The Embassy of the United States of America in Azerbaijan seeks innovative proposals in the areas of media training and journalism education. The U.S.-Azerbaijan Media Development Fund seeks to support the strengthening of independent media in Azerbaijan by awarding on competitive basis project grants not to exceed $75,000 to local non-government organizations, educational institutions and/or media organizations.
What Type of Projects are Funded?
The competition is open to well-developed and innovative project ideas that will contribute to improving media training and journalism education, with the long-term aim of creating the kind of independent media that promotes better governance and a stronger civil society. The U.S.-Azerbaijan Media Development Fund has chosen to address the following topics:
- Building journalism capacity both in traditional and new media, which includes but is not limited to teaching reporting techniques, journalism ethics, investigative reporting, citizen journalism, blogging, photo-journalism and video journalism;
- Strengthening journalism-teaching programs within existing institutions, including the development of new curriculum and hands-on learning initiatives;
- Development of student-led media outlets, including student newspapers, magazines, on-line publications, radio and TV programs;
- Establishment of programs that create viable self-sustaining business models for independent media.
Evaluation Criteria
The U.S.-Azerbaijan Media Development Fund will use the following general criteria to evaluate all submitted grant proposals:
- The project proposal demonstrates that the organization has sufficient expertise, skills and human resources to implement the project;
- The organization demonstrates that is has a clear understanding of the issues project aims to address and is specific in outlining steps to be taken;
- The organization has identified appropriate target groups in a way that maximizes project outcomes and the project has a clear, manageable scope;
- The project idea and approach is innovative, yet proposed project activities are concrete and detailed and supported by reasonable work plan;
- The project’s budget is well organized, detailed and reasonable. There are no budget lines labeled miscellaneous expenses. Entertainment and alcoholic beverage expenses are not included in the budget. The budget demonstrates that the organization has devoted time to plan for and assess actual expenses associated with the project instead of providing rough estimates;
- The organization has clearly articulated how it will assess and measure its own performance throughout the project implementation phase, using concrete quantitative and qualitative assessment tools;
- The project proposal describes clearly the approach that will be used to ensure maximum sustainability of the project’s results after its completion.
The closing date for applications is July 24, 2011.
For further information and details, please visit this link.
