pandemic) also represents a promising avenue
in terms of institutional sustainability, as it
empowered the project partners to use
online activities to effectively engage theirtarget groups—an online-toolbox they cancontinue to use in the future. It is however
too premature to discuss the project’s financial sustainability, as its prospects are
weak overall and the partners are dependent on external development support,
despite their commitment to continuing
the promotion of MIL and other media
development initiatives. An overall assessment of the sustainability of the project isthus impossible.

The objective of the external evaluation is to provide a constructive assessment of the project results. It does not necessarily align with theperspective and planning of DW Akademie. Nevertheless, all findings were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated into
the development of future strategies.