Global Press Institute

The Global Press Institute, formerly the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World, is an international nonprofit and citizen journalism initiative. GPI was founded on the belief that journalism is an empowering tool that can bring voice, strength and light to issues that are hidden and people who are oppressed. It is in this vein that GPI trains ordinary women in the developing world to serve as reporters and writers in their own communities. Journalists for GPI are dedicated to telling untold stories and empowering themselves and others through education and journalism. There are six core issues that most affect women in their communities and GPI reporters focus on: HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, poverty, reproductive rights, political oppression, and community development.

Founded by Cristi Hegranes in March 2006, the organization is currently celebrating its fifth anniversary. The idea for creating the Global Press Institute came to Hegranes when she was working as a foreign correspondent in Nepal.

"Although I spoke Nepali and had an extensive network of local sources from years of work and travel in the region, I realized that no matter how familiar I was with Nepalese culture, I would always be an outsider in the society, a foreigner who would always face an unbridgeable gap in the social, historical and political context of reporting," Hegrane said. "It seemed obvious that those persons most qualified to be reporting the news were the locals, not a woman from the West."

During that trip, Hegranes met Pratima C., a woman living in a tiny, remote village in Eastern Nepal. Although Pratima had dropped out of school after the fourth grade, she was literate and highly respected in her local village. As the community matriarch and mediator, she had access to exceptional sources and fascinating stories about the region’s struggles with civil war, disease and crushing poverty.

"Women like Pratima were savvy, inspired and passionate about their communities and should be at the forefront of news reporting," Hegranes quickly realized. "If women like Pratima were given the opportunity to be trained in the principles and practices of ethical journalism, the news they could produce would not only change their lives and that of their families, it would also change the world."

With her mind set on making this happen, Hegranes set to work on establishing the Global Press Institute — originally the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World — when she returned to the United States.

Less than two years later the first training program began in Chiapas, Mexico during the fall of 2006. After completing the original, ethics-based training program, the first class of GPI reporters uncovered important stories of AIDS, clandestine abortion, poverty and community development. Having trained over 115 reporters in 24 countries, GPI continues to grow and reporters contribute to GPI's news wire daily.