Securing Access to Free Expression (SAFE) Project

The specific goals of the project are to:

• Improve physical awareness, psychosocial care, and digital identity for media practitioners who are at risk globally.
• Promote solidarity among journalists and media workers, both nationally and regionally, to build an enabling environment for the development of fortified groups, associations, and unions.
• Connect media freedom groups, human rights defenders, and multilateral organisations.
• Provide equitable access to all activities and to advance the rights of all, including those facing marginalisation and discrimination.

The project activities include:

• Safety trainings: SAFE's integrated safety trainings help journalists better navigate turbulent situations in order to provide alternative, independent media to their communities and the world. The trainings address digital, physical, and psychosocial elements and are either basic or advanced, and conducted remotely or in-person. (See Related Summaries below for information on the SAFE Basic Training Curriculum.)
• Individual and organisational risk management plans: Programme staff create individual or organisational risk management plans for journalists and media professionals, as well as media outlets and groups, who may become vulnerable to threats due to investigative or other high-risk reporting activities.
• Training of Trainers (ToT): The programme uses this approach to enable local media outlets and organisations to foster their own expertise and conduct holistic safety trainings based on the needs of their community.
• Solidarity events: SAFE uses solidarity events to bring together journalists and media workers, both nationally and regionally, to build a supportive and enabling environment for the development of fortified groups, associations, unions, and other platforms. SAFE also connects media freedom groups, human rights defenders, and multilateral organisations through advisory networks that provide strategic guidance, participant vetting and referrals, and promotion of SAFE's integrated safety approach.

Since 2013, the programme has supported more than 8,000 journalists, including 4,900 who received holistic safety training and 3,100 who participated in solidarity-building events or received individual risk-mitigation support, as well as 39 media outlets who were supported through organisational risk-mitigation plans.

At the core of SAFE's work is IREX's Do No (More) Harm approach, which aims to ensure that programmes do not inadvertently make things worse for the people and communities with whom one seeks to work. With women, gender non-conforming individuals, people from rural communities, and ethnic minorities often disproportionately affected by safety risks, SAFE invested in targeted trainings for media outlets and civil society organisations that service and represent marginalised groups, including indigenous communities, the LGBT+ community, journalists from remote areas, and women. The programme team also developed specific approaches and lesson plans to meet the needs of marginalised groups. As a result, more than 83% of people who received training identified as belonging to marginalised communities.

Over the years, the SAFE initiative has also evolved by adapting and updating its resources, tools, and materials to protect participating journalists from new and evolving risks they face while performing their duties. For example, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, SAFE added COVID-19 mitigation techniques and protocols to its training materials. SAFE also offered remote trainings and published a risk assessment that shared information on how journalists were impacted by COVID-19. In addition, the project developed guidelines for journalists to continue their work safely, highlighting potential opportunities to seize. One such opportunity was how the focus on the online sector of media allowed for new voices, especially from marginalised communities, to be heard.

SAFE has also addressed the challenges journalists face when covering events with inherent dangers. For example, SAFE created materials on election-related violence and held election-focused trainings to provide journalists with knowledge and approaches to navigate conflict if it arose. In addition, with climate change increasingly leading to extreme weather conditions, SAFE worked to promote awareness of additional risks faced by environmental-focused journalists and activists.

Looking into the future and as new laws and policies restricting freedom of press and expression become more prevalent, SAFE intends to continue to dedicate resources to learning, innovation, and evolution to provide up-to-date, holistic journalist safety trainings.

In celebration of SAFE's 10-year anniversary, IREX held a panel discussion with the title "Keeping Journalists Safe in the Face of Multiple Threats", which can be viewed below.

Media Development, Freedom of Expression

An evaluation after 10 years of implementation revealed the following results:

• 90% of participants reported that the knowledge they gained at a SAFE training was "very" or "extremely" helpful in addressing safety challenges they encountered after participating in a training. On a scale of 1 to 10 of how likely they would be to recommend the SAFE training to a friend or colleague, participants responded with an average rating of 9, indicating their high satisfaction with the support they received.
• Over 63% of participants surveyed reported that their organisations had implemented new or updated existing safety procedures and protocols within their organisation after staff had participated in the SAFE training.
• The trainings and other activities also succeeded in building solidarity among participants and thereby helped to create "communities of safety". This effect did not only cover the individuals and organisations directly supported by SAFE, but it also extended beyond the project's immediate reach. Close to 90% of participants indicated they had shared the knowledge and skills they had received in the training with their colleagues, friends, and/or families; on average, participants shared the knowledge with 4 to 5 additional individuals.