Application Process for The Check Global Independent Media Response Fund

The Check Global Independent Media Response Fund is designed to respond to the hyperlocal needs of media practitioners, independent media newsrooms, fact-checking groups, citizen journalism projects, human rights defenders, researchers and technology and digital literacy advocates in North-Africa Western-Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific region.

The current call is making available micro-grants of up to $5,000 for individuals and 15,000 for collectives and organizations. 

Read the brief in Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Local Communities Are The Most Affected By Climate Misinformation

Business and financial interests, public and private sector corruption, and partisan politics all jeopardize the success of climate change interventions. Local communities are the most affected by inadequate policies and  agreements, especially when they are under-represented in mainstream media. Independent media workers often lack the resources and tools to support their work and provide them with optimal conditions for growth and sustainability. This in turn negatively affects their reach, impact and most  importantly, the communities they serve, at a time when the need for accountability journalism, archiving, open-source investigations, and  verification is more important than ever.

The fund is therefore designed to support independent media workers and  grassroots media initiatives that will aim to address a wide range of climate related misinformation in the following four regions: 

• North Africa Western Asia
• Latin America and the Caribbean
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Asia Pacific

Eligibility Criteria

The Check Global Media Response Fund focus for 2022-2023 is climate misinformation. 

The fund prioritizes applications submitted on behalf of groups and collectives (as opposed to individual applications). This allows the board to hold recipients accountable, and enhances the chances of delivery. We still welcome individuals for submissions, but suggest putting a strong emphasis in their applications on their experience delivering similar projects.

There are a number of criteria that the board ranks the applications against:

• ‍Originality & significance: the quality of the written application. How is this work new? Does it build on existing published work, and what is the new contribution it makes? What are the challenges it suggests to address? What is its geographic area / focus?‍
• Achievability: will the applicant be able to deliver on the promises made in the application? Is the workplan realistic within the suggested timeline? Does the fieldwork represent any ethical or health and safety issues that need to be taken into consideration? 
• ‍Impact & Dissemination: does the application identify a relevant audience for the work? Does the work set out to transform perception on specific issues? Is the application clear in terms of why this work is important now? ‍
• Rigour: Will the work present balanced viewpoints? How solid is the investigative fieldwork plan? How will the applicant check their sources are accurate? 
• ‍Match to funder: Is the Check Global Media Response Fund best suited to support this? Are there any other partners that we can direct this application to for support?

Funding Process

• Applicants submit a brief about their project via our submission form, or by email ( CGMRF @ Protonmail.com  ).
• The Check Global Media Response Fund board regularly meets to review all applications.
• Selected applicants are invited to submit further details about their project via an online form (which also provides the board with references, that we are able to consult regarding the applicant’s background and experience).
• Successful applicants are then notified within a period of five weeks from submission.

Due to high volume of applicants, we will not be able to respond to unsuccessful applicants.

The fund will support groups and initiatives which: are addressing climate misinformation and their impact on the local level: 

1. Through the lens of hyperlocal journalism - issues that are under-represented by mainstream media groups and which affect multiple communities.
2. That seek accountability and strengthen democratic processes.
3. To enhance access to quality information and address historic and systemic biases in media coverage. 

Or are addressing global challenges by tackling climate misinformation through: 

1. Innovative technologies.
2. Training, and, media literacy programs.
3. Fact-checking and verification projects.
4. Monitoring and documenting of online content
5. Other initiatives, tools and methods.

Apply now