Deadline: 31 October 2019
Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is seeking applications for its Bay of Bengal Media Grants to support media and other information-generating organizations grow, expand and improve news coverage of climate change, the environment and natural resource issues along the Bay of Bengal coast in Bangladesh and India.
Communities living along the coast face a two-fold problem when it comes to climate and environmental change: Their voices and perspectives are often overlooked or undercovered, and they face barriers to information that would help them adapt and respond to climate change’s impacts.
For many journalists working for small or local media outlets, access to critical information and data needed to support their environmental stories is often made difficult by a lack of funds, time and expertise, research institutions ill-equipped to provide studies or a reluctance by authorities to release data.
This grant will help enable media outlets, civil society organizations, think-tanks and academic institutions working in the Bay of Bengal region of Bangladesh and India to help build local capacity for reporting and information exchange related to climate change, natural resource management and the environment.
Internews initially developed the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) in 2004 to enable journalists from developing countries to cover the environment more effectively.EJN mission to improve the quantity and quality of environmental reporting, EJN trains journalists to cover a wide variety of issues, develops innovative online environmental news sites and produces content for local media – including ground-breaking investigative reports.
Objectives and Scope
Implemented as part of the Bay of Bengal project’s Enhancing Climate Justice and Resilience Narratives, supported by the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, these media grants are aimed at enhancing the quantity and quality of environmental reporting so impacted communities can get the information they need to respond.
Proposed activities should contribute to one or more of the following outcomes:
- Improve access among policymakers and the public to reliable, accurate socio-environmental news and information;
- Improve the capacity of local or regional journalists and other content producers to report on environmental and climate issues in an accurate and compelling way;
- Strengthen organizational and/or journalistic capacity to produce a greater quantity and quality of environmental and climate-related news and information;
- Address barriers marginalized groups (defined as women, youth, ethnic minority groups, indigenous people and people with disabilities) face when accessing environmental news and information, and ensure their voices are included in environmental reporting;
- Improve engagement among targeted communities around environmental issues.
Activities
EJN is particularly interested in activities that cover one or more of the following:
- Use of innovative approaches and platforms to create and disseminate news and information. Examples include: Training local journalists to produce data-centered stories; development of online tools that allow local communities to monitor and report on environmental impacts.
- Build the knowledge, resources and tools available to local journalists and other information providers to cover the environment more effectively. Examples include: Workshops for journalists on topics such as sea-level rise or coastal management or based around technical skills such as data or investigative journalism; development of safety tools for strengthening safety of journalists working on environmental issues.
- Build the institutional capacity of organizations that support environmental journalism. Examples include: Seed grants to establish a new environmental journalist network; training in financial reporting, inclusion and fundraising for staff of organizations.
- Support partnerships among peers or with other environmental stakeholders for environmental reporting. Examples include: A cross-border investigative reporting project; story creation labs for journalists and researchers to jointly produce evidence-based stories.
Funding Information
- A typical grant will be for up to US$20,000 and support a one-year project.
Eligibility Criteria
- Media organizations, journalism networks, universities and journalism schools located in the Bay of Bengal region in coastal Bangladesh and the coastal areas of four Indian states – West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (including Pondicherry).
- The grants can also be used to support the establishment of environmental journalists’ networks in places where they don’t exist.
- In such cases, applicants should note their affiliations with existing media organizations, if applicable, or provide detailed plans about how this project would facilitate the creation of a new organization.
- Non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and research institutes will also be considered, but only those with strong media and communication programs who are dedicated to supporting fair and accurate reporting.
Please note that they will not consider applications rooted in advocacy or political campaigning.
How to Apply
Applicants can apply via given website.
For more information, please visit https://earthjournalism.net/opportunities/earth-journalism-network-bay-of-bengal-media-grants-2020