Deadline: 25-May-21
Within the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II” – action on “Preventing and combating human trafficking in North Macedonia”, the Council of Europe is launching a call for grants, which is to be opened to journalists and media working in North Macedonia.
Through this call, the action on “Preventing and combating human trafficking in North Macedonia” will co-fund six (6) projects aimed at supporting investigative journalism for telling stories on human trafficking in print and/or electronic media.
The programmatic framework Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, aims at assisting beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with relevant Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process.
Objective
- The micro-grants are aimed to support and strengthen journalistic research, reporting and dissemination of investigation into trafficking in human beings in North Macedonia from the media perspective.
- The micro-grants will fund project proposals aimed to improve public understanding of the phenomenon on trafficking in human beings through a fact-based, gender-balanced and victim-oriented journalistic reporting, on the situation, risks and forms of trafficking in human beings in North Macedonia.
- Further to the general objective, preference will be given to:
- Projects/actions proposed by journalists who completed one of the CoE trainings on trafficking in human beings and media reporting, but have not received a grant from HF 29 action.
- Projects/actions that address the gender dimension of trafficking in human beings.
Areas of Intervention
The HF29 Action focuses on the following areas of intervention:
- improving anti-trafficking responses and victim protection measures mainly through capacity building and awareness raising of key stakeholders, including journalists;
- improved detection and identification of and assistance to victims of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation;
- improved detection and identification of and assistance to child victims of human trafficking; and
- Improved access to compensation for victims of trafficking.
Funding Information
- The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 12,000 Euros (twelve thousand Euros).
- 6 (six) project proposals on investigative journalism in the area of trafficking in human beings in North Macedonia, submitted by journalists of the television, radio, print media, online media, will receive a micro-grant not exceeding 2,000 Euros (two thousand Euros) each.
Funding Conditions
The funds for each grant should in principle be distributed as follows:
- 80 % will be paid to the Grantee or the Lead Grantee in case of a consortium when the Grant Agreement between the Parties is signed;
- the balance will be paid to the Grantee or the Lead Grantee in case of a consortium based on actual expenditures incurred, and after the presentation and acceptance by the Council of Europe of the final narrative and financial reports for the Grant implementation.
Target stakeholders
Projects should target in particular the following key stakeholders:
- general public,
- persons from disadvantaged communities (e.g., Roma), persons from vulnerable groups such as children,
- presumed or identified victims,
- professionals such as police officers, prosecutors, judges,
- authorities such as representatives of ministries, inspectorates, other governmental bodies/agencies
- civil society organisations, first responders to trafficking in human beings.
Eligibility criteria
In order to be eligible for a micro grant, an applicant must:
- be legally constituted as television, radio, print or online media in North Macedonia, for applications submitted by media only;
- be entitled to carry out journalism/media activities described in its project proposal;
- have been active for at least two years in the field of journalism;
- have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
- have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
- have a bank account.
For more information, visit https://www.coe.int/en/web/skopje/-/public-call-for-micro-grants-for-journalists-launched-in-north-macedonia