Biodiversity Media Grants 2024

As part of EJN’s Biodiversity Media Initiative, they are pleased to announce a  round of organizational grants for  journalist networks, media organizations, civil society organizations or academic institutions that are working to improve media coverage of biodiversity and conservation in areas of the world.

Project Themes and Objectives

• The Biodiversity Media Grants will support projects that:
  • Produce in-depth stories to expand the breadth and depth of coverage of   biodiversity and conservation issues;
  • Carry out biodiversity and/or conservation training activities for journalists and/or media organizations to build their capacity to report on biodiversity and conservation issues more effectively.
  • Create or strengthen journalist networks focused on these issues, enabling them to invest in strategic opportunities, build the capacities of their members and respond to communities’ needs.
• Special consideration will be given to applicants looking at monitoring and evaluating progress toward the goals outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in the lead up to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP16 taking place in Colombia in October this year.
• Projects funded by this grant should build public awareness of the threats to biodiversity, and of conservation-based solutions, with a focus on informing audiences in low- and middle-income countries. Projects should also build the capacity of journalists and communicators to report on these issues, by building their skills, knowledge and contacts.
• While content production is an important aspect of any project, applications without some form of awareness-building, network-building or capacity-building component will not be considered.

Funding Information

• They anticipate supporting 3-4 organizations with grants of 10,000-12,000 EUR each. In general, proposals with smaller budgets will be more competitive. Larger grant amounts will be considered for projects that use innovative approaches and may be more resource- and time-consuming.
• They expect to notify successful applicants in April 2024, with work starting in May 2024. Projects should be completed within 12 months, by the end of April 2025. Applicants should consider this timeline when developing their work plan.

Eligibility Criteria

• This opportunity focuses on building capacity for reporting in countries where the need is often the greatest and the pool of available resources is limited.  All activities must take place in countries classified as either low- or middle-income by the World Bank. These classifications can be reviewed here.
• They are especially interested in projects in biodiversity-rich regions of the world, such as the Amazon, Central Africa and Southeast Asia, or other biodiversity hotspots.They would also like to hear from applicants based in countries in which they have not offered grants to previously. They encourage applications in particular from West Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe, and specifically from the following countries:  Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• This opportunity is open to journalist networks, media organizations, civil society organizations or academic institutions. Although they will consider applications by NGOs or environmental groups looking to build the capacity of journalists to cover conservation issues, preference will be given to applications from or affiliated with professional journalists, media organizations, journalism schools and the like.
• Applicants must either note their affiliations with existing media organizations or provide detailed plans about how this project would facilitate the creation of a new network or organization.
• They will not consider applications rooted in advocacy or political campaigning.
• Existing or former EJN grantees are eligible to apply, although preference will be given to grantees they have not supported previously. They will take the performance of existing or previous grantees into consideration during the selection.
• For the purposes of this funding opportunity, they will only be accepting applications in English. Unfortunately, they do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff. However, applicants may produce stories and training materials in any language.
• Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, in the development of their proposals. EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, plagiarism and submitting AI-generated content as their own.

For more information, visit EJN.