U.S. Embassy San Jose Public Diplomacy Section Journalist Training on Understanding Malign Foreign Influence | PD 002 FY2024

Opportunity Information: Apply for PD 002 FY2024

The U.S. Embassy in San Jose, through its Public Diplomacy Section, is offering a grant opportunity to support a journalist training program focused on understanding and reporting on malign foreign influence as it shows up in business and economic activity. The project centers on strengthening investigative capacity among Costa Rica-based business and economy reporters, with an emphasis on uncovering non-transparent and corrupt business practices and explaining the broader national impacts these practices can have. The opportunity is published under Funding Opportunity Number PD 002 FY2024, categorized as a mandatory grant in the information and statistics activity area (CFDA 19.040), and is administered by the U.S. Mission to Costa Rica.

The core of the program is an investigative journalism workshop that delivers 20 total hours of instruction through iterative sessions designed to fit working journalists schedules. The training is expected to be delivered as five to ten sessions spread across one to three months, allowing participants to apply what they learn between sessions and return with questions, leads, and draft work for further development. The format can blend virtual and in-person instruction, but the design must include at least 10 hours conducted in person, ensuring hands-on practice, peer collaboration, and direct mentorship. Substantively, the workshop is expected to cover practical investigative tools such as research techniques and data analysis, along with reporting approaches that help journalists document and explain opaque ownership structures, hidden financing, procurement irregularities, conflicts of interest, and other indicators of corruption or non-transparent conduct in the private sector and in public-private dealings.

A major thematic component involves training journalists to recognize and report on predatory infrastructure projects and lending practices. This includes common tactics used in such deals and the downstream implications for host countries. The opportunity specifically calls out impacts such as debt traps, cybersecurity compromises, and environmental degradation, signaling that the program should help reporters connect financial arrangements and contractual terms to real-world consequences like fiscal vulnerability, weakened digital security, and long-term ecological costs. The intent is not only to improve technical investigative skills, but also to help reporters build credible, well-sourced explanatory narratives that the public can understand and decision-makers cannot easily dismiss.

Beyond training, the grant expects tangible publishing outcomes. Applicants are asked to facilitate the pitching and publication of articles produced during the workshop, encouraging participants to develop strong story ideas tied to non-transparent or corrupt business practices and related influence risks. The program should include structured support for turning ideas into publishable work, such as refining angles, strengthening evidence, improving data presentation, tightening writing, and anticipating legal or editorial concerns. The opportunity also calls for an online repository where participants can store and share collaborative reporting materials, with coordination and consent considerations involving participants employers. In addition, grantees should provide practical help to participants who may pursue freelance publication, including guidance and assistance with pitching to relevant media outlets to expand reach, increase pickup, and amplify impact.

Safety is treated as a required part of the project, not an optional add-on. The program must provide guidance on risk assessment and security protocols tailored to the realities of reporting on corruption and opaque business practices. Journalists are expected to be trained to evaluate threats and vulnerabilities that may come from government authorities, corporate actors, or criminal organizations, and to adopt appropriate measures to reduce risk. While the notice does not prescribe a single security curriculum, the expectation is that participants leave with a clearer framework for assessing personal, digital, and operational risk and for making safer choices during sourcing, field reporting, storage of sensitive materials, and publication.

In terms of funding, the award ceiling is USD 50,000, and the Embassy anticipates making up to two awards. The original closing date listed for applications is April 26, 2024, and the opportunity was created on April 4, 2024. Eligible applicants include a range of U.S. and Costa Rica-based entities and individuals: registered not-for-profit organizations (including think tanks and civil society or non-governmental organizations with relevant programming experience), non-profit or educational institutions, private institutions of higher education, and individuals. The eligibility list also notes nonprofits with and without U.S. 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those two nonprofit categories), alongside private higher education institutions and individuals, indicating the Embassy is open to both organizational implementers and qualified independent practitioners who can credibly run the training and publishing support components.

Overall, this grant is designed to produce two linked outcomes: stronger investigative journalism capacity in Costa Rica on complex, high-stakes economic influence stories, and a pipeline of publishable reporting that brings greater transparency to opaque business practices and the risks associated with predatory financing and infrastructure arrangements. The Embassy is looking for an implementer that can deliver practical skills training, guide participants from investigation to publication, create a workable collaboration and storage system for reporting materials, and treat journalist security as a central program requirement.

• The U.S. Mission to Costa Rica in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "U.S. Embassy San Jose Public Diplomacy Section Journalist Training on Understanding Malign Foreign Influence" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-26. (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 $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals.

Apply for PD 002 FY2024

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