Kosovo: “Diversifying Voices in Journalism” Media Grants

Deadline: 10-Apr-23

If you are a small media, NGO or unregistered initiative engaged in media production, and your mission is to improve media representation and diversity and contribute to the dispelling of disinformation, misinformation and malinformation in Kosovo, this call is for you.

In January 2023, they started implementing “Diversifying voices in journalism,” a project funded by the European Union that seeks to promote media pluralism in Kosovo, counter disinformation and build the capacity of media outlets, the youth and young journalists to produce journalistic content that adheres to the highest professional standards.

At K2.0, they know that small media outlets play a crucial role in serving remote communities, either physically or sociopolitically and in filling in the gaps left by mainstream media. Increasingly, NGOs contribute in the fight against predominant exclusionary or simplistic narratives, by using journalistic tools to shed light on issues, rights and experiences that are often overlooked. Together, they are fundamental actors in the protection of media pluralism and journalistic quality in Kosovo, and they are often at the forefront in the battle against disinformation or simply lazy journalism.

However, they also know that these smaller media outlets and NGOs frequently struggle to access funding or training, compared to bigger entities that can count on their size and a more prominent position in the media landscape. This is why they are opening this call: they don’t want size or organizational capacity to be an obstacle for small media outlets and related NGOs to keep innovating, challenging and diversifying the Kosovar media environment.

Through this call in particular, they wish to provide small-scale funding and training to media outlets and related organizations to help them realize their own innovative, high-quality media projects. This is to make sure that funding and skills can reach a diverse audience of media outlets and media-producing organizations that find it hard to directly access EU funding, or that still need to grow their journalistic skills or organizational capacity. At K2.0, they believe that media pluralism and journalistic quality are essential for the health of Kosovo’s democracy.

Their overall objective is to support quality, public interest journalism, and the understanding and trust of journalism professionals, the media and the public towards independent journalism and its irreplaceable democratic function.

Funding Information

• Within this round, up to 6 applicants or consortia of applicants will be awarded a grant. Each winning project can receive up to 11,000.00 EUR in funding under this call.

What kind of training you can expect to receive?

• The purpose of this call is to provide winning applicants with both the funds and skills to complete their own innovative media projects. If you are selected, you will take part in a small-scale training program organized by K2.0.
• The training program is based on their decade-long experience in independent, award-winning multimedia journalism. They want to take the time to share with their colleagues the skills and resources they have developed throughout the years, so that you can deepen your knowledge and passion for high-quality, innovative and public oriented journalism.
  • You will participate in three training workshops, focusing on:
    • functioning and role of independent media, including audience engagement,
    • watchdogging and human rights-sensitive reporting,
    • financial management.

Who they are looking for?

• The main targets of this call are socially-engaged media outlets and media-producing organizations, with a particular attention to grassroots organizations and collectives engaging in innovative forms of multimedia production. To be eligible, applicants must be:
  • media organizations or organizations with demonstrated capacity, reason or experience in producing media content,
  • based and operating in Kosovo,
  • registered as an NGO or private media entity.
• Unregistered initiatives can apply, provided that a registered NGO or private media operates as a fiscal sponsor. This implies a registered, eligible entity assuming all legal and financial responsibilities under the purposes of this call in the name of an unregistered initiative, who will be responsible for the implementation of the project.
• Only private media entities that are small in size are eligible for funding. For the purpose of this call, a small media entity is one with up to 15 in-house employees.
• Applicants can apply in consortiums of up to two different entities. If you are not a media outlet, they will look favorably on cooperation with other media outlets for the dissemination of project results.
• Once awarded a grant, a specific entity may not re-apply or receive additional funding under this activity.
• With their media grants, they want to prioritize entities that have high potential, but are normally excluded from funding in this area. This means that if your organization, media or collective is young, or located outside of Prishtina, or your work is grassroots and community-driven, you are highly encouraged to apply.

Ineligible

• Additionally, they will not support:
  • projects that are mainly related to individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences and similar,
  • projects pertaining to political parties’ and/or political campaigning, or coming from applicants that are linked or affiliated with political parties,
  • projects that are part of larger initiatives or programs which already receive financial support from the IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme of the European Union, budget line: BGUE-B2021-15.020101.01-C1-NEAR DELKOS, nor will they accept financial coverage of:

• debts and debt service charges (interest),
• costs occurring prior to start of the implementation of the project, or after its completion,
• provisions for losses or potential future liabilities,
• purchases of land or buildings,
• VAT, taxes, duties and charges,
• credit to third parties.

For more information, visit Media Grants.