Media Grants to Strengthen Infrastructure Reporting in Southeast Asia

Strengthening Transparency in Infrastructure Development Through Environmental Reporting in Southeast Asia (STRIDES) is a two-year project supported by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor that supports environmental reporting on infrastructure development and its impacts. The organizational grants are part of STRIDES’ efforts to strengthen infrastructure media reporting and public awareness, and improve the sustainability and accountability of infrastructure projects.

EJN’s STRIDES project is offering grants averaging $20,000 each for local media and CSOs to implement activities that will strengthen media reporting, transparency and accountability on the impacts of infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia.

Objectives

• They welcome activities that seek to improve media content and/or build capacity of journalists and public content producers on infrastructure development and the subsequent threats to the environment and human rights.
• They expect select projects to focus on improving participants’ technical skills and contextual knowledge needed to conduct gender and socially inclusive media research and reporting on local, national or regional climate and/or environmental issues stemming from infrastructure development.
• Proposals that focus on topics or stories that have not been widely covered in the media and are likely to drive conversation among communities and policymakers are preferred. Issues that have already received a lot of media coverage or broad-based ideas that don’t provide unique insights are less likely to be selected.

Funding Information

• They anticipate supporting four organizations with an average funding amount of $20,000 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.
• Applicants are permitted and encouraged to raise co-financing for the proposed activities, but it is not required. If you have received any co-financing, please indicate the amount and the source in your application.
• 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.
• They expect to notify successful applicants in March 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

• Media outlets and CSOs from Southeast Asia (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) are welcome to apply. Applicants from Timor-Leste, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Brunei will be prioritized
• Applicants must:
  • Be a registered media or civil society organization based in any Southeast Asia country and eligible to receive international funding. Organizations based in Timor-Leste, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Brunei will be prioritized;
  • Have previous experience conducting capacity building activities for journalists;
  • Understand and be able to communicate in English;
  • Permit republication by Internews’ EJN of any output as a result of participation in the workshop.
• 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.
  Applicants can produce stories and training resources in local languages suitable for target communities.
• 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.

Selection 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 STRIDES project goals;
  • The emphasis in the proposal on infrastructure development’s environmental impact in the country or 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.