Grants of up to €130,000 available for solutions-focused journalism
We are opening the second Call for Applications for our Solutions Journalism Accelerator
A more-balanced, solutions-focused journalism can not only strengthen civic engagement but also help media outlets meet the real needs of their communities, which is key to their financial sustainability.
To enable media organisations across Europe to carry out solutions-focused development journalism, the European Journalism Centre (EJC) has partnered with the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) to provide more than USD $4m in grants, mentoring, coaching, resources and knowledge transfer.
Ten projects were already awarded under the first call under the Solutions Journalism Accelerator in 2022. With the second call launching now, eight proposals will be selected to receive grant funding of up to €130,000 and mentorship support for solutions-focused development journalism.
About the programme
The Solutions Journalism Accelerator aims at delivering grant funding, mentoring, coaching, resources and knowledge transfer to support solutions-focused development journalism in European news organisations.
Its mission is to create demonstrable impact on the public, key stakeholders and the media landscape through raising awareness of, and enabling media organisations to undertake more, solutions-focused development journalism.
During the Accelerator, grantees will have access to mentors and coaches in order to help them effectively deliver their project objectives, develop skills, knowledge and confidence within project teams, and implement a solutions journalism approach to their stories.
You can learn more about the programme’s vision here.
When we say solutions journalism we mean…
Rigorous and evidence-based reporting that primarily focuses on responses to societal problems.
We define solutions journalism as a practice that investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems.
While journalists usually define news as ‘what’s gone wrong’, solutions journalism tries to expand this notion by emphasising that ‘what works’ is also newsworthy. By adding rigorous, evidence-based coverage of solutions, journalists can tell the whole story.
Who can apply
The Call is for opinion-forming media organisations based in and/or have significant reach to audiences across France, Germany or the United Kingdom.
Individual media organisations or consortiums of up to two media organisations will be awarded up to €130,000 to help them deliver one comprehensive solutions-focused development journalism project comprising a 12-month reporting period.
How to apply
The deadline for applications for the Solutions Journalism Accelerator is Tuesday the 21st of February 2023 at 18:00 CET. Applications must be submitted, in English, via the EJC’s online grants application platform. Creating an account is free of charge.
The applications awarded funding will need to meet the eligibility criteria and conditions of the grant and will also be shortlisted, by an independent jury, on the basis of the best/ most compelling match to specific selection criteria.
The EJC will administer grant awards independently from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Call for Applications documentation, which includes the full eligibility criteria, conditions of the grant and selection criteria, and the FAQs can be found here.
Do you have questions?
The Call for Applications documentation details all aspects of the grant funding available for media organisations.If you have questions that are not answered in the Call for Applications document or FAQs, you can contact us at info@soljoaccelerator.com.
You can also join the AMA (‘Ask Me Anything’) session via Zoom. The session will be at 11:00 CET, Thursday 2 February 2023. To attend the session, please follow the Zoom link here or add to your calendar.
To keep up to date about the Solutions Journalism Accelerator, including for other strands of the programme such as the Ambassador Network and publication of resources, sign up to the mailing list.
About the programme partners
The programme, launched in 2022, is delivered by the European Journalism Centre (EJC) in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
About the European Journalism Centre
Dutch Stichting European Journalism Centre (EJC) is a non-profit based in the city of Maastricht, The Netherlands. Founded in 1992, the year in which the Treaty of Maastricht connected the city forever to Europe, it has been working independently and successfully to support, strengthen and develop journalism. With a large network in journalism and media and being one of the leading organisations in Europe, the EJC foundation aspires to be an essential resource and provides future insights so it can help journalism and media to innovate and flourish.
About the Solutions Journalism Network
SJN is an international non-profit advancing a system-level change in journalism, leading the adoption of solutions journalism — rigorous reporting on responses to social problems — into the daily news across the world. Our mission is to transform journalism so that all people have access to news that helps them envision and build a more equitable and sustainable world.
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Its mission is to create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. It partners with entrepreneurs, companies, and other organisations to create incentives that harness the power of private enterprise to create change for those who need it most.
