National Call for investigative journalism
The EUACI is a collaborative initiative funded by the European Union and the Government of Denmark, with the aim of supporting Ukraine in its efforts to reduce corruption at both national and local levels. The new phase, launched in January 2024, focuses on key strategic objectives: reducing corruption in Ukraine, advancing anti-corruption reforms, and implementing reconstruction efforts in war-affected areas with a strong emphasis on transparency, accountability, and integrity.
Civil society and media play an important role in Ukraine in enhancing awareness, investigating corruption, developing and advocating legislation and other state policies, influencing integrity of state institutions at the national and local level.
The EUACI operates across four intervention areas:
- Support to independent state institutions fighting and preventing corruption
- Transparency and accountability of the reconstruction process
- Support for cities in war-affected areas to enhance integrity in the reconstruction process
- Civil society and media engagement in preventing and fighting corruption
The National Call for investigative journalism under the intervention area 4.
The goal of the grant competition will aim to help investigate journalists and media investigating corruption cases. The grant is meant to support skilled staff and for investigations and plan long-term anti-corruption projects.
The specific objectives of the call:
- Support staff investigating corruption cases, including high-level corruption cases, regional cases and cases related to reconstruction aid.
- Support capacity building and institution development of the partner media in the field of anticorruption.
- Support long-term anti-corruption projects and investigations of the partner media.
- Enhancement of networking with regional media.
Grant competition budget: 450,000 EUR. The aim is to fund at least 1 project within the scope of the call. The applicants should ensure that the grant budget remains below 150,000 EUR per year, 450 000 EUR for 3 years.
Grant budget structure
- program activities (conducting investigation and events, translation services, communication activities, program activities, publishing, legal support etc.).
- salary for the staff (executive director, deputy executive director, accountant, communication manager, project manager, etc.) and fees for permanent and external experts (researcher, lawyers, journalist, peer-review, etc.).
- capacity building (training, capacity-building events, strategy development, mentorship and internship, participation in capacity-building events).
- administrative services (office rent, communication, bank fees, annual audits).
- unallocated funds up to 7% of the budget.
Selection process
Applicant eligibility criteria:
To be eligible for a grant, the applicant must:
- be a legal entity officially registered according to Ukrainian legislation.
- be a nonprofit civil society organization with codes 0032, 0034, 0036, 0038, 0039.
- have proven experience and expertise in conducting investigations of corruption cases.
- have no attachment to political parties or vested economic or political interests
The full proposal with the budget will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- compliance with formal selection criteria.
- relevance to the goal and objectives of the call for proposals.
- the level of the thematic expertise of the organization and experience in the anticorruption sphere and media investigation.
- proven experience of project implementation.
- well-structured and clear project proposal with measurable outcomes and outputs of the proposed project.
- reasonable budget and clearly outlines costs (budget items are explained adequately in the narrative).
- a partnership with experts or CSOs located in the regions of Ukraine may be advantageous.
The evaluation and selection of grant proposals will be conducted by the Selection Committee in accordance with the criteria described above. The committee comprises external experts with expertise in the fields of anticorruption, and members of the EUACI management team.
Timelines
The project must be submitted no later than May 31, 2024 23:59 Kyiv time.
The information about the competition result will be published no later than June 21, 2024.
The grant agreements are expected to be signed no later than mid-July 2024. Applicants may start the project between mid-July and mid-October 2024.
The project duration should not exceed 36 months, with all projects required to conclude before end of mid-July 2027.
How to apply The applicants are required to complete the proposal and budget forms in English language (ANNEX 2. Project Proposal and ANNEX 3. Project Budget forms). The proposal with the budget shall be submitted by e-mail to: sofgol@um.dk with the subject: Response to National Anti-Corruption Media Grants Call.
Deadline for proposal with the budget submission is May 31, 2024 23:59 Kyiv time. The proposal either received after the deadline or incomplete, without detailed budget will not be considered.
Competition presentation. The presentation of the grant call in online and offline format is planned on 13 May, at 11 am. The online broadcasting will be available at EUACI YouTube chanel and EUACI Facebook page The registration link on the event https://forms.gle/KSXxAFnCJ4U3F33H9
Questions in English or Ukrainian for the National Call for investigative journalism should be submitted to: sofgol@um.dk no later than May 24, 2024 17:00 Kyiv time, indicating clearly the title of this call for proposals. The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative reserves the right to not provide clarifications to questions received after the deadline. Replies will be posted on the EUACI website by May 28, 2024 17:00 Kyiv time. To ensure transparency and fairness of the application process, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative cannot express any prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants, proposed actions or specific activities.