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

OFOP0001479: Strengthening Independent Media in the Eastern Caribbean

Closed Closed July 28, 2024 Opportunity OFOP0001479 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Austrian-American Partnership Fund (AAPF) (OFOP0002825). Status: Closes January 1, 2099 (26353 days left). It is in our archive of U.S. Mission to Barbados notices from 2024.

• Award ceiling$500,000
• Award floor$500,000
• Total funding$500,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement, Grant

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)

• U.S. or foreign not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations • U.S. or foreign public and private educational institutions

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Public Diplomacy Programs awards averaged $26,570; this notice allows up to $500,000 per award.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The U.S. Department of State through Embassy Bridgetown announces an open competition for a project to strengthen independent media’s ability to increase access to objective and quality information in the Eastern Caribbean. Media outlets across the Caribbean face challenges including declining revenue sources and expensive operating environments. These challenges are compounded by the fact that many outlets have been traditionally under resourced. Media enterprises are suffering loss of advertising revenue and other funding streams. Many media houses also have gaps in adapting to the financial and editorial challenges of the current age and may lack fully developed business plans, leaving the outlets open to potential malign influence or interference efforts. Outlets also lack up-to-date equipment, computers, and software, hampering their ability to produce high-quality and timely content. Further, many operate under austere conditions and struggle to produce enough original, local content, exacerbating their vulnerability to disinformation, propaganda, and co-optation. Assistance is needed to ensure that journalists, outlets, and other media-related institutions have access to the training, networks, content, and equipment they need to resist false narratives and maintain a free and diverse media ecosystem. Embassy Bridgetown and partners seek to build the capacity of Eastern Caribbean media outlets using a third-party implementer. The implementer will scope its approach based on the following lines of efforts: · Training and capacity building: training to include but not limited to: methods to increase content production on a wide range of stories, how to expand reach and advertising revenue, how to develop sustainable business models and plans, fact checking and other core journalistic skills, identifying and countering disinformation, and better educating the general public on how to spot disinformation. A training centered around World Press Freedom Day and multimedia training will be built into the program deliverables. · Mentorship and network building: mentorship on journalism and media production skills building and financial/business practices. Network building to support joint reporting and fact-checking, and to create a sustainable community of practice that can share best practices beyond the life of this project.

Category: Other.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, OFOP0002825, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.