Community Media Fund: Elevating Voices of the Marginalized Communities through Development of Citizen and Community Reporting

Deadline: 24 May 2017

The Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) has partnered with the Ford Foundation to establish a Community Media Fund (CMF) to improve 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 purpose of the CMF is to elevate voices from marginalized communities through the development and advancement of citizen and community reporting on financial and economic issues. The CMF seeks to enhance the financial literacy of citizens, improve their access to relevant data, strengthen the capacity of community media, and further governance and public and private accountability through improved analysis and reporting. It aims to build capacity and seed innovative projects to take programs to scale, ultimately strengthening community media and relevant civil society organisations.

The CMF will also help to develop opportunities and channels for non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations to collaborate and help journalists better understand issues and cover their communities.

In 2017, the CMF will make disbursements to grantees in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Hivos Regional Office for East Africa (Hivos) has been appointed as the grants administrator for the CMF in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Objectives

Provide funding to select organisations supporting community media;
Promote transparency, accountability and governance through media and/or the financial literacy of less privileged or marginalized communities;
Fund initiatives to increase visibility of emerging non-traditional reporters (e.g. citizen reporters);
Drive the creation and delivery of new media content; and
Make localized data available about public resources allocation and statistical information (g., demographics, employment, health, education.)

Funding Information

The minimum grant award amount is USD 10,000.

Duration: The CMF will award grants for a minimum duration of six months and a maximum of 12 months.

Geographical Location: Projects must be implemented at least in one of the following three countries: Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa.

Priority Themes

The CMF will award grants to eligible NGOs and CSOs supporting community media including NGOs and CSO who are:

Producing and disseminating media content about their host communities, and/or
Focusing on transparency and accountability, financial Journalism, financial literacy, greater access to data, social justice, or investigative reporting.

Eligibility Criteria

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 Kenya or Nigeria or South Africa.
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.