The Journalist Support Fund 2402 gets an Advisory Board: who are there and what will be done

• Journalists founded the 2402 Foundation on the first day of the great war as a source of emergency aid for colleagues.
• On the eve of the initiative’s founding anniversary, media professionals from Ukraine, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States became members of the Council.
• The primary mission is to bring the work of the Fund to a new level, which will allow even more help to journalists working in extraordinary conditions.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the 2402 Urgent Support Fund has been working to protect and support journalists in Ukraine: it promptly responds to media requests. To increase the effectiveness of professional assistance and expand the strategic areas of work, the Foundation attracted competent partners and formed an Advisory Board.

Zaborona tells about tasks and goals.

Fund 2402: what does it do

The main tasks of the Board members are to provide consultations, expert assessment, and professional advice on various areas of the Foundation’s work to improve the situation with the safety and protection of journalists in Ukraine, to support and provide everything necessary for as many media professionals as possible who cover the war. Board members will analyze the effectiveness of the Foundation’s activities, share recommendations, act as ambassadors of the Foundation in negotiations with donors, and represent 2402 in the public sphere. 

“The creation of the Advisory Board is a new major step in the activities and development of the 2402 Fund. Each of its members is a brilliant professional with extensive and unique experience that will help to take a deeper and broader look at the problems of journalists’ safety, attract the world’s attention, and develop concrete ways to solve them. I am very grateful to my colleagues for agreeing to become members of the Advisory Board and helping us become more useful and effective. By combining our common aspirations, competence, and efforts, I am confident that we will be able to do much more to support and protect journalists in Ukraine,” says Roman Stepanovych, Head and co-founder of the 2402 Foundation.

The Advisory Board includes:

• Kerry Paterson – Deputy Director of Emergencies at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), USA. 

Elisabeth Cantenys – Executive Director of the ACOS Alliance and co-leader of the Newsrooms Advocacy Group at the Coalition Against Online Violence, previously Program Director at the Rory Peck Trust, London.

Christian Borys – founder of the Saint Javelin Foundation, former journalist, Canada.

Angelina Kariakina – Ukrainian journalist, Head of News at UA;PBC (Ukrainian Public Broadcaster), co-founder of Public Interest Journalism LAB, Ukraine.

Olha Rudneva — co-founder of the Superhumans center for treatment and rehabilitation of war victims, former director of the Olena Pinchuk Foundation, Ukraine.

Mstyslav Chernov — director, documentary filmmaker, writer, and founder of the Association of Photographers of Ukraine, Ukraine.

As a reminder, the 2402 Foundation was established by journalist Kateryna Serhatskova and producer Roman Stepanovych on the first day of the full-scale invasion. Since then, the Foundation has provided:

• more than 20 editorial offices of Ukrainian media with personal protective equipment;
• handed over about 260 sets of bulletproof vests and helmets;
• 220 tactical first aid kits, dozens of satellite phones, communicators, a generator, and other equipment to Ukrainian freelance journalists;
• more than 200 media professionals have undergone HEFAT safety training and learned to survive in a hostile environment.