The purpose of journalism is defined by the function news plays in the lives of people—writes Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in The Elements of Journalism. Therefore, the purpose of journalism is to provide people with evidence-based information they require to make best possible decisions.

UNDP Pakistan partnered with Media Matters for Democracy with the aim to mainstream development journalism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

This was achieved through a two-pronged intervention aimed at training 200 young journalists on data informed reporting, writing skills, and development challenges confronting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the backdrop of the SDGs.

The trainings then led to an extended mentorship programme through which experienced journalists, from the province, provided technical support on producing quality journalistic pieces to project beneficiaries. 

Our programme also included a research component to map and analyse the institutional and capacity development challenges confronting journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latter helped in finalizing the content of the training and mentorship modules for the downstream component.

Nasreen Jabeen was one of the journalists that took part of our training. Nasreen is based in Peshawar and working as a journalist for the last fifteen years. She always has a flair for writing. Nasreen learnt about the training and decided to take part.

‘Over the span of six months, I gained vision to highlight issues in backward areas… We learnt about picking up one issue, and then writing in detail.’  Says Nasreen. ‘From the training, I also gained story-telling skills. I would like to use apply these skills from print media to digital media.’

She is associated with the Jang group, and reports on minorities, women issues, human rights, and education and health.