The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) will award three $20,000 grants to entrepreneurial women journalists proposing to use digital media in innovative ways to deliver the news. In addition to seed funding, the program provides coaching from leading entrepreneurs and digital news media experts.
Limited access to capital and training threaten women’s full participation as entrepreneurs in the digital news media. The Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital News Frontier grant program is aiming to diversify the digital news media landscape by expanding the voice and role of women entrepreneurs. Successful examples of the program include Latitude News, a news website that emphasizes the local aspect of global news, founded by 2011 grantee Maria Balinska, and Symbolia, a tablet magazine of illustrated journalism, to be launched on December 3rd by 2012 grant winner Erin Polgreen.
A successful applicant will pitch an innovative digital news media enterprise with a well conceived plan for sustainability after initial funding has ended. She will clearly demonstrate how the enterprise delivers news in new ways, and she will outline tangible benchmarks for her success as a digital news media entrepreneur.
Applicants can be full-time, part-time or freelance women news media professionals based in the U.S. Funding is available for startups only. Personal blogs and one-time documentary projects will not be considered.
To apply, visit iwmf.org/2013grant to start the online application process.
Applications will be accepted until Friday, January 25, 2013. Late applications will not be considered. Grant winners will be selected by an advisory committee comprised of digital news media experts and entrepreneurs. They will be announced in March 2013.
For more information about this program, go to iwmf.org/entrepreneurs, contact Nadine Hoffman (202-496-1992,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
) and follow #IWMFentrepreneur (@IWMF) on Twitter.
The Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital News Frontier grant program is made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation.
Founded in 1990 by a group of prominent U.S. women journalists, the International Women's Media Foundation is a Washington-based organization that is dedicated to strengthening the role of women journalists worldwide. The IWMF empowers women with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to serve as a prominent voice on global issues. The IWMF’s programs provide training, support, and advancement for women journalists worldwide. At the core of the IWMF’s mission is the belief that no press is truly free unless women have an equal voice.
The Global Fellows Program is a one-year fellowship program designed to train the next generation of social impact leaders. Fellows undergo two months of leadership training in New York and then spend nine months with one of Acumen Fund’s investee companies in India, Pakistan, East or West Africa providing on the ground management assistance and strategic support to help scale the business.
The Global Fellows Program is distinct from the East Africa and Pakistan Fellows Programs in that the Global Fellows Program is a full-time rather than part-time program, accepts candidates from any country, and does not require Fellows to be driving a social change initiative prior to joining the program. Competitive applicants for the Global Fellows Program will meet the following criteria:
+ Strong business experience – such as finance, operations, or consulting + Demonstrated passion and commitment to creating positive social change + Proven track record of leadership and management responsibilities + Experience living and working in emerging markets + Unrelenting perseverance, moral fiber, and critical thinking skills + 3-5 years of work experience
Apply noworinvite a friendto join the next class of Global Fellows, which begins in September 2013. Also, please share this announcement with your followers onTwitteror your friends onFacebook!
The Earth Journalism Network Grants Fund is seeking to invest in strategic opportunities for media development, build the capacities of local environmental journalism networks and their members, and respond to their communities’ needs.
We are predominantly focused on the developing world but are open to proposals from anywhere. Projects aimed at building networks of environmental journalists (whether these are existing networks or prospective networks) are especially encouraged to apply. Projects that use innovative methods to build networks or distribute environmental news will also be favorably viewed.
In the past, the Earth Journalism Network has supported local initiatives such as training programs for Cambodian journalists in Climate Change reporting, the publication of an environmental stories series in the Moscow Times, the creation of a news challenge for young European environmental journalists that was rewarded with Rio+20 fellowships, and conferences that launched or expanded environmental journalism networks in Indonesia, Mexico, Uzbekistan, the Philippines and the Amazon region.
Generally speaking, the Earth Journalism Grants Fund will be focused on capacity building, but if special opportunities arise we are open to supporting fellowships and travel grants that support specific story ideas or coverage of key events that have involvement from multiple journalists. While content creation is important aspect of any project, applications without some form of network- or capacity-building component will not be considered. We also are focused on funding journalists and journalism organizations rather than advocacy organizations.
Applicants should fill out the form below and the attached simple budget sheet, and may additionally submit a brief concept note to the Earth Journalism Network to help assess whether their project would be considered for the grant (this is not mandatory). We have a total of US$50,000 available for the coming year, to be divided among at least 5 projects.
The first deadline for applications is October 15, 2012. Grantees are expected to give their full cooperation in monitoring and evaluating the results of the projects, and are encouraged to submit their own monitoring and evaluation plan along with their application. The final monitoring and evaluation plan will be agreed upon by EJN and each individual grantee. The projects are generally expected to take place within less than a year. Final reports for accepted projects must be filed no later than September 30, 2013. Projects that can offer or raise co-financing to complement EJN’s support will be favorably viewed.
Verzio DocLab, a four day workshop taking place in Budapest from November 7 to 10 for documentary filmmakers, independent producers and festival organizers working on projects regarding minorities, immigration, social justice or human rights issues is now taking applications. Participants working on Roma issues, or coming from a Roma background, will have a priority in the selection. The deadline for applications is Wednesday October 10 2012.
The event is part of the Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival and will be organized in collaboration of Finnagora, Open Society Foundations Arts and Culture Program, Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival and Documentary in Europe.
The program consists of an intense project-development workshop for 10 selected documentary projects as well as for six representatives of film festivals. At the end of the workshop, the projects will be presented in a public pitching forum.
The projects will be tutored by international experts. Among the invited tutors are filmmaker-consultant Rada Sesic (Jan Vrijman Fund, Holland), consultant Bruni Burres (Sundance Institute, USA), festival director-filmmaker Sami Mustafa (Rolling Film Festival, Kosovo), festival director Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK), producer-director Stefano Tealdi (Stefilm, Documentary in Europe, Italy), producer-director Marianna Kaat (Estonia), commissioning editor Sari Volanen (YLE, Finland) and Hanka Kastelicová (HBO, Hungary). The head of the workshop is Leena Pasanen, director of Finnagora.
For full details of the workshop and how to apply please see the accompanying document.
Dii announces, for the second time, the Desertec Best Paper Award. This award recognizes outstanding academic work related to the development of renewable energy in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The prize is awarded once again together with the Desertec University Network, which promotes scientific research in the field of renewables. The authors of the four best papers will be invited to the 3rd Dii Desert Energy Conference, taking place from the 7th- 9th November in Berlin. The winners will have the opportunity to present their work to approx. 500 high level international representatives from the political, the scientific and industrial community, and working in the renewable energy sector. Six further authors will receive free admission to the conference. "Many young people know exactly which opportunities for development renewable energy offers and therefore focus their academic work on it. That shows the pleasing great response to the award last year”, says Mouldi Miled, co-founder and managing director of the DESERTEC University Network. As co-founder of the DESERTEC Foundation, Miled aims to anchor the Desertec vision at universities worldwide. In 2011 approx. 50 young scientists applied for the Best Paper Award.
Fellowship for young journalists from North Africa and the Middle East "In addition to the environmentally friendly power generation the Desertec vision stands for economic development, job creation and knowledge transfer. In this respect media plays a big role", says Paul van Son, CEO of Dii. For this reason Dii announces a fellowship which will enable five young journalists from North Africa and the Middle East to visit the 3rd Dii Desert Energy Conference.
Together with its 57 partners in 15 countries, Dii aims to turn the Desertec vision into reality. Founded in 2009, the industrial initiative focuses its activities on the creation of a market for renewable energy that are generated on an industrial scale in the desert regions of North Africa and the Middle East. Such activities include the development of integrated energy markets and the identification of suitable technologies for producing and transmitting electricity. From the 7 th- 9th November 2012 the 3 rd Dii DESERT ENERGY CONFERENCE, will take place at the Federal Foreign Office Berlin, Germany. About 500 international representatives from science, politics and economics will discuss topics such as power grid expansion, lowering the cost of electricity generation from renewables and their net integration. The conference program is available at www.dii-eumena.com/conference/program.
As part of our movement building efforts in South Asia, 350.org in collaboration with the Bangladesh Youth Movement for Climate (BYMC) and with the generous support of the British Council, Bangladesh are organizing a Training for Trainers (T4T) for 25 select young people across the South Asian region from September 25 - 28, 2012 at the British Council in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The T4T is meant for activists, civil society leaders and environmentally active youth from across South Asia who will be equipped with vital training resources that will be useful throughout their working career. The workshop itself will be focussed on providing specific skills on ways to build a campaign, building a movement, online campaigning, story telling and various other skills that modern day campaigners would need to work towards achieving their goals.
In addition, the training for trainers or T4T brings with it a new curriculum that offers the participants an experiential based training. Such a training entails activities that allow the participants to deeply reflect on the issues of our times and develop a strong shared purpose and ways to achieve their goals.
If this is something you are interested in or know of someone who might be interested, then apply or forward this page. One can be part of it by filling in the application here. The T4T will be a 4 day intense training program designed for young people between the age group of 20-40. The deadline for receiving completed applications is August 18, 2012. The final selection of the applicants will be based on the answers in the form.
Besides acquiring various skills as mentioned earlier, the trainers will also practice the training themselves. One of the expectations of the participants before selecting them would be to organize a similar T4T in their own region and that way we continue to build the movement. These trainers will also be encouraged to form local groups that will organize local campaigns which 350.org can support through various resources.
350.org has already organized T4T's in a few countries, below you can see an image from a training for trainers conducted in May this year in Rishikesh, India that had participants from all over the country. The programme has received a great response and outcome with more trainers cropping up around the planet and local groups being formed regularly. We understand that climate change cannot be solved overnight or even over a few years, it will take a sustained effort and immense dedication to the cause for addressing it and nurturing such dedication in the new generation is vital.
The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) Asia program is accepting applications for grants and awards in line with its mission to help advance local and regional projects aimed at introducing, improving, and applying Internet technology for the benefit of Asia-Pacific users and communities.
For ISIF grants, financial support of up to AUD 30,000 is given to Asia Pacific initiatives via a competitive process. Project proposals should have innovation and development as an integral part, and be aligned with the current funding categories that include: innovation on access provision, innovation on learning and localization, code for the common good, rights. For detailed information, please check ISIF Asia grants page.
The ISIF awards, on the other hand, seek to acknowledge the important contributions ICT innovators have made with creative solutions to the social and economic development of the Asia Pacific region. Financial support for up to AUD 3,000 is allocated also via a competitive process. In addition to selecting a winner per category, there will be a Community Choice Awardcategory for the best social media campaign (the project with the highest number of votes from the community). Find out more on the awards here.
Deadline for applications is 10 August 2012.
The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) is a grants and awards program aimed at stimulating creative solutions to ICT development needs in the Asia Pacific region, placing particular emphasis on the role of the Internet in social and economic development.
IDRC’s Governance for Equity in Health Systems (GEHS) program announces call for concept notes. The main emphasis of the call is on how and when technology can contribute toward strengthened and more equitable health systems in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The overarching objective of the Strengthening equity through applied research capacity building in e-Health (SEARCH) project is to support LMIC-based researchers in carrying out rigorous and useful research on how and when e-Health can influence the functioning of health systems to improve health outcomes, and ultimately contribute to reducing health inequities.
Key research areas:
· Theory, methodology, or framework development
· Participation, accountability, and transparency
· Enterprise architecture and interoperability
· Modelling and operations research to generate evidence for decision-making
· Subnational, national, and global policy processes
Key eligibility criteria:
The principal applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of a LMIC with a primary work affiliation at a LMIC-based institution.
Value and duration:
A total amount of approximately CAD 2.5 million will be invested in successful grant proposals over a period of three years. Each grant will range from CAD 100,000 to CAD 400,000 for a time period between 24-36 months.
Deadline for submission: 12:00pm EST, July 20, 2012
News and Opportunity