Call for Applications: Audience-Engaged Journalism Grant Program

This initiative aims to combat corruption, enhance transparency, and promote accountability to fortify democratic institutions and foster a more resilient media landscape in the region.

By leveraging investigative journalism and engaging directly with local communities, the initiative seeks to drive lasting reforms and ensure the voices of underrepresented groups are heard.

Through innovative storytelling and investigative reporting, BIRN aims to equip citizens with the tools to hold decision-makers accountable, advocate for transparency, and demand meaningful reforms. This approach not only reinforces democratic values but also cultivates a well-informed and engaged citizenry, essential for creating a more transparent and accountable public sector in the Western Balkans.

Scope

• The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) has been actively engaging communities in reporting and supporting media outlets and journalists through grants, training, and mentoring. To enhance their reporting and production skills, BIRN developed the Engaged Citizen Reporting (ECR) tool, a digital platform that enables journalists to gain insights from communities and involve audiences in the reporting process.
• This innovative ECR tool allows journalists to report on specific issues recognized by citizens at the local level, utilizing well-structured crowd sourced information that can be easily analysed. The approach amplifies the voices of underrepresented communities, including women, young people, marginalized groups, and ethnic minorities, ensuring their stories are heard.

Objectives

• The audience-engaged grants aim to achieve the following outcomes for project-supported media outlets:
  • Access to Digital Tools: Provision of the ECR tool to actively involve communities in story development.
  • Training: Comprehensive instruction in engagement journalism and effective tool usage.
  • On-the-Job Mentoring: Support for journalists in producing audience-engaged and investigative stories.
  • Production of Local Stories: Creation of impactful stories grounded in crowd sourced, community-identified issues.
  • Collaboration Support: Facilitation of cross-border cooperation, sharing knowledge and expertise among journalists.
  • Sustainability: Encouragement of continued use of the ECR tool, fostering a culture of community engagement in media production.

Categories

• Two following types of grants are available under this call for applications:
  • Individual Grants: for media outlets wishing to cover national/regional/local topics using their own newsroom resources.
  • Cross-border Grants: for media outlets interested in investigating cross-border topics in partnership with the other media outlet.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount expected to be distributed under this call for applications is up to €60,000.
• Individual Grants: €5,000
• Cross-border Grants: (two media outlets): €10,000 (up to €5,000 per each)
• Duration: Media outlets are expected to begin implementing their project’s activities on 1 May 2025 and can last up to a maximum of eight months from the date of contract signature. All activities should conclude no later than 31 December 2025.

Eligible Countries

• A key component of the project is the provision of grants to support local media outlets in adopting audience-engagement journalism practices in six Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to apply, applicants must fulfil the following criteria:
  • Demonstrate a commitment to producing high-quality, independent journalism that serves the public interest.
  • Propose a story with an investigative and in-depth angle, impactful for the community. The story proposed can be a story only relevant to the local community in one city/region/country, but it can also be a cross-border story. If so, the story must address an issue relevant to audiences in two Western Balkan countries, and reflect collaborative effort.
  • Express clear intention and means of including underrepresented communities in stories. These communities may include marginalised groups such as minorities, youth, women and other underreported communities.
  • Be a legally registered entity within the country of application on or before 1 January, 2024.
  • Be prepared to submit supporting documentation as outlined in Section 5.4.1 Application Form Content or provide a clear justification if unable to do so.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to actively participate in on-the-job mentoring in engagement journalism and the professional use of Engaged Citizen Reporting (ECR) tools, following the guidance provided by mentors.

For more information, visit BIRN.