Asia-Pacific and Bay of Bengal Media Grants 2018

Call for Project Proposals for the Asia-Pacific and Bay of Bengal Media Grants 2018!

Our planet is experiencing an acute environmental crisis, and time is running out to limit its impact. According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world only has 12 years to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5-degrees Celsius. Temperatures exceeding that amount will produce to more heatwaves and drought, greater sea level rise, flooding and rainfall, research shows.

The grant is focused on the Asia-Pacific region because it holds a critical key to our planet’s health and its ability to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. The region is home to 60 percent of the world’s population and rich pockets of biodiversity. At the same time, its fast-growing economies are taking a huge toll on the environment. Sixty percent of marine plastic waste comes from five Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam). China and India are among the world’s top five greenhouse gas emitters. Indonesia continues to be a hotspot for deforestation, and Mekong countries and Papua New Guinea are fast losing their forests too. Meanwhile, water scarcity in South Asia continues growing, and while the South Pacific countries as a group contribute a negligible amount of global greenhouse gases, they suffer disproportionately from the effects of global warming.

From a policy level, decisions made in the Asia-Pacific region will influence how drastically the global climate will change, whether communities will be more resilient to environmental impacts, how many species go extinct and how much progress toward sustainable development can be achieved.

Yet communities in the Asia-Pacific facing the brunt of environmental and climate change often lack information needed to adapt or pressure their officials to act. In addition, the voices of those who are particularly vulnerable – such as women, youth, indigenous people, ethnic minority groups and people with disabilities – are not always included in mainstream local and international media.

This grant program provides an opportunity for media organizations, civil society organizations and academic institutions throughout Asia and the Pacific to think critically and creatively about how to build local capacity for reporting and information exchange around climate change, natural resource management and the environment.

They are implementing this round of grants under two separate EJN projects — the EJN Asia-Pacific project with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Enhancing Climate Justice and Resilience Narratives around the Bay of Bengal project supported by the Climate Justice Resilience Fund.

Benefits

  • Grants will be given out in two lots
    • Lot 1:
      • For groups that implement actions on any environmental topic in the Asia-Pacific region.
      • The typical grant will be for up to US$20,000 and support a one-year project.
      • They are also open to multi-year proposals for a bigger grant amount, but not for longer than two years.
      • Around 10 such grants would be provided in this round.
      • Priority will be given to groups that are locally registered and actions that will be implemented in one or more developing countries.
    • Lot 2:
      • For groups working in the Bay of Bengal region, specifically coastal Bangladesh and eastern India (the coastal areas in the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and focusing specifically on climate resilience and adaptation.
      • These grants will average around US$15,000, although they may accept one for a slightly larger amount.
      • While the average size of these grants is less than for Lot 1, they expect fewer applications for them, and thus your chances of being selected are greater.
      • They aim to award at least 3 grants in this Lot.
  • Improved access among policymakers, communities and individuals to quality socio-environmental news and information;
  • Improved organizational capacity to report on socio-environment issues in an accurate and compelling way;
  • Improved organizational capacity to produce greater quantity and quality of socio-environmental news and information;
  • Reduced exclusion of marginalized groups (defined as women, youth, ethnic minority groups, indigenous people and people with disabilities) in socio-environmental information;
  • Peer and multi-stakeholder engagement around socio-environmental issues.
  • The Grant can be used for purchasing equipment. Although, applicants should clearly state how the equipment can contribute to the expected outcomes and outputs. The cost of equipment should also make up a relatively small proportion of the overall budget and not the budget in its entirety.

Eligibilities

  • Regional, national and local media organizations, journalist networks, universities and journalism schools focusing on environmental reporting in the region are welcome to apply.
  • Non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and research institutes will also be considered but only those with strong media and communication programs that are dedicated to support fair and accurate reporting.
Eligible Regions: Open for All

Application Process

  • You will need to first create an account on the official website or log into an existing one.
  • To register for an account, click on “create an account” below. Once you fill in all the required fields, you can save the application and will receive a confirmation email from the Earth Journalism Network with instructions on how to finalize your submission.
  • To apply, you have to fill in the online application form by clicking on “Apply Now” below.
  • Applicants are required to submit a budget. Please download the form and build your project budget using it.
  • If you encounter difficulties with submitting your application or have questions about the grants, please email [email protected].

Application Deadline: November 20, 2018

Application ClosedOfficial link
Disclaimer: Youth Opportunities spreads opportunities for your convenience and ease based on available information, and thus, does not take any responsibility of unintended alternative or inaccurate information. As this is not the official page, we recommend you to visit the official website of opportunity provider for complete information. For organizations, this opportunity is shared with sole purpose of promoting “Access to Information” for all and should not be associated with any other purposes.

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