Event/Opportunity

NEW YORK—The Open Society Institute today launched a fellowship program
to enable outstanding individuals from around the world to pursue projects that
will inspire meaningful debate and shape public policy.

The Open Society Fellowship will award $2 million in 2008 to scholars, journalists,
activists and others working on national security; citizenship, membership and
marginalization; authoritarianism; and new strategies and tools for advocacy.

“The Open Society Fellows will be idea entrepreneurs,” said George
Soros, founder and chairman of OSI. “The fellowship will generate new
thinking to tackle some of the most pressing questions of our day.”

Fellows’ projects may include books, articles, documentary films,
online media, and efforts to seed new campaigns and organizations. OSI
seeks fellows who will engage with its staff and inform its thinking.

OSI will provide fellows with competitive stipends and communications assistance,
and will integrate them into its networks of partners and grantees. Most fellowships
will be awarded for one year.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information, please
see the Open Society
Fellowship guidelines.

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Have you always dreamed of your own radio station?

On October 12-19, the FCC will open a rare window for issuing
full-power, noncommercial radio licenses. Now may be your only chance
to secure a license. Read the FCC's announcement.

• The window itself will only last seven days.
• You can only file your application during this seven-day window, so everything needs to be prepared in advance.

If you don't apply during this window, it will be many years before
another licensing window opens and, frankly, there won't be much full
power radio spectrum of value available after this issuing period.

These licenses will only be available to qualified community
groups and nonprofits in certain geographical areas. Follow the link
below to learn if there's likely to be a full-power radio station
available near you.

Click here for a full list of available courses.

The scholarships are administered by the Southern African Media
Training Trust (NSJ), based in Mozambique, and are run in a variety of
locations in the SADC community.

The scholarship usually covers accommodation, meals, tuition, field
trips and 45 percent of a participant’s travel costs. The participant
must be able to pay the remaining travel costs, relevant visa fees and
local transport expenses during the course.

Interested applicants should submit a completed application form, a
C.V., a short essay explaining why they wish to attend the course of
their choice and a letter from their employer. Freelance journalists do
not require a letter.

Applications from female journalists are strongly encouraged. Female
journalists wishing to attend a media management course are eligible
for a full scholarship.

Scholarship applications should be e-mailed to lucilia [at] nsjtraining [dot] org or mailed to:

Contact:
The Training Manager
Southern African Media Training Trust (NSJ)
C.P. 4537
Maputo
Mozambique
nsj [at] nsjtraining [dot] org
NSJ website

Source: IJNET website and the NSJ website on February 12 2007.

The exchange programme pairs up media outlets with participants for
internships lasting up to three months. Travel and other costs are
covered by MISA.

Click here for more information on this scholarship.

All applicants must be MISA members and annual subscriptions to the
relevant MISA national chapter must be paid up in full. Applications
can be made at any time of the year.

The following documentation must be submitted with the application letter:

• A 1000-word essay motivating the application and stating what the applicant wishes to achieve.
• Written acceptance from the organisation to which the applicant
  wishes to be attached. This acceptance must also specify the period of
  attachment.
• Written consent from the applicant's current employer. It must
  indicate that the current employer will continue to pay the salary of
  the employee for the period of the attachment (not applicable to
  freelancers).
• A budget, which must include all costs i.e. transport, reasonably
  priced accommodation, and a reasonable stipend. MISA will pay all
  stipends and accommodation expenses directly to the organisation to
  which the applicant will be attached.
• Proof of MISA membership (up-to-date receipt for subscription payments to the relevant MISA chapter).

Applications will be rejected if documentation is incomplete.

Contact:
The Scholarship Exchange Programme
MISA Secretariat
Private bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
jennifer [at] misa [dot] org
MISA website

OSISA's funding relies on and encourages donor, government and other
partnerships wherever possible. Community involvement and in-kind or
monetary contributions to a project by a grantee are also encouraged.
OSISA is committed to developing funding strategies that inherently
encourage and develop self-reliance and effectiveness.

Funding principles:

• OSISA will provide start-up funds for a project on the explicit
  understanding that no further support will be granted if, in the course
  of the first year, an organisation fails to develop a credible plan to
  sustain itself without further OSISA funding after more than another
  two years.
• OSISA will generally fund projects on the basis of proposals that
  set forth a credible plan to sustain the initiative without continued
  OSISA funding after no more than three years.
• OSISA may provide funds for projects that, by their nature, would be completed within a three-year period.
• OSISA will provide no more than one third of the resources needed
  by an organisation on condition that the remaining amount needed is
  obtained from other sources.

Click here for more information about OSISA programmes.

In addition to the body of the proposal, all organisations should include the following information as attachments:

• covering
  letter signed by the Chairperson of the board of the organisation or
  any other executive authority in your organisation;
• current activities and financial report or, if they differ, a most recent annual report and audited financial statement;
• proof of registration and statutes of your organisation;
• list of board members, trustees and staff;
• most recent evaluation of your organisation or of a programme related to the proposal.

Click here for more information about proposal guidelines.

Contact:
OSISA
12th Floor Braamfontein Centre
23 Jorissen Street (corner Bertha)
Braamfontein 2017
Johannesburg
South Africa

PO Box 678
Wits 2050
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 403 3414/5/6
Fax: +27 11 403 2708
grantproposals [at] osisa [dot] org
OSISA website

Application forms include questions on the impact the project will have
on media diversity and the extent to which the project will encourage
participation and access by historically disadvantaged groups and
people not adequately served by the media. Quality and innovation will
also be assessed in the process. Projects are required to submit
business plans and evidence of corporate governance as well as a budget
outlining what the grant would be used for and how the project will
ensure it is sustainable in future.
Media projects can apply for support at any time of the year.
Applications will be considered at quarterly Board meetings.

An application should be in at least one month before a Board meeting if it is to be considered at such meeting.

Click here for access to further application information and the application forms.

Contact:
Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA)
PO Box 42846
Fordsburg, 2033
South Africa
Tel: + 27 (0)11 492 2003
Fax: + 27 (0)11 492 1198
info [at] mdda [dot] org [dot] za
Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) website

Source: Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) website

Deadline: Rolling deadline

The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project offers two annual 4-6 month
fellowships to working journalists to undertake longer term and
in-depth research and writing on HIV/AIDS outside of the newsroom. The
writing that results from these fellowships will be published in a wide
range of media and peer-reviewed journals.

The fellowships are shaped around identifying, researching and filling
gaps in reporting on HIV/AIDS. Previous and current fellowships have
focused on media coverage and audience reception of HIV/AIDS news
texts, the role of stigma and gender in prevention of mother-to-child
transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and its media coverage, the strengths and
vulnerabilities of HIV-positive children and the role of traditional
health practitioners in the mainstream treatment of their patients.

To obtain more information and to apply, see contact details below.

Click here for information on previous research fellows.

Contact:
Kylie Thomas
Tel: 011 717 4086.20
starfish [at] iafrica [dot] com

Source: Pambazuka News; the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) Journalism.co.za website on January 29 2007

Collective Lens will be accepting photographic essay submissions from March 15th through April 16th, 2007.