Deadline: 05-Jul-21
The International Renaissance Foundation’s Democratic Practice Program, under the EU4USociety project in cooperation with the European Union, has announced a competition for journalistic materials to cover abuses in the field of environment and use of natural resources at the local and regional levels.
The Purpose of this is to intensify public discourse on the role and capacity of communities in upholding the rights to a clean environment and combating environmental abuses; motivate the public to be more involved in addressing the environmental issues of their community.
Competition Priorities
The project proposal may include the following activities (the list is not exhaustive):
- Preparation and publication of journalistic materials on:
- environmental problems of specific communities / districts / regions related to abuse or corruption, and ways to solve them;
- public experience in defending their rights to a clean environment, disseminating success stories;
- proposals on ways and mechanisms to address the issues covered;
- identification of specific cases (cases) of violations:
- by business entities that may be due to corruption factors, as well as the identification and publication of relevant schemes;
- by the authorities (which may consist, for example, in the non-implementation of the control provided by regulations, caused by corruption factors, etc.);
- Conducting broad discussions of the issues covered (in arbitrary formats).
- Materials can cover the following areas, the list is not exhaustive:
- Air Pollution;
- Pollution and irrational use of water resources;
- Deforestation or irrational use of forest resources;
- Unfair mining and subsoil use;
- Non-compliance with the legislation on nature protection zones;
- Problems of waste utilization and management.
- Materials can cover the following areas, the list is not exhaustive:
- Preference will be given to project proposals that:
- cover as many competition priorities as possible;
- will have a regional or local scale;
- will relate to the direct impact on the lives of citizens, local residents, communities, etc
- will focus on specific cases (rather than finding a problem for further study);
- give examples of how the problem situation in one community affects the situation in the country as a whole;
- provide for the widest possible coverage and dissemination of materials (in cooperation with the media, partners, etc.) and provide confirmation of the ability of such dissemination;
- suggest ways to solve the identified problems.
- Project activities should include broad public information on the progress of the project and its results. Grant recipients will be invited to participate in grant meetings and other events organized by the IRF to network, train and strengthen the organizational capacity of EU4USociety project partners.
Funding Information
- The project implementation period is up to 12 months.
- The total budget of the competition is UAH 3,332,180.
- The maximum grant amount is UAH 300,000 (the optimal project budget is up to UAH 270,000).
Criteria
- Project proposals that will be registered on the IRF website after 15:00 on July 5, 2021 Kyiv time will not be considered.
- Project proposals submitted in a manner other than the above will not be considered.
- Project budget expenditures that are:
- necessary for the implementation of project activities;
- will actually occur during the project implementation period;
- comply with the principles of expediency and cost adequacy, including the principles of “highest quality at the lowest price” and cost-effectiveness;
- can be correctly documented, substantiated and understood, as well as supported by relevant documentation of financial and accounting statements.
- Project budget costs related to:
- preparation of a project proposal for participation in the competition;
- creation and registration of the organization;
- payment of debts;
- reimbursement of expenses related to exchange rate fluctuations;
- providing direct fiscal support to public authorities;
- political activity or religious propaganda;
- activities that lead to direct or indirect discrimination against any social group;
- projects aimed at making a profit from activities;
- construction or repair work;
- purchase of vehicles and / or luxury items and related services;
- providing financial assistance to third organizations (regranting).
- The grant recipient is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the project and evaluating its results, compliance with communication policy and branding of EU projects. The grant recipient will submit reports in the format specified by the IRF.
- Up to 15% of project budget expenditures can be provided for the organization’s own capacity development, communication skills strengthening, training, reviewing, monitoring and evaluation, networking with partners, purchase of licensed software, personnel security, etc.
- The same organization cannot claim support totaling more than € 60,000 during the EU4USociety project.
- The Fund does not provide grants to political parties, religious communities, private (individuals), and business entities for profit.
- The materials submitted to the competition are not returned or reviewed.
- The results of the competition will be notified to all participants by e-mail.
- The final decision on the project proposal is not subject to revision.
- The reasons for refusing to support the project proposals are not reported.
For more information, visit https://www.irf.ua/contest/konkurs-zhurnalistskyh-materialiv-zadlya-vysvitlennya-zlovzhyvan-u-sferi-dovkillya-na-misczevomu-ta-regionalnomu-rivnyah/