Local Media Innovations

The program is aimed at supporting local and niche media outlets. It helps editorial offices introduce innovative solutions and establish more effective interaction with the audience.

Within the program, participating media outlets receive support from the leading mentors and experts. Besides, participants get funds to implement innovations designed to improve interaction with readers, adapt content to their needs, and increase the audience.

The Ivano-Frankivsk news agency «KURS», the Kirovohrad region information portal «Grechka», «Gwara Media» from Kharkiv, «Bilyaivka.City» from Odesa region, «ZMIST» from Poltava, the Ivano-Frankivsk online city magazine «Kufer», an independent center of investigative journalism «Nashi Groshi.Lviv», Vinnytsia information portal «Vezha», and «Konotop.City» have already joined the program.

Four media outlets, namely «Gwara Media», «Grechka», «ZMIST», and «Kufer», improved technical capabilities of the websites. They started analyzing the audience more effectively, improved the site's administrative panel, and created more opportunities for multimedia formats. In addition, these editorial offices conducted the website redesign, thus increasing the audience and enhancing the interaction with the readers.

The news agency «KURS» has launched a tourist guide «Putivnyk», which became a platform for travelers and businesses helping attract readers from outside the region and serving as an additional monetization tool.

Bilyaivka.City has developed the subsite «Open Dnister», a platform that promotes ecological recreation on the Dnister banks and a thrifty attitude to its resources. This service is useful for locals as it provides opportunities and ideas for creating a tourism business and improving settlements’ infrastructure without harming the environment.

«Nashi Groshi.Lviv» team developed an SMM-strategy for social networks and launched new communication channels (Instagram and Twitter accounts). SMM-strategy implementation allowed enhancing the publications' coverage, attracting new subscribers, and increasing interaction with readers on Facebook by 168% in 4 months.

Konotop.City is working on the crowdfunding platform implementation, while Vinnytsia information portal «Vezha» is developing an SMM-strategy.

The Local Media Innovation program was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic within the Transition Promotion Program, Media Development Fund of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, The German Federal Foreign Office, and the International Renaissance Foundation.