Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) was established in 1999 to enable access to digital information in developing and transition countries. EIFL is an international not-for-profit organisation based in Europe with a global network of partners. It advocates for affordable access to commercial e-journals for academic and research libraries in Central and Eastern Europe. EIFL works in association with libraries and library consortia in different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America and works to enable access to knowledge for education, learning, research and sustainable community development.
EIFL is currently inviting grant proposals from Innovative Libraries in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda for Public Library Innovation Programme (PLIP). The main aim of these grants is to encourage libraries in using information and communication technologies to spark new services that change and improve lives and livelihoods of the people in their communities.
Grant Amount
Grant maximum: US$15,000
Eligibility Criteria
This invitation is open to public and community libraries in Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. A public or community library is a library that is open to the general public and that makes all kinds of knowledge and information freely available to the public.
Libraries are encouraged to apply in partnership with other ICT for development organizations that provide information services in the areas of health, agriculture, supporting youth and children at risk, employment and entrepreneurship/small business. However the library must be the lead partner and the grant applicant.
General Conditions
- Funding may be requested for a new library service or to strengthen or expand an existing service.
- The service should address community needs in one of the following five crucial development areas:
- Support for children and youth at risk;
- Agriculture – support for farming and farmers;
- Health – support for health workers and/or the health system; building community health;
- Improving people’s employment prospects and helping them find jobs;
- Entrepreneurship, small business and enterprise development.
The library’s new service should include meaningful partnerships with other organizations, for example, the local council/municipality; an NGO that has relevant competencies; local hospital or clinics; government or non-governmental farm support agencies; schools, religious institutions and so on.
Project Qualities
The project proposal must:
- Explain why the service is needed and how it meets community needs;
- Describe the origin of the idea (e.g. what project or service you are replicating and adapting in your proposal) and the activities planned;
- Clearly describe which of the five development areas it addresses;
- Describe the expected outcomes;
– Describe the partner organization/s and the nature of the partnership/s that is needed to deliver the service;
– Explain in what way[s] the proposed service is innovative.
Selection Criteria
In the first stage of evaluation, a group of external evaluators will score proposals using the following criteria:
- Clear idea and service area
- Innovation
- Partnership
- Use of technology
Last date for submitting the applications is January 31, 2012.
For more information, visit this link.
