Deadline: 30 October 2018

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the Media Initiatives and Partnerships Activity.

The objective of the MIPS activity is to increase the skills of Serbian citizens to navigate a complex media landscape and effectively participate in modern economic, social and political life. MIPS will achieve this objective by deepening local engagement in efforts to improve access to and increase consumers’ demand for accurate and objective information.

Applicants must propose one or more initiatives they intend to undertake to address the purpose and challenges set forth above. Applicants should ensure that the issue or issues they propose to address are commensurate with the cost proposed and that applications present a strategy to sustain applicants’ efforts beyond the lifetime of the activity. The following is a list of illustrative areas of programming that could be considered; applicants may also offer their ideas and approaches to address the purpose and theory of change set forth above.

• Support to Media and Information Literacy initiatives to increase public competencies to search and critically evaluate information and media content to make decisions, and to responsibly interact in the digital space.
• Support to civil society and consumer advocacy initiatives to increase professional, accurate and unbiased reporting across media platforms.
• Support media stakeholders’ self-regulation efforts to monitor adherence to professional journalism standards.
• Support Digital Literacy initiatives to increase the digital competencies of citizens, civil society and the private sector, including through implementation of the European Union Digital Competence Framework and related efforts.

Award Information

• Subject to funding availability and at the discretion of the Agency, USAID intends to provide $3,000,000 in total USAID funding over a four year period.
• The anticipated period of performance is four years. The estimated start date will be December 2018.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligibility for this NOFO is restricted. Eligibility is restricted to Serbian organization.
• USAID is interested in working with civil society organizations, media support organizations, media outlets, private sector actors and academia to support local efforts to address the challenges discussed above. We are encouraging coalitions and partnerships, as well as applications that aim to leverage USAID resources with other funding sources or existing resources, for example through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and partnerships with the private sector or publishing / broadcasting arrangements with the media industry. Please note that public/government organizations can be part of a partnership, but are not able to apply for, or be party to, the award as either a prime or sub-awardee. However, programs may not be partisan or political in nature.
• Only local organizations as defined below are eligible for award. USAID defines a “local entity” as an individual, a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or another body of persons that:
  • Is legally organized under the laws of; and
  • Has as its principal place of business or operations in; and
  • Is majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of; and
  • Is managed by a governing body the majority of who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of the country receiving assistance.
• For purposes of this section, ‘majority owned’ and ‘managed by’ include, without limitation, beneficiary interests and the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization’s managers or a majority of the organization’s governing body by any means.
• These eligibility requirements apply only to the principal (prime) Applicant.
• USAID welcomes applications from organizations that have not previously received financial assistance from USAID.
• Awardees cannot have received more than $5 million from all U.S. Government funding sources over the last five years.

How to Apply

The concept paper must be submitted by email at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit Grants.gov