Initially, Project Syndicate was a comprehensive resource for newspapers in transition countries, providing educational and training activities for journalists and editors. Project Syndicate worked to foster professional links between papers and to support the development of a more independent press. Educational and training activities for journalists and editors in the transition countries undertaken by Project Syndicate were guided by the following objectives:

• to improve the journalistic quality of member newspapers;
• to encourage interaction between papers in the region;
• to improve the economic situation, and thus the independence, of newspapers in the region.

Project Syndicate fostered partnerships and close cooperative relationships with a number of organizations involved in similar activities, including the Media Development Program of the World Bank's Economic Development Institute, the Reuters Foundation, the European Journalism Centre, Freedom House, and the Knight Fellow's Program of the International Center for Journalists. In the mid-1990s, Project Syndicate provided "Surveys on Institutions in Transition." These pieces analyzed vital economic, social, and political institutions -- trade unions, tax systems, capital markets, or local governments - undergoing transition in the postcommunist world. These surveys provided a broad intellectual framework which allowed readers to understand the various reform experiences in the former socialist countries, as the workings of the institutional models to be found in advanced countries.