Deadline: 15 July 2019
The Critical Thinking for Mediawise Citizens – CriThink project, implemented by Metamorphosis Foundation in partnership with Eurothink, supported by the European Union, has announced a request for applications to provide support to initiatives of local civil society organizations in partnership with media and other stakeholders, which will promote creation of culture of critical thinking through promotion of media literacy.
Objectives
The initiatives ought to be directed toward fulfilling the project’s overall objectives through activities adjusted to the local needs in each of the 8 planning regions. The overall objective of the action is to promote media literacy as basis for safeguarding the right of citizens to hold diverse opinions, via stimulating a culture of critical thinking, pluralism of opinion and democratic values. Specific objectives are:
- To foster a culture of critical thinking via education of the general public on the detrimental impact of media manipulations on democracy and European values.
- To increase capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs) and media to address media manipulations (incl. hate speech) by improving the media literacy levels via joint engagement with state institutions.
- To increase citizen demand for accountable media through public informal education, promotion of professional standards and international practices that protect freedom of opinion and expression.
Funding Information
- Within this framework in the first cycle of the programme for small grants of CriThink , ten (10) grants in the amount of 6.000 to 7.000 euros will be awarded, in support of project designed for each of the eight planning regions of the Republic of North Macedonia, having in view that more than one grant can be awarded to a region.
- Implementation time is no longer than 6 (six) months. Applicants are not obliged to provide co-financing from other sources.
Targets of the Call
The Small Grants Program has the following objectives :
- Encourage the creation of a favorable environment for the development of civil society organizations media and greater inclusion of stakeholders in media literacy activities and verification of the facts, including through greater transparency and accountability;
- To contribute to the strengthening of CSOs and the media, both at national and local level, as well as increasing their active role in media literacy and fact-checking;
- Increase citizen demand for responsible media through public education and promoting professional standards and international practices that protect the freedom of opinion and expression;
- To contribute to a deeper understanding and inclusiveness of media activities literacy and fact-checking, which would create different e-content;
- Act on the further development of the dialogue between decision-makers and stakeholders parties based on evidence and best practices;
- To enable CSOs and the media to effectively participate in consultative processes, by strengthening their capacity for analysis based on evidence, relevant monitoring and effective advocacy while simultaneously improving networking, partnership and coalition skills;
- Encourage a culture of critical thinking through the education of the wider public the harmful influence of media manipulations on democracy and European values;
- To increase the capacity of the civil society organizations and the media to solve the media manipulation (including hate speech) by improving the level of media literacy and responsibility for the media, through joint engagement with state institutions.
Project Activities
The program for small grants will support the initiatives for stimulating the culture of critical thinking by promoting media literacy with the following activities from this indicative list (the list is not limited, there is a possibility to support other activities if it is established that they are in accordance with the objectives of the project):
- Production of public education contents for the web and/or for the traditional media (radio, TV, print media);
- Promotion of public education contents via various kinds of media;
- Inciting public debate on issues affecting media literacy and critical thinking;
- Engaging citizens to increase their demand for higher quality media production;
- Capacity building of local community members including trainings, workshops and lectures;
- Online promotion via short videos, banners, and other kinds of multimedia contents;
- Enabling citizens to use the competent state institutions/regulatory bodies, as well as self-regulatory mechanisms of journalistic profession to address media manipulations;
- Strategic use of social media to reach wider and/or targeted audiences, including online ads;
- Establishing cooperation and networking between various stakeholders for media literacy advocacy at local and national level.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their applications via email at the address given on the website.
For more information, please visit http://metamorphosis.org.mk/en/aktivnosti_arhiva/request-for-applications-grants-for-civil-society-organizations-within-the-crithink-project-2/