As part of the Main Project AGILE, CFI – the French Media Development Agency – wishes to promote the production of high-quality, community-driven journalistic content that responds to the information needs of marginalised communities. With this in mind, grants and technical support will be awarded to the Beneficiary or Beneficiaries selected following this Call for Proposals.
This document is not legally binding. CFI may, at any time and up until the effective conclusion of a Grant Agreement with the selected beneficiary or beneficiaries, decide unilaterally not to proceed, without giving any reason whatsoever. CFI reserves the right to amend all or part of the contents of this document or to enter into a similar agreement with a beneficiary of its choice. No candidate may raise any claim in this regard or claim any compensation whatsoever.
1.BACKGROUND
1.1.About CFI
Canal France International: a public media support agency
CFI, the French media development agency, works to ensure that everyone has access to free, quality information. It fights misinformation and defends freedom of expression and press freedom by supporting independent media, journalists and civil society players around the world in creating innovative content and consolidating sustainable media. Its work promotes verified, reliable and diverse information – which is essential to democracy – and helps to build free and sustainable information ecosystems.
CFI is an agency of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and a subsidiary of the France Médias Monde Group.
As part of its activities, CFI is implementing the AGILE project.
1.2. Background to the Call for Projects
The AGILE project is a European Union (EU)-funded initiative launched in December 2024 to support independent journalism in contexts where media freedom is under threat. Led by Internews, the consortium includes CFI, Thomson Media, ARTICLE 19, and Fojo Media Institute.
Under the AGILE project’s umbrella, CFI is responsible for implementing Workstream 2, which focuses on the inclusivity of minorities and marginalised communities. This includes, but is not limited to, economically marginalised communities, rural communities, and people with disabilities. This workstream combines research, capacity building, innovation, and advocacy to address barriers these groups face in accessing and sharing information, and to promote more inclusive media ecosystems.
Recent Information Environment Mapping studies conducted by CFI under the AGILE project in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Africa found that underserved communities face persistent barriers to accessing relevant and trustworthy information due to factors such as geography, language, limited representation, and unequal media access. Across both regions, the research highlighted that trust and engagement increase when communities are meaningfully involved in shaping and producing content that reflects their lived realities, priorities, and languages. These findings underscore the importance of strengthening community-centred journalism.
As part of Activity 2.2, the Community Journalism Training will bring together 60 journalists, bloggers, local media professionals, and civil society communicators from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Uganda, and Kazakhstan to strengthen their storytelling skills, help them reach wider audiences, and produce multimedia journalism that reflects the realities of their communities.
The purpose of this Call for Proposals is to set out the contractual terms of the future Grant Agreement, hereinafter referred to as the “Grant Agreement”, to be concluded at a later date between CFI and the selected beneficiary or beneficiaries. The terms set out in this Call for Proposals are provisional and for information purposes only, and may be subject to unilateral amendment by CFI prior to the conclusion of the Grant Agreement.
This Call for Proposals does not constitute a promise to any beneficiary that a grant will be awarded in the future.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL FOR PROJECTS
2.1. Objectives and priorities
The overall objective of this Call for Proposals is to support collaborative reporting projects that strengthen access to reliable, evidence-based information on human rights issues, with particular attention to freedom of expression and the rights of marginalised groups.
The specifics objectives of this Call for Proposals are:
- Strengthen collaboration between journalists and civil society organisations.
- Support the production and publication of high-quality collaborative reporting.
- Increase public awareness of issues affecting human rights, freedom of expression and/or marginalised communities.
Priority will be given to Proposals that:
- demonstrate a strong and balanced collaboration between journalists and civil society organisations throughout the project;
- propose original, evidence-based reporting that addresses issues of significant public interest;
- demonstrate the potential to reach broad audiences through publication or co-publication across one or more media outlets or digital platforms.
2.2. Amount of the funding made available by CFI
The indicative total amount made available under this Call for Proposals is fifty-two thousand euros (€52,000.00).
This figure is for guidance only; CFI is not obliged to allocate the amount stated and may, at its sole discretion, allocate a lower amount.
Estimated amount of grants: The maximum amount for any grant requested under this Call for Projects is thirteen thousand euros (€13,000.00).
2.3. Technical support provided by CFI
Successful grantees will have access to technical and editorial support throughout the implementation of their projects. This support may include:
- editorial feedback on journalistic outputs, including reviews of stories, scripts, and multimedia content;
- guidance on ethical and inclusive reporting practices, with attention to the representation of marginalised communities;
- online mentoring sessions tailored to the specific challenges encountered during project implementation;
- thematic workshops on topics such as mobile journalism techniques, audience engagement, and adapting content for underrepresented groups.
The exact format and scope of the support provided will be determined based on the needs of each project.
3. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA for receiving the grant
3.1. Eligibility criteria relating to the status of applicant
The criteria are cumulative; if the applicant does not meet one or more of the criteria set out below, their application will be rejected by CFI:
- To be a legally registered legal entity;
- To be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the project proposed under this Call for Proposals;
- Be established in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, or Zambia.
- Submit the application on behalf of a partnership composed of at least one media organisation or professional journalist and at least one civil society organisation or community representative.
- Designate one organisation as the lead applicant responsible for project management and financial reporting.
- (For the lead applicant) Be able to demonstrate the administrative and financial capacity to manage the grant.
- Submit only one proposal under the AGILE Community Journalism Training subgrant scheme. Applicants must choose either the Community Journalism Projects subgrants call or the Collaborative Reporting subgrants call.
3.2. Eligibility criteria relating to project activities
Duration:
The selected projects must start no earlier than 1st October 2026 and end no later than 30 September 2027.
The initial planned duration of the selected projects must not exceed six (6) months.
Geographical coverage:
Proposed projects must be carried out in the following country or countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sector(s) or subject area(s):
Projects should contribute to producing collaborative reporting on issues affecting local communities, with particular attention to human rights and freedom of expression.
Projects may address one or more of the following themes:
- access to reliable, relevant and actionable information for marginalised or underserved communities;
- representation, participation and inclusion of marginalised communities in media content and storytelling;
- local public-interest issues affecting local communities including access to public services, accountability, governance, social, economic or environmental challenges;
- strengthening trust in information and community resilience to misinformation and disinformation through locally relevant journalism.
Naira comment: the themes listed are quite broad (“social, economic, environmental or governance issues” could cover almost anything). If the intention is to keep this anchored to WS2’s minority-inclusion mandate, it might help to signal a preference for projects that address the communities or themes coming out of the MRG mapping, even without making it a hard requirement.
Type of activities:
Eligible activities include:
- collaborative research and evidence gathering;
- joint field reporting by journalists and civil society organizations;
- production of investigative or in-depth multimedia content;
- editorial coordination and fact-checking;
- production of audio, video, written or digital journalistic content;
- publication or co-publication of content through media outlets or digital platforms;
- dissemination activities aimed at increasing the reach of the published content.
Ineligible activities
The following types of activities are not eligible. If the applicant’s project consists of one or more of the ineligible activities listed below, the application shall be rejected by CFI:
- Activities consisting solely or mainly in financing workshops, seminars or conferences.
- Academic research without the production and publication of journalistic content.
- Advocacy, campaigning, or communication activities that do not include the production of original journalistic content.
- Projects consisting solely of equipment purchases or organizational operating costs.
- Activities already completed before the signature of the grant agreement.
3.3. Eligibility criteria relating to costs
Only “eligible costs” will be covered by the grant awarded. The budget serves both as a cost estimate and as an overall ceiling for “eligible costs”.
Eligible direct costs:
Eligible direct costs must meet all of the following criteria:
- They are incurred during the implementation period of the project carried out by the beneficiary, with the exception of the costs of the final external audit. They must comply with the following technicalities:
(i) The costs relating to supplies must relate to the delivery and installation of equipment during the implementation period;
(ii) The costs set out in the final reports should be paid before the final reports are submitted. In the event of a duly justified cash flow shortfall, these may be paid at a later date, provided that they are mentioned in the final report, together with the estimated date of payment;
- They are listed in the budget allocated to the beneficiary;
- They are necessary for the performance of the activities;
- They are identifiable and verifiable, and, in particular, are recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and determined in accordance with the accounting standards applicable in the country where the beneficiary is established and with the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices;
- They comply with the provisions of the applicable tax and social security legislation;
- They are reasonable, justified and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular as regards economy, efficiency and the award of contracts (for services, works and supplies), for which the procedures put in place by the beneficiary may be applied.
Budgetary rules relating to eligible direct costs:
- For all purchases of services and goods exceeding €5,000 excluding VAT (five thousand euros excluding VAT), a transparent and impartial competitive tendering process involving service providers and suppliers, as well as the submission of three (3) quotations, will be required.
- The human resources (i.e. the project coordination and management team, and not the human resources associated with the expertise such as journalists) allocated to the project must not exceed 25% of the project’s total eligible costs.
Eligible indirect costs:
Indirect costs incurred during the implementation of the project may be eligible for flat-rate funding, up to a maximum of 5% of the estimated total eligible direct costs. Indirect costs are eligible provided that they do not include any costs already accounted for under another heading in the budget. No supporting documents need to be provided to justify the use of the indirect costs awarded.
Ineligible costs:
The following costs are not eligible and may not be included in the proposed budget submitted:
- Debt and the cost of debt (interest);
- Provisions for potential future losses or liabilities;
- Costs declared by the beneficiary and funded by another action or programme;
- Purchases of land or buildings;
- Foreign exchange losses;
- Loans to third parties;
- Taxes, including VAT, unless the Beneficiary is able to produce a certificate proving that they do not qualify for an exemption or other exceptions enabling them to reclaim VAT from the relevant tax authority, and only in cases where the VAT payable was not included in the amounts set out in the budget submitted to CFI.
4. APPLICATION FILE
Each applicant must submit an application file containing all the documents and information listed below; failure to do so will result in their exclusion from the CFI selection process:
- Appendix 1: Project presentation guidelines: each project must be presented in accordance with the document (the role of each member, the division of tasks, and each person’s responsibilities must be clearly defined in advance);
- Appendix 2: Project Budget Estimate: the provisional budget must be submitted in accordance with the document and must be drawn up in accordance with the provisions of ArticleErreur ! Source du renvoi introuvable.;
- Appendix 3: Application form: it must be dated and signed and must include the applicant’s legal registration document and bank details, otherwise it will be deemed incomplete.
Handwritten application forms will not be accepted.
Applications must be submitted in English or French.
Any application that does not comply with the above requirements will be rejected by CFI, and the applicant will not be given the opportunity to amend it.
5. SELECTION OF APPLICATION FILES
Applications will be reviewed and assessed by CFI, with the possible assistance of external assessors. All applications will be assessed in accordance with the steps and criteria set out below.
If, upon examination of the application, it is found that the proposed project does not meet the eligibility criteria set out in this Call for Proposals, the application will be rejected on that ground alone.
5.1. STEP 1: Launch and administrative checks
During the launch and administrative verification stage, the following will be checked:
- Compliance with the deadline and the format for submitting the application. Failing this, the application will be automatically rejected;
- Compliance with all the criteria in the check list set out in the Application Form (Appendix 3). If any of the required information is missing or incorrect, the application may be rejected on that ground alone and will not be considered.
Project proposals that are compliant and complete will be evaluated against the requirements of the Call for Proposals, as well as the relevance and design of the proposed project.
5.2. STEP 2: Evaluation of the proposed project
Project Proposals (Appendix 1) will be awarded an overall mark out of 100 points, broken down according to the evaluation criteria set out below.
The evaluation will also serve to verify compliance with the instructions on how to complete the project proposal form.
The evaluation criteria are used to evaluate the quality of applications against the objectives and priorities set out in the Guidelines.
| 1. Relevance of the Project and Public Interest
Does the proposed project address the objectives and priorities of the Call? Does it focus on an issue of significant public interest, particularly related to human rights and/or freedom of expression affecting marginalised groups? Is the need for the proposed reporting clearly justified? |
25 |
| 2. Editorial Quality and Project Design
Is the reporting concept relevant, original, and well developed? Does the proposal demonstrate a meaningful and complementary collaboration between the journalist(s) and civil society organisation(s)? Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined and complementary through a joint editorial plan? |
25 |
| 3. Methodology and Feasibility
Is the proposed methodology appropriate to achieve the project’s objectives? Is the work plan realistic and achievable within the proposed timeframe? Are ethical, safety and risk considerations adequately addressed? |
15 |
| 4. Dissemination and Expected Impact
Are the proposed outputs likely to reach the intended audiences? Does the dissemination strategy (including co-publication where relevant) maximize the visibility and potential impact of the reporting? |
15 |
| 5. Project Budget
Is the budget realistic, justified and proportionate to the proposed activities and expected results? |
20 |
| TOTAL SCORE | 100 |
5.3. STEP 3: Allocation
Applications that have obtained a score higher than 75/100 will be short-listed.
CFI will draw up a reserve list. This list will be used if further funding becomes available during its validity period or if funding is not awarded to any of the selected projects.
Applicants will be informed in writing of CFI’s decision regarding each application.
Locations :
Democratic Republic of Congo, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, ZambiaMedia Types :
in partnership with a civil society organization or community representative, Online media, Podcast, Pure players, Radio, TV, Written pressProjects :
AGILEContact telephone number: : +33 6 74 93 32 64
Project URL: : https://cfi.fr/fr/projet/agile