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Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Public Health Program’s Health Media Initiative,
is now accepting project proposals for the third round of microgrant
funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects focused
especially on public health issues involving marginalized populations.
Ideal applicants are dynamic NGOs or individuals who:
- Represent the vital voices of communities affected by stigmatized
health issues whose stories, viewpoints, and experiences are often
marginalized, unheard, or misrepresented in mainstream media. These
communities include people living with HIV and AIDS and/or
tuberculosis, people with mental illnesses or intellectual
disabilities, injecting drug users, sex workers, LGBTI individuals,
people in need of palliative care services, and Roma facing
discrimination in healthcare settings.
- Are enthusiastic about using new, interactive modes of
communication to build relationships and establish dialogue on the
important advocacy issues of their community.
- Envision and highly prioritize media and communication strategies to achieve the advocacy goals of their organization.
Pre-requisite for the competition:
- Organizations must have their own website or participate in a network website.
Rising Voices and OSI aim to bring new voices from new communities
and speaking new languages to the conversational web, by providing
resources and funding to local groups reaching out to underrepresented
communities. Examples of potential projects include:
- Working with a tuberculosis or HIV clinic or local drop-in center
with the offer of training health workers, local harm reduction or sex
worker outreach workers, patients, and their families to blog and
upload video, in order to document their work, their experiences, and
their community.
- Use blogs, podcasts, and online video to help give voice and representation to LGBTI communities and advocate for their rights.
- Distribute mp3 recorders to a local NGO working on palliative care
issues, and help them produce monthly audio testimonials and/or
interviews featuring stories and experiences of participants, for
uploading to the NGO's website.
- Organizing a regular workshop on blogging and photography at a
legal aid center representing the rights of people living with mental
disabilities. Part of the budget could be used to purchase affordable
digital video cameras and internet café costs, so that participants can
describe their challenges and life experiences to a global audience.
- Purchasing an affordable digital video camera and teaching a group of local Roma community
outreach workers how to produce an ongoing video-blog documentary about
their work, which could then be posted to the organization's website
and linked to other networks' websites.
Rising Voices outreach grants will range from $1,000 to $5,000. Special consideration will be given to proposals from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucusus. Please be as thoughtful, specific, and realistic as possible when drafting your budgets.
Successful projects will be prominently featured on Global Voices.
Completed applications will be accepted no later than Sunday, June
1st in either English or Russian. Please submit your application on the
Rising Voices apply page. Russian-language proposals should be submitted here. All applicants will receive a confirmation email by June 3. Grantees will be announced on June 28 at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Budapest, Hungary.
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The OSI Public Health Program’s Health Media Initiative aims to
increase public awareness of health issues, especially stigmatized
health issues involving marginalized populations. The initiative
focuses on supporting health NGOs to develop their relationships with
journalists across all media platforms so they may communicate health
and human rights issues effectively with the public. Where the media
environment is especially hostile, OSI also supports “community
journalism” initiatives to encourage NGOs to use digital technology to
communicate their stories and issues to each other and to the world at
large. The initiative also seeks to build the capacity of media
professionals to report responsibly on public health issues.
Rising Voices aims to help bring new voices from new communities and
speaking new languages to the conversational web, by providing
resources and funding to local groups reaching out to underrepresented
communities.
Application Deadline: June 1, 2008
Source: Global Voices
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