Internews' Earth Journalism Network (EJN) offers grants to organisations to support activities that enhance media coverage of biodiversity issues.

As part of the Media Initiative for the biodiversity of the EJN, they are pleased to announce a series of organisational grants for networks of journalists, media organisations, civil society organisations or academic institutions working to improve media coverage of biodiversity and conservation in certain regions of the world.

Project themes and objectives

• The grants for biodiversity media will support projects that :
  • Produce feature articles to broaden the breadth and depth of coverage of biodiversity and conservation issues;
  • Carry out biodiversity and/or conservation training activities for journalists and/or the media in order to build their capacity to report more effectively on biodiversity and conservation issues.
  • Create or strengthen networks of journalists focused on these issues, enabling them to invest in strategic opportunities, build the capacity of their members and respond to community needs.
• Particular attention will be paid to applicants who seek to monitor and evaluate progress towards the targets set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with a view to COP16 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in Colombia in October this year.
• Projects funded by this grant should raise public awareness of threats to biodiversity and 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 strengthening their skills, knowledge and contacts.
• While content production is an important aspect of any project, applications without some form of awareness raising, network building or capacity building will not be considered.

Information on funding

• They plan to support 3 to 4 organisations with grants of €10,000 to €12,000 each. In general, proposals with smaller budgets will be more competitive. Higher grant amounts will be considered for projects that use innovative approaches and may require more resources and time.
• They provide for successful candidates to be informed in April 2024, with work starting in May 2024. The projects should be completed within 12 months, by the end of April 2025. Applicants should take this timetable into account when drawing up their work plan.

Eligibility criteria

• This opportunity focuses on building reporting capacity in countries where the need is often greatest and the pool of available resources is limited. All activities must take place in countries classified as low- or middle-income by the World Bank. These classifications can be consulted here.
• They are particularly interested in projects in biodiversity-rich regions of the world, such as the Amazon, Central Africa and South East Asia, or other biodiversity hotspots. They would also like to hear from applicants based in countries where they have not previously offered grants. They encourage applications particularly from West Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe, and especially from the following countries: Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• This opportunity is open to networks of journalists, media organisations, civil society organisations or academic institutions. Although they will consider applications from NGOs or environmental groups seeking to strengthen the capacity of journalists to cover conservation issues, preference will be given to applications from journalists professionals, media organisations, journalism schools and others, or affiliated to them.
• Applicants should either note their affiliations with existing media organisations or provide detailed plans on how this project would facilitate the creation of a new network or organisation.
• They will not consider requests based on advocacy or political campaigning.
• Current or former EJN beneficiaries may apply, although preference will be given to beneficiaries they have not previously supported. The performance of current or previous beneficiaries will be taken into account in the selection process.
• For the purposes of this funding opportunity, they will only accept applications in English. Unfortunately, they do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must have a working understanding of English or have a translator to help them communicate with Internews staff. However, applicants can produce stories and training material 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 if they are found to have engaged in unethical or inappropriate professional conduct, including but not limited to plagiarism and submission of AI-generated content as their own.

For more information, please visit EJN.