Grants
To support quality journalism, TMF offers four types of grants for individuals and two types of institutional grants. All grants focus on investigative journalism (IJ) and public interest journalism (PIJ). Learning is an important aspect of all TMF grants. Therefore all individual grantees are assigned a personal mentor, and mentorship services are provided to institutional grantees according to need. The six grant categories are:
1. Rapid Release Grant (Individual grant)
2. Rural Dispatch Grant (Individual grant)
3. The Fellowship Programme (Individual grant)
4. New Media Grant (Individual grant)
5. Institutional Transformation Grant (Institutional grant)
6. Content Grant (Institutional grant)
In all categories, we encourage applications from both Kiswahili and English media outlets. Categories are described below in detail, where you will also find application forms. Note that for some of the grants you can only apply when there is a call for proposals.
INDIVIDUAL GRANTS
1. Rapid Release Grant / Ruzuku ya Chap Chap (max. 750,000 Tsh)
The Rapid Release Grant is a modest grant meant for covering urgent news within a short timeframe, producing a story that will have an impact on transparency and accountability in Tanzania. First-time applicants must have a proven track record in journalism and a guaranteed platform for their work. The process up to disbursement takes one week and the work should be completed within a month.
Applications are received throughout the year. Please send your proposal to individualgrant@tmf.or.tz and/or to our postal address (see contact).
Proposals sent to any other email address will be declined. Only complete proposals using the correct application forms will be considered for funding.
Application form and instructions 2012 Kiswahili.
2. Rural Dispatch Grant / Ruzuku ya Vijijini (max. 1,500,000 Tsh)
This category is open to any journalist with the demonstrated desire to publish or produce news that focuses on rural issues. Journalists must have a demonstrated desire to work on rural-based stories, and be willing to spend time in rural areas to pursue their stories. The process up to disbursement takes one month. There are four calls for proposals per year, which are widely distributed and published.
Call for Proposals: deadline 7 January 2013. Please send your proposal to individualgrant@tmf.or.tz and/or to our postal address (see contact).
Proposals sent to any other email address will be declined. Only complete proposals using the correct application forms will be considered for funding.
Application form and instructions 2012 Kiswahili/English.
3. The Fellowship Programme (max. 16,000,000 Tsh)
This six month fellowship gives experienced journalists the opportunity to do quality, in-depth reporting for six months on specialized subjects/issues of public interest and, where possible, investigative reports, that contribute to increased accountability in governance in Tanzania. Journalists will be enrolled in an intense mentoring programme and go out on extended projects covering neglected or under-reported areas and issues in order to contribute towards the country’s sustainable development. Only a maximum of ten talented reporters will be chosen to take part in each Fellowship programme after a competitive screening process.
There is an annual call for applications in May. The next Fellowship programme will take off in May 2013, the below application instructions can be accessed for more background information on application requirements. This year’s application period for the fellowship has closed.
Application instructions 2012 Kiswahili / English
4. New Media Grant (max. 750,000 Tsh)
This is a new grant of TMF that seeks to give e-journalists, bloggers and mobile phone reporters the opportunity to develop and improve on their craft. It is open to writers with demonstrated passion and track record on new media and its future in journalism. Grantees will need to demonstrate the ability to strategically use blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to connect their work to larger audiences and inspire conversations around it.
There will be one call for proposals per year – these calls will be widely distributed and published, including on this site. Please keep an eye on the site or call us if you have any questions. There will not be a call in 2012.
INSTITUTIONAL GRANTS
5. Institutional Transformation Grant (max. Tsh 200 million)
This is a collaborative partnership between TMF and a media organisations for a period of one or two years, with the aim of building a long-lasting legacy in the partner institution, or with the aim to contribute to structural changes in the media environment. Examples are the setting up of a dedicated investigative journalism desk or a start-up publication, or a partnership aimed at making changes in the legal environment in which the media operates. The grant is open to media organisations or practitioners with at least three years of experience in the industry,.
Applications are received throughout the year. Please send your proposal to mediagrant@tmf.or.tz and/or to our postal address (see contact).
Proposals sent to any other email address will be declined. Only complete proposals using the correct application forms will be considered for funding.
Application form 2012 English.
6. Content Grant (max. Tsh 200 million)
Under the content grant, media actors can apply for support on a particular, time-specific project that focuses on content development. This is open to media houses, media production companies and officially registered media institutes in Tanzania that have been involved in media related work for at least a year.
Call for Proposals: deadline 7 January 2013. Please send your proposal to mediagrant@tmf.or.tz and/or to our postal address (see contact).
Proposals sent to any other email address will be declined. Only complete proposals using the correct application forms will be considered for funding.
Application form 2012 English
