Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Health-Related New Media Outreach

Application Deadline: June 1, 2008

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.

***

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.

17 comments

  • […] Interviewing and introducing the grantees of Rising Voices’ latest health-focused grant competition. […]

  • […] Intervistë dhe paraqitje të bursistëve nga Rajzing Vojsis nga konkursi i fundit për bursa për shëndetësi. […]

  • Please, my Organization is based in Ghana and I want to know if it is qualify to apply for the Grant. We are into Sexual Reproductive Health.

    Thank you,
    Boamah

  • Krishna Kumari

    Respected Sir,
    My non governmental organisation is basically from the country of INDIA. Can I apply for the grants as our organisation is working on public health issues involving marginalized populations
    S.Krishna Kumari
    Secretary
    Gayatri Rural Educational society
    Phone: +919866291276

  • John D Mangu

    Hallo, I’m John from West Timor, Republic of Indonesia. My organization is PKBI concern in field of sexual and reproductive health and right include HIV-AIDS prevention trought sex workers and client, youths, gay, STI and Harm reduction for Drugs users. We also promote the sexual health and right issues, reproductive health and rigth to the poorest women in rural area and vilage. Now, we need some support for implementing any programs with the target group.

    Thanks
    John D Mangu

  • We are running a non profit, non political social media production agency in india.
    using video as an tool to give voice to voiceless and providing broadcast video production services to development sector

    We are working with local partner NGO’s to train community reporters cum producers to produce local community video news magazine for capacity building, advocacy and empowerment and raise their local voices to globally.

    We would like to start community video news production magazine , espeacialy on health issues in hilly region of Himalayan in uttaranchal and himanchal . Where in cold hilly region peole are effected with TB and other dises .
    People need to aware there advocacy is alsso neeeded there .

    We funding support to start this valuable, innovative project to start community video news magazine by community reporters.

    Ram Bharati
    Founder & Managing Trustee
    Newstalk
    A Media for Change & Development

  • My background is in Community Eye health; and we try to raise awareness of isues of blindness which are hardly reported in the main stream media.I personaly think blind people are highly marginalised and their issues /concerns hardly heard at all.I am wondering whether we can apply for this type of grant for malawi ;to highlight the issues of blindness through media bybinvolving media journalists.
    Regards,
    Dr Khumbo Kalua
    Community Eye Health Specialist
    Malawi

  • […] Interviewing and introducing the grantees of Rising Voices’ latest health-focused grant competition. […]

  • I am Evangelist Missionary Nyonato Yawovi founder of John Baptist Mission in Togo and in the world.
    I am very happy to visit your website and see how many times you work to change this world.
    I will quickly tell you that I am in God’s work in Togo and seen a lot of thing that happens in my country: young girls engage in prostitution before they can find their bread to eat and this fact that the rate AIDS is very high.
    We meet some young girls who tell us that their parents have died and no more people in the family to send them in learning to learn a trade and we had the vision to help but we lack the means.
    At the hospital, we see children dying of AIDS and disadvantaged children die because no more money to take care of them and buy the medicines for them.
    We had a lot of projects we want to share with you so we can help these kinds of peoples. .
    That the Almighty God blesses you.

  • Dear Sir, Global Vision is a small organization in Pakistan mainly working in remote areas of Pakistan and AJK, in this organization a group of seven devoted and hard working people working on volunteer basis, this group consists of psychologists sociologists, and community activists, we are providing mental health facilities and specially rising voices remove the stigma associated with mental health and MH Treatment, we are also working hard to stop violence against women and children,
    As we do not have any funding sources we request in your honour to grant us funding for this cause

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