30th Anniversary of U.S.-Tajik Relations Video Campaign and Media Development Project | STI400 21 GR 0000

Opportunity Information: Apply for STI400 21 GR 0000

The "30th Anniversary of U.S.-Tajik Relations Video Campaign and Media Development Project" is a grant opportunity from the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, managed through its Public Affairs Section (PAS), aimed at marking three decades of U.S.-Tajik relations while strengthening Tajikistan's media and digital journalism capacity. The central idea is to pair a public-facing storytelling campaign about U.S.-Tajik cooperation with hands-on professional development for young and emerging media creators, especially those producing content for social media and television.

The opportunity is grounded in a practical problem the Embassy identifies in Tajikistan's media landscape: many journalists and bloggers have limited budgets and therefore limited ability to travel beyond their immediate area. That restriction reduces field reporting experience and leaves the public with less visibility into events, programs, and perspectives outside major cities. At the same time, modern reporting increasingly depends on visual storytelling and platform-ready video, yet many journalists and amateur creators lack strong skills in video editing, photography, and packaging content for digital distribution. This grant is meant to close those gaps by funding structured reporting tours and targeted training that result in publishable, professional-quality media products.

Eligible applicants are Tajikistan-based civil society and independent media organizations, including non-profit and for-profit entities and NGOs, as long as they align with PAS goals and the priority focus described in the call. The Embassy emphasizes that proposals should be written with clear attention to the target audience, objectives, and program outcomes, and the application narrative may not exceed 12 pages. The funding instrument is a discretionary grant under CFDA 19.900, with an award ceiling of $40,000. The opportunity was posted May 12, 2021, with an original closing date of June 13, 2021.

The project is designed around four main components. First, it funds reporting tours that take professional journalists, amateur journalists, and bloggers outside Dushanbe to document U.S. government assistance programs in different regions. Second, it supports training that improves participants' ability to produce and edit video, take high-quality photos, and package digital content effectively for social media platforms. Third, it calls for the creation of a series of videos highlighting key themes and successes in U.S.-Tajik relations over the past 30 years. Fourth, it requires production of a longer documentary focused on the broader story of the bilateral relationship, using both new and archival material.

The stated goal is twofold: build the capacity of local media professionals to produce compelling visual content suitable for social media and television, and simultaneously highlight positive, concrete stories of U.S.-Tajik cooperation. The primary target audience is young people in Tajikistan, specifically men and women ages 15-35 who are interested in journalism, photography, videography, or social media and who can commit time to training and content creation. In practice, the grant is structured to produce both skills transfer (training and real-world reporting practice) and tangible outputs (videos, photos, and a documentary) that can circulate widely and shape public understanding.

The program lays out specific expected objectives and activity examples. It anticipates roughly three to four reporting tours (the objectives mention four) to sites of U.S. assistance programs outside the capital, organized around themes such as agriculture and economic assistance, health assistance, security assistance, and education assistance. During these tours, participants are expected to capture high-resolution photos and video footage, which should then be edited into at least four professional-level videos that showcase different aspects of U.S. support and bilateral collaboration. This is meant to ensure that travel and training translate into finished content that can be shared publicly and that demonstrates improved production standards.

A major deliverable is a 25-minute documentary on U.S.-Tajik relations that blends interviews, archival and contemporary visuals, infographics, music, and professional editing techniques. The solicitation also envisions a large set of interview-style video segments that can function both as documentary components and as standalone social media pieces. These interviews are expected to feature several categories of voices tied to the Embassy and U.S.-supported initiatives, including former ambassadors and Embassy-affiliated personnel (employees, grantees, contractors), alumni and current participants in Embassy programs, beneficiaries of U.S. assistance projects, and current Embassy employees and partners. In addition to video, the project calls for professional-quality photography, including at least 15 high-quality photos of individuals such as beneficiaries of U.S. assistance projects, current Embassy employees, and U.S. government exchange alumni. Altogether, the structure pushes applicants to think beyond training workshops and instead build an end-to-end pipeline: plan reporting, gather material, produce polished media, and distribute it in formats appropriate for modern digital audiences.

Overall, this grant opportunity is essentially a combined media development and strategic storytelling initiative: it funds real reporting experiences and practical content-production training for young and emerging journalists, and it uses the outputs to commemorate the 30th anniversary of U.S.-Tajik relations through a coordinated video campaign and a documentary that emphasizes visible, on-the-ground results of cooperation.

• The U.S. Mission to Tajikistan in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "30th Anniversary of U.S.-Tajik Relations Video Campaign and Media Development Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.900.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-05-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $40,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for STI400 21 GR 0000

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