Deadline: February 26, 2026
Applications are open for the EJN Media Grants 2026 to Strengthen Reporting on Forest Governance Issues in Africa and Asia. This media grant opportunity will award up to nine grants in total to media organizations in Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Vietnam and Indonesia, for projects that will increase media coverage and/or improve journalists’ capacity to report on forest governance topics. This work is funded with UK International Development from the UK government.
Projects funded by this grant should seek to strengthen the capacity of journalists and media organizations in one or more of the target countries to produce high-quality, evidence-based and engaging stories on forest governance policies, challenges and solutions. Supported projects should aim to amplify the voices of marginalized groups directly affected by these issues, while drawing public and decision-maker attention to the threats to—and solutions for—equitable and sustainable forest management.
Grant
- They anticipate supporting nine organizations with grants of 10,000 GBP each, with at least one organization supported in each country. In general, proposals with smaller budgets will be more competitive. Larger grant amounts will be considered for projects that use innovative approaches and may be more resource- and time-consuming.
Eligibility
- Media organizations in Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Vietnam and Indonesia are eligible to apply. .
- This opportunity is open to journalist networks, media organizations, civil society organizations or academic institutions. Although they will consider applications by NGOs or environmental groups looking to build the capacity of journalists to cover conservation issues, preference will be given to applications from or affiliated with professional journalists, media organizations, journalism schools and the like.
- They will not consider applications rooted in advocacy or political campaigning.
- For the purposes of this grant opportunity, they will only be accepting applications in English. Unfortunately, they do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff.
- Existing or former EJN grantees are eligible to apply. They will take the performance of existing or former grantees into consideration during the selection.
- Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, to revise their proposals. EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, submitting AI-generated content as their own.
- All grantees that intend to support the production of stories as part of their project will be informed of the FGMI project’s high-quality journalism standards and are expected to encourage their supported journalists to produce work in line with these standards. These include—but are not limited to—the inclusion of marginalized sources, comprehensive and fair coverage with representation of all stakeholders, attributable quotes, personal narratives and other elements to be discussed during onboarding for this grant opportunity.
Judging Criteria
All applications they receive are reviewed and discussed by a panel of international judges, comprising Internews staff and experts in environmental journalism.
Applications will be evaluated using the following assessment criteria:
- The overall quality of the proposal;
- The relevance of the proposed project in contributing to the objectives and priorities of this grant program;
- The potential impact of the proposed project, including the quality and effectiveness of the project design;
- The innovative characteristics of the proposed activities;
- The financial viability and cost-effectiveness of the proposed activity;
- The ability of the applicant to carry it out;
- The geographical spread of the grantees.
Application
