Grants / Department of State / U.S. Mission to Niger

NG-FTIF-2022: Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund (FTIF)

Closed Closed June 30, 2022 Opportunity NG-FTIF-2022 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of U.S. Mission to Niger notices from 2022.

• Award ceiling$210,000
• Award floor$100,000
• Total funding$210,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

Not-for-profit organizations, including civil society/non-governmental national and international organizations or consortiums of NGOs

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund awards averaged $291,790; this notice allows up to $210,000 per award.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Background: In 2021, Niger scored 31 on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 124 out of 180 countries, and according to the World Bank, Niger’s performance in terms of transparency and accountability is low. Even though Niger’s Cour des Comptes – the national board of auditors and the highest jurisdiction for auditing public finances- does release the results of its national budget audit, pointing out significantly questionable spending, little media attention is drawn to these matters. Print, television, and online media rarely investigate cases of corruption, and normally report only information released by the government. The fight against corruption is an ongoing battle that requires the contribution of all actors, among whom the media is prominent. This year, the Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund (FTIF) will support programs that aim to create a self-sustaining journalistic ecosystem which can investigate and report on corruption independent of official government statements and create evidentiary reporting that the government must respond to. Niger’s only journalism academy, the Technical Training Institute for Information and Communication (IFTIC in French), does not have a concentration in investigative journalism. The lack of properly trained and motivated investigative journalists in Niger offers buoyancy to this system of impunity as it lessens public pressure to hold the government accountable to investigate and prosecute corruption. If the pool of properly trained investigative journalists expanded and included regular reporting on fiscal malfeasance, then the government would be forced to investigate and prosecute corrupt actors because of greater public knowledge of corrupt acts revealed through the media more readily. Goal: Decrease the level of corruption, fiscal malfeasance, and budget irregularities in Niger Project Objectives: The Government of Niger enhances fiscal transparency measures and more readily investigates and prosecutes corruption as a result of an increase in investigative media reporting into corruption and fiscal malfeasance. Outcomes: The pool of trained investigative journalists in Niger capable of reporting on corruption and fiscal malfeasance is considerably expanded Media reporting by Nigerien journalists on corruption, fiscal malfeasance, and budget irregularities is noticeably increased.

Category: Other.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

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