Deadline: 28 October 2018
USAID’s BMAP aims to stimulate the production of highly engaging, quality digital content that will help local media expand their audiences and build trust with the public while reporting on public interest issues in innovative, interactive ways. To this end, USAID’s BMAP is seeking applications for Engaging Content Grants (ECG).
USAID’s BMAP goal is to make media in the Western Balkans more competitive in the local and regional marketplaces and strengthen the sustainability of the independent media sector across the region, particularly in the digital space.
USAID’s BMAP don’t just mean interesting stories that people want to read, watch, or listen to. Truly engaging content should:
- Help audiences communicate more closely with journalists, people they might not otherwise be able to reach (e.g. experts, public figures, etc.), and with one another.
- Create paths for communication between content producers and the public,
- Enable audiences to contribute to content production in some way,
- And/or promote diversification of the experiences and voices featured in media content.
Funding Information
- Grant Amount: USD $15,000 – $20.000
- Duration: Up to 6 months
What kinds of things will these grants support?
USAID’s BMAP wants to see proposals for production of innovative digital content packages or reporting projects that will use interactive formats to cover issues that both reflect audience interests and are important to the country’s (or region’s) civic, economic and social development. Grants will support recipients to launch or expand digital content initiatives with the potential to broaden their audience reach, attract new types of audiences (for example, women and girls, members of an ethnic minority group, youth), facilitate interaction between journalists and audiences or between audience members themselves, and/or increase user loyalty.
This might include:
- Launch or expansion of an initiative, series, or long-term reporting project that will interactively engage broader or new audiences (particularly specific groups such as women and girls, members of an ethnic minority group, youth) and generate a lot of discussion and sharing;
- Audience research to learn about the information needs and preferences of specific target groups and subsequently involve them in content production.
- Collaborative reporting projects (potentially including cross-border exchanges) or joint initiatives that involve partnerships between two or more outlets in their country or the broader region an/or between media and partners from other sectors, such as civil society organizations, schools of journalism, research firms, or media support organizations. (Content produced through these collaborative efforts must also meet the criterion of being “engaging.”
Eligibility Criteria
Open to: Locally registered media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, or Serbia.
How to Apply
Applications and budgets must be submitted only by email at the address given on the website.
For more information, please visit USAID’s BMAP.