Call for Small Grant Applications: Zimbabwe Media Access and Professionalism Program

IREX is an international non-profit organization providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.

Founded in 1968, IREX has an annual portfolio of over $60 million and a staff of 500 professionals worldwide. IREX and its partner IREX Europe deliver crosscutting programs and consulting expertise in more than 100 countries.

IREX is re-opening a grant competition for small grants to projects supporting media access and professionalism in Zimbabwe. Projects and activities eligible for consideration should fall under one or more of the following categories:

-    Journalism Training: Supporting the professional development of independent journalists
-    Alternative Media: Developing or expanding alternative or new media approaches to gathering and distributing news and information to underserved audiences
-    Media Management: Improving the capacity of media professionals to manage small and medium traditional and alternative media operations
-    Content Production and Distribution: Development of relevant and informative news and information to audiences with limited access to professional media
-    Media Law, Rights and Advocacy: Efforts to reform media laws and regulations, improve implementation of laws or regulations, support journalists, educate journalists and citizens on media law.

IREX anticipates awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. Applicants interested in smaller or larger grants should contact IREX before completing an application. Applicants may request training or consulting from IREX or other sources as a component of the grant. Grants should run for up to six months.

This grants program employs a two-part process. First, interested applicants should submit a statement of interest and illustrative budget, according to the guidelines on the following pages. From the statement of interest, IREX will select a limited number of projects and request a completed application.

Grants will be awarded on a rolling basis until funds are expended. Questions regarding this grant application should be submitted to ZMAPPgrants [at] irex [dot] org

Eligibility Criteria:
-    Applicants must be legally registered entities.
-    Zimbabwean organizations are strongly encouraged to be the prime applicant. Partnerships with other organizations are acceptable.
-    Project activities must fall under the topics described above.

Evaluation Criteria for Applications
These criteria are intended to serve as the standard against which all applications will be evaluated. The following criteria are listed in descending order of importance:

-    Ability of project to improve the media environment in Zimbabwe
-    Capacity of applicant to carry out proposed project in personnel, equipment, and experience
-    Efficient use of sub grant resources
-    Ability to leverage other funds to multiply impact

This request for grant application does not commit IREX to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application not funded or contract for the services or supplies described herein. IREX reserves the right to reject any or all applications received.

Please return the grant application and address all inquiries to: ZMAPPgrants [at] irex [dot] org

This entry was posted on September 15th, 2011 at 3:00 pm by Bev Clark and is filed under Media, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.