International Media Support (IMS) has established an emergency support mechanism (COVID-19 Rapid Response Mechanism) aimed at helping public interest media during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the support mechanism, International Media Support offered small grants that allow the recipients to continue their work in the short term and hopefully weather the immediate crisis.
Requirements for support
The award criteria for emergency funds from International Media Support under the COVID-19 Response in Africa project are:
- Media outlets from any country in Sub-Saharan Africa are eligible excluding South Africa, Nigeria, DR Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Benin, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal;
- Media outlets must conduct public interest journalism related to the pandemic, or be directly affected by the impact of the pandemic;
- Funds can be sought for continuation of vital operations, for purchase of personal protection equipment (PPE) and related safety provisions, as well as content production and content distribution related to the COVID-19 theme;
- The ability of sub-grantees to reach out to neglected and vulnerable communities will be a priority in the selection procedure;
- Special consideration will be made to public interest and journalistic relevance;
- Grant value per recipient cannot exceed EUR 10,000.
Applications
IMS is not accepting new applications anymore, as the funds have been depleted.
Through the emergency support mechanism, IMS has already been able to provide support to more than 15 organisations at the moment.