Community Media Fund in East, West and Southern Africa
The role of media and journalism is not confined to news organisations, broadcasting companies or governments—within Africa, a large and growing community media sector is linked to enterprises, civil society, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on issues of transparency, accountability and governance.
The Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) and the Ford Foundation have partnered to establish a Community Media Fund (CMF) to enhance citizens’ access to relevant information that enables the public to support policies and practices that drive inclusive economic and human development locally, regionally and nationally. The CMF’s will make disbursements to grantees in East, West and Southern Africa regions.
What are we looking for?
The CMF seeks to award grants to key civil society organisations, community media and non-governmental organisations in the East, West and Southern Africa regions to strengthen citizen journalism, enhance the financial literacy of citizens, improve their access to relevant data and build the capacity of community media to improve governance and accountability through analysis and reporting.
Concept notes from eligible organisations who are implementing interventions in the following thematic areas are currently being accepted:
- Producing and disseminating media content on their host communities; and or
- Focusing on transparency and accountability, financial Journalism, financial literacy, greater access to data, social justice, or investigative reporting.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligible grant applicants must:
- Be an Africa-focused and headquartered:
- Civil society organisation (CSO)/non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporting community media; or
- Media training institution; or
- Community media outlet, including an outlet affiliated with educational institutions; or
- Network of community media; or
- CSO/NGO supporting initiatives that increase the visibility of emerging non-traditional reporters; or a
- CSO/NGO focusing on transparency, accountability and financial literacy at the community level.
- Be registered in good standing in accordance with the relevant laws of respective countries in East, West and Southern Africa regions.
- Be directly responsible for the preparation, implementation and management of the proposed project.
- Have prior experience carrying out activities in priority areas of this RFP, specifically:
- producing and disseminating media content on their host communities; and/or
- focusing on transparency and accountability, financial Journalism, financial literacy, greater access to data, social justice, or investigative reporting.
- Must have a bank account and be willing to open a separate account for the grant. and
- Must have certified financial audit reports.
For more details on eligibility and application requirements for the CMF call for concept notes please click here to see the full CMF Request for Proposals (RFP) document click here.
What do we offer?
The CMF will have two rounds of a call for proposals. This is the second round. The minimum grant amount is $10,000 USD. The CMF will award grants for a maximum duration of six months.
How to apply?
To apply please download the Concept Note Proposal submission form here. The deadline for the submission of concept notes is 31 July 2019 at 17.00hrs East Africa Time (EAT) (UTC+3). All concept notes must be completed in English.
Questions?
Please direct questions to cmf@hivos.org. For more information about the Community Media Fund, click here.
