Call for Applications:
2013 FAIR African Investigative
Journalism Grants Fund
(Africa-wide)
Deadline: 27 February 2013
FAIR is pleased to announce that investigative journalists working for African media and residing in Africa can apply for a small grant under the 2013 ‘African Investigative Journalism Grants Fund’.
Supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the objective is to strengthen media environments in Africa to act as a watchdog over actions of governments and vested-interested groups.
The grant programme covers 40 small grants of US$ 1,000 each which are meant for expenses only. An advisory committee will extend these grants to deserving journalists who cannot find time and resources to follow up on an important story.
FAIR thanks SIDA for the generous funding of these grants, which are not linked to any specific subject or theme. Deadline for applications: 27 February 2013
Email applications can be sent to: grants@fairreporters.org
GRANTS AMOUNT AND PURPOSE:
The FAIR investigative grants support investigative story or programme projects that are proposed by journalists working (either full time or free lance) for African media houses, and for which an expense budget is required.
The investigative journalism projects submitted need to match criteria set below. The grants cover expenses to be incurred in an investigative story or programme project only and are not to be used for fees.
Applications to the fund need to be accompanied by an expense budget. The FAIR Advisory Council will adjudicate each application on its merits and FAIR will announce the winning applicants in personal correspondence and on its website.
Neither the FAIR Board, which administrates the grants, nor the fund donor organisation, will have a say in the adjudication process: the adjudication is the sole prerogative of the FAIR Advisory Council. As the adjudication process is out of the hands of FAIR and its controlling structures, any FAIR member is entitled to apply for a grant as well as any non-FAIR member.
GRANTS ADVERTISING:
The invite for applications for the grants will be offered for attention to the websites and, if any, to the hard copy publications of as many as possible of the journalism (support) organisations that are engaged in the development and advancement of journalism in Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. They will be advertized on the FAIR website and on the FAIR listserve. FAIR members will be encouraged to announce the invite in the publications of the media houses they work for, as well as on the websites they run, or have connections with, in their countries in Africa. The announcement will also specifically be communicated to FAIR funders and partners, for the purpose of wider communication by these funders and partners within their African media contact circles.
LANGUAGE:
Applications may be submitted in English, French or Portuguese. Where FAIR takes the initiative to correspond with any grantee, this correspondence will also take place in the language of the applicant.
APPLICATIONS RULES:
Applications must be accompanied by a 1 page summary in either English, French or Portuguese. The summary is of extreme importance because the initial shortlist of applications will be compiled on the basis of the summary and only the applications that make the shortlist will be considered in full.
The summary should contain the following:
If an investigation topic is of such a sensitive nature that the applicant does not want the topic to be known to others, he/she should state this in the application. In this event, the applicant and the advisory council will come to an agreement on a suitably neutral/general description of the nature of the investigation, which description will be used when the award is announced.
- Subject
- Reason why this subject was chosen
- Envisaged methodology (source-building, data to access, testing of obtained info in order to reach conclusion)
- Media house that has undertaken to publish (the acceptance letter from the editor is to be attached)
- A paragraph about earlier publications by the journalist
- Budget (expenses only)
Link: complete FAIR grants guidelines
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries: grants@fairreporters.org
For submissions: via the online grant application form
Website: http://fairreporters.net