Story Grants to strengthen Environmental Coverage in 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.

The project aims to facilitate safe and effective collaboration among journalists, independent media and communicators to support the production of content that amplifies Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ issues. The goal is also to promote transparency and accountability to combat transnational conservation crimes in the Amazon basin.

Story Themes  

• They welcome transnational story ideas that focus on the threats to biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods due to activities such as illegal logging, unsustainable fishing, wildlife trafficking and illegal mining. Proposals related to transnational economic or illicit activities and/or focusing on supply chain investigation are preferred.
• They also welcome solutions-driven story pitches highlighting the actions of policymakers, civil society organizations, Indigenous peoples and local communities, and business sectors to deter and mitigate the threats posed by conservation crimes in the Amazon. Such activities include, for instance, sustainable forestry management practices, tracing and monitoring wildlife trafficking, and efforts to deter illegality across the value chain, such as certification, among others.
• They aim to support the production of stories that raise awareness about conservation crimes among communities and policymakers at the local, national, and regional levels.

Funding Information

• They expect to award up to 40 grants of around USD 1,500 to 2,000 each. They expect applications requesting higher amounts of around US$2,500 to include cross-country collaboration and/or be produced in partnerships of two or more outlets or organizations.

Story Logistics 

• They plan to issue grants in February 2024 with the expectation that all stories will be published by August 2024 at the latest. Applicants should consider this timeline when drafting their work plan.
• Safety: They encourage reporters to follow best practices for Covid-19 when out in the field, so you do not endanger yourself or the people you’re interviewing.
• Applicants will also participate in a free online one-day workshop on digital and physical security provided by Internews on November 16th and 17th, to make sure security plans are included in the proposals.
• Language of publication: Stories can be produced in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Applicants who intend to write or produce stories in languages other than English must also include a high-quality English translation.
• Story budget: Successful applicants are expected to allocate grant resources toward travel for field reporting, accommodation, travel insurance, story research and production.
• All applicants must provide a detailed budget with justification for the requested amount using the template provided.
• Generally speaking, applications with smaller budgets will be more competitive, but they will consider larger grant amounts for stories using innovative multimedia, collaborative or investigative approaches that may be more resource-intensive and time-consuming.
• They will consider a stipend for the reporters’ salary, particularly if the applicant is a freelancer. Please estimate the time you’ll need to complete this story and propose compensation you believe reflects a fair market rate.
• Acknowledgment of EJN support: Published stories and/or broadcasts must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.”
• Republication rights: Those who are awarded grants are free to publish or broadcast their stories first in their affiliated media as long as Internews’ EJN, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the grant funder, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), are also given rights to edit, publish, broadcast and distribute them freely.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants can be based in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador or Peru; applicants residing in the Amazon region of these countries are preferred. They have special interest in proposals coming from Indigenous journalists from the region.
• Groups of journalists are eligible and details of how each member of the group will participate needs to be explicit in the proposal. However, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. If awarded, the lead applicant is responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf.
• For the purposes of this grant opportunity, they will be accepting applications in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
• Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with professional reporting experience.
• They welcome applications from early-career journalists and experienced reporters with a track record of covering environment conservation topics in the Amazon region. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations – international, national, local, and community-based.
• EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct.

For more information, visit EJN.