Author: Eleni Stamatoukou

Grants are offered to ten journalists, artists, academia or civil society activists that will have an opportunity to develop a concept that tackles these topics with the multidisciplinary approach.

Main focus of project proposals should be on exploring far right symbols, radical groups and extremist ideologies in local communities of the Balkan countries, their connections and cooperation with other similar groups, especially those in Europe and Middle East, the role of diaspora communities, disinformation efforts and online hubs.

Ten grantees will be selected on the basis of submitted applications. Grantees are expected to produce one project based on the proposal they submitted.

Mentorship support will be provided by BIRN.

GENERAL RULES FOR CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

• A maximum of 10 grants is awarded
• Maximum amount per grant: EUR 2,000.00
• Project duration: 6 months
• Propose a plan for using various platforms, including how to reach targeted audience
• Give a clear overview of their timeline
• Each applicant may submit only one application under this grant scheme.

HOW TO APPLY

Application form content

Applications must be submitted in line with the instructions and guidance of this Call. The designated application form must be used.

Application Form should be completed in English language. Any error or major discrepancy related to the Application Form instructions may lead to its rejection.

Clarifications will only be requested when information provided is not sufficient to conduct an objective assessment.

The Application Form must be filled out online, all additional documentation can be submitted in the online format. The application can be filled out by clicking a link below.

The application must be submitted by 23:59 CET, on December 20, 2021. In case of additional inquires please contact us at: [email protected]

EVALUATION AND SELECTION

All received proposals will go through three phases:

PHASE I: Technical evaluation done by BIRN staff to ensure applicants followed application procedures and submitted all required documents.

PHASE II: Evaluation by Committee will be done in order to select applicants based on evaluation criteria including:

1. a) Quality of proposed idea
2. a) Multiplier effect of the project result
3. b) Innovation
4. c) Level of interactivity of the project
5. d) Ability to reach broad population

PHASE III: Notification of applicants and corrections (if necessary). Upon evaluation of applications, applicants will be notified. In case of suggestions (in case two or more applicants have similar submissions, proposals of different topics and such) applicants will have the option to submit another application, or to addend the existing application.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND ELIGIBILITY CHECK

During the administrative check the following will be assessed:

• Compliance with the submission deadline. If the deadline has not been met, the application will automatically be rejected.
• The Application Form satisfies all criteria specified above. If any of the requested information/document is missing or is incorrect, the application may be rejected on that sole basis and it will not be evaluated further.

The application that passes this check will be evaluated further as part of the quality assessment.

OPEN ONLINE APPLICATION

 

 

Matteo, 35, is from Italy and studied International Law and Human Rights. He joined BIRN’s multinational team in October.

“One great thing to be a researcher at BIRN is working in a big and multi-skilled team, and this means there is always a lot to learn from everyone,” says Matteo.

In November, BIRN introduced its new focus page, COVID-19 Crisis Tech Response Livefeed, a unique tool to track and map the use of technology and digital solutions (both good and bad) in Central and South-East Europe amid the ongoing health crisis. “Our goal is to keep revealing wrongdoings, trends and connections that would otherwise remain hidden in order to help civil society organisations and media respond more quickly and efficiently to future crises,” says Matteo.

We live in an era in which digital rights matter more than ever, he explains. “We are now living much more online than before. In a way, our protection and presence on the net is guaranteed by digital rights,” adds Matteo.

He says that BIRN wants to continue to expose the effects of digital violations. “Our programme will also have a special focus on gender-based violence occurring in the digital environment. We will also publish a new report on digital rights which will cover violations recorded from August 2020 to August 2021,” he says.

BIRN’s monitoring platform, BIRD, already covers six countries in Southern and Eastern Europe, and will soon expand to include cases from other two countries, Montenegro and Kosovo, he adds.

“Finally, we have also launched a biweekly review on Balkan Insight – Ongoing Tensions in Fragile Environments is the newest one – in which we update readers on the latest digital rights violations recorded in the region,” Matteo says.