Project profile — Building a Culture of Peaceful Pluralism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, Phase II

This project aims to tackle rising hate speech and disinformation that is fueling ethnic and religious extremism, violence, and conflict in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Building on Phase I of this project, which works to establish a cross-border cohort of journalists and activists to respond and report on peaceful pluralism issues, Phase II aims to solidify gains achieved, and further expand participant skills, collaboration, and networking in both countries. Project activities include: (1) furthering the skills of women that were trained on peaceful pluralism issues in Phase I, now as mentors; (2) providing training to a core cadre of women journalists and activists on digital safety and security to respond to contextual and gender challenges; (3) organizing cross-culture media exchanges and supporting technical story productions; (4) building the capacity of youth in peaceful pluralism, media, and civil society; and (5) expanding national and regional networks by providing an open space to discuss religious and ethnic diversity issues between media, women journalists, activists and other stakeholders.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) positive changes in public opinion on issues of religious freedom and ethnic diversity issues in support of peaceful pluralism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka; (2) increased access to high quality information about religious freedom, human rights and ethnic or religious diversity; and (3) increased capacity of journalists and activists, particularly women, to report safely on issues of religious freedom, human rights and ethnic or religious diversity; and (3) increased national engagement between media and key stakeholders focused on issues of religious freedom, human rights and ethnic or religious diversity.

Results achieved at the end of the project (May 2025) include: (1) produced 495 articles on topics including religious freedom, human rights, and ethnic and religious diversity in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. This content is published in more than 600 unique mainstream and alternative publications and helped increase access to high quality content and information on these topics in both countries; (2) trained 662 women journalists and activists on digital security tools and techniques; and (3) delivered 11 training sessions to 159 (74 women and 85 men) participants on pluralism and gender equity. 85% of them reported more positive attitudes towards religious and ethnic diversity as a result of completing the project activity.