Media Grant to strengthen Media Coverage of Environmental Crimes in the Western Amazon

This opportunity seeks to strengthen the capacity of media outlets, journalist organizations or associations, and Indigenous and community-based organizations involved in communication and journalistic reporting to produce high-quality, factual and engaging public information about the impacts of environmental crimes in the Amazon.

This opportunity is offered as part of the Together for Conservation project, which aims to strengthen the capacities of civil society actors and their regional networks to conserve biodiversity and prevent environmental crimes in the Amazon.

Project Themes and Objectives

• The ideal project would be designed to empower Indigenous peoples, local communities and other marginalized groups to safely address the disproportionate impacts of environmental crimes by amplifying their voices and increasing their access to high-quality, publicly available information on environmental topics.
• Interested applicants should propose training activities for journalists, communicators and media professionals through workshops, webinars, online courses or other resources, and/or support the production of investigative stories on environmental crimes that expand reporting in regional languages.

Grant Amount and Logistics

• They anticipate supporting 5-8 organizations with funding of $5,000 to $12,000 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 ask that the budgets be reasonable and account for the costs necessary for project implementation. Applicants may use a portion of the grant to purchase equipment.
• Applicants are permitted and encouraged to raise co-financing for the proposed activities, but it is not required
• They expect to notify successful applicants in December 2023, with work starting in early January 2024. Projects should be completed within five months, by the end of June 2024.
• For projects that involve publishing stories or other material, please note that Internews, EJN, its partners, and the grant funder will be given rights to edit, publish, broadcast, and distribute those materials freely.
• Acknowledgment of support: Published stories and/or broadcasts must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced with support from the Earth Journalism Network.”

Eligible Activities

• Examples of possible activities include,  but are not limited to:
  • Field trips and/or training workshops that bring journalists and communicators together with experts on environmental crimes in the Amazon.
  • Development of resources such as virtual learning courses or tools for reporters.
  • Reporting grants for journalists and communicators.
  • Mentoring of journalists and communicators.
  • Investigative and/or collaborative reporting projects with a regional focus.
  • Networking and partnership activities for journalists and communicators.
  • Establishment of a network of journalists.
• They expect selected projects to improve factual, relevant and reliable information on environmental crimes in the Amazon region and public access to that information especially among national and regional policymakers and corporate actors.

Eligibility Criteria

• Media organizations, networks of journalists and/or communicators, universities, and journalistic institutions focusing on environmental crimes reporting in the Amazon region are invited to apply.
• Civil society organizations, community groups and research institutes will also be considered, provided they operate with strong media and communication components.
• Please note that they will not consider applications focused on advocacy, activism or political campaigning.
• They generally prefer to support organizations that carry out work in the country where they are based, but they will consider applications from organizations seeking to collaborate with groups in the Amazon region of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
• Organizations must be legally registered in their country and maintain a bank account with the capacity to receive international funds.
• For this grant opportunity, they will only accept applications in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Unfortunately, they cannot consider applications in other languages at this time available to assist in communication with Internews staff. However, please note that project activities, such as publishing stories, can be conducted in any language.
• Organizations that have received support from Internews or EJN in the past are eligible and they will consider past performance during the selection process.
• EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants who have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct.

Judging Criteria

• All applications they receive are reviewed and discussed by a panel of international judges, comprising Internews staff and experts in environmental journalism.
• Applications will be evaluated using the following assessment criteria:
  • The overall quality of the proposal;
  • The relevance of the proposed project to the objectives and priorities of this grant program and the Together for Conservation project goals;
  • The emphasis in the proposal on environmental crimes in the Amazon region;
  • The potential impact of the proposed project, including the quality and effectiveness of the project design;
  • The innovative characteristics of the proposed activities;
  • The financial viability and cost-effectiveness of the proposed project;
  • The ability of the applicant to carry it out;
  • The geographical spread of the grantees.

For more information, visit EJN.