Deadline: 31 December 2019

Counterpart International/Internet Governance/Freedom is seeking proposals from prospective partners to implement activities that propose creative and effective approaches to improving the regulatory environment that will enable national, regional and global actors to defend against censorship, surveillance, and legal developments that threaten digital rights.

Applicants may choose among a range of initiatives or scale-up small programs that have demonstrated success.

Grant Objective

The following serves as the overall description of the grant. Each grant proposal must include at least one direct advocacy activity which other activities must support:

• The ISC invites proposals from NGOs based in developing countries to conduct activities which will improve the regulatory environment vis-à-vis internet freedom in their country. Proposals must include a narrative and a budget. The narrative should describe the problem, the desired solution, the applicant’s proposed activities, how the activities will contribute to the solution, and why the applicant is capable of these activities. Grants are intended to aim toward seeing a law or regulation being adopted, changed, or implemented in a more-cyberliberty-friendly manner. Previous grants’ topics have included online content control, privacy, cybercrime, intermediary liability, online copyright, and digital rights.

Illustrative Activities

Programs may include, but are not limited to:

• • National policy advocacy efforts that empower civil society to counter restrictive internet laws; support policies to promote a free and open internet in targeted countries where the government has adopted, or is considering adopting, laws or policies that restrict online rights;
  • Identifying a champion amongst government actors to steer policy agenda;

• Coalition building among supporters with political weight;
• Draft law hearings and/or roundtable discussions with media coverage.

Award Information

• The total amount of funding currently available for this APS is approximately $10,000 to $90,000 per award. CPI/Internet Governance/Freedom may choose to fully fund or incrementally fund the selected application(s). CPI/Internet Governance/Freedom expects to award up to 12 agreements (with anticipated periods of performance of six to nine months), to be determined by the availability of funds. The number of awards and amount of available funding is subject to change: 12 awards is an approximate estimate. Depending on the scope and nature of proposed activities, these grants may take the form of simplified, fixed amount, or cost-reimbursable agreements.
• Grants over $25,000 require the grantee to demonstrate previous grant-management experience.

Eligibility Criteria

• Types of Entities
  • Registered non-U.S. non-governmental organizations and for-profit organizations willing to forego profit may apply.
  • This APS is issued as a public notice to ensure that all interested and qualified organizations have a fair opportunity to submit applications for funding. Eligible organizations could include, for example, foundations, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations (FBOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), host country organizations, private organizations affiliated with public academic institutions and international non-governmental organizations, private companies, professional associations and consortiums of the above. CPI/Internet Governance/Freedom encourages an approach that establishes partnerships with several partner organizations and builds them into legacy institutions capable of sustaining development programs in the future.
• Potential New Partners
  • CPI/Internet Governance/Freedom strongly encourages applications from potential new partners.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/332OXdO