Developing and evolving regional hubs and networks
Thu 16 April 2026
14:00
Free
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This session will explore how regional journalism organizations are emerging, evolving, and innovating across the globe—each with distinct operating models shaped by their contexts. The featured organizations will discuss what it takes to build regional capacity, strengthen collaboration within and across borders, and support investigative journalism in environments where democratic norms and press freedom vary widely.
Panelists will represent El CLIP in Latin America, a leading example of a cross-border investigative network; IJ Hub in Southern Africa, a growing initiative supporting early-stage newsrooms with hands-on development; and ARIJ in MENA, an established network navigating an exceptionally challenging moment amid conflicts in Gaza and Sudan.
Introduction by Kathy Im.
Closing remarks by Liz Baker.
Moderated by Emilia Díaz-Struck.
Supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
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Liz Baker
Liz Baker is the Senior Director of Public Engagement at Humanity United and the founding director of its Independent Journalism and Media program. In this capacity, she oversees global journalism strategy, grant-making, and support for journalists and media organizations. Liz also manages the Borderless Journalism Fund, a pooled resource at the Humanity United Charitable Fund dedicated to supporting journalism in challenging and high-risk environments.
Rawan Damen
Rawan Damen is Director-General of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). She is a media consultant with 25+ years of experience in television and digital production and training in addition to media management. Before joining ARIJ in January 2020, Rawan worked on producing and directing more than 30 hours of documentaries and investigative TV stories, published in different languages. She was a senior commissioner at Al Jazeera Network for 10 years (2006-2016), leading a team who produced more than 250 documentary and investigative TV episodes. She also led large interactive multi-language international platforms. Rawan received a master’s degree with honours in media and communication from the University of Leeds in the UK, 2003. She was also awarded the Media Creativity Award from the Arab Thought Foundation in Beirut, 2015.
Emilia Diaz-Struck
Emilia Díaz-Struck is the executive director of the Global Investigative Journalism Network. She was formerly data and research editor and Latin American coordinator at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). For over a decade, Díaz-Struck took part in more than 20 ICIJ award-winning investigative collaborations, including: Offshore Leaks, Implant Files, FinCEN Files, Pandora Papers, and the Pulitzer-winning Panama Papers. As part of her collaborative efforts, she has worked with journalists in more than 110 countries and territories. Emilia was previously the investigative reporting coordinator at the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela, and in 2012 was Reporter in Residence at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University and CONNECTAS. She pioneered in data journalism and investigative collaborations in her native Venezuela and has been a mentor to hundreds of Latin American reporters. Emilia has taught summer seminars on data journalism and investigative cross-border collaborations at Columbia University in New York. She has been a professor at the Central University of Venezuela and a contributor for the Washington Post, the magazine Poder y Negocios, Venezuelan media El Universal, El Mundo and Armando.info, which she co-founded.
Kathy Im
Kathy Im is the Director of Journalism and Media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she manages a $30 million annual portfolio that invests in the creation, dissemination, and amplification of accurate, just, and inclusive news and narratives across three areas of media -- Professional Nonprofit Reporting, Nonfiction Multimedia Storytelling, and Participatory Civic Media. She was instrumental in the creation and launch of Press Forward, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Media Forward Fund for the DACH countries. Kathy is also Chair of the Advisory Board for the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and previously, she was a board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Media Impact Funders, and the Center for Asian American Media, and a former juror for the Peabody Awards.
Troye Lund
Troye Lund is Executive Director and Managing Partner (Editorial) at IJ Hub. She started reporting on South Africa’s political economy during the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Her career began on The Star newspaper’s political desk, where she had a ringside seat to observe and report on the establishment of a new democratic state – including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings and the drafting of South Africa’s constitution. She joined Independent Newspapers’ parliamentary team in Cape Town three years later, tracking and interrogating policy, budgets, legislation, and the party politics behind them. After a stint as a parliamentary correspondent for radio, she became deputy editor of Fairlady magazine in 2002, gaining editorial and management experience – planning content, commissioning, editing, and managing production. Troye returned to Parliament in 2005 for Finweek, and later joined Times Media to write for Financial Mail and Business Day. She was appointed IJ Hub’s Managing Partner (Editorial) in 2022.