41 Ukrainian media outlet to receive mini grants from the Institute of Mass Information
The IMI and the international organization Internews Network partnered to hold a mini grant contest for independent high-quality media and media NGOs from across Ukraine.
A total of 150 applications from all oblasts of Ukraine were submitted for the competition. Regional media outlets from 15 oblasts will receive mini-grants from the IMI, most being from Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad and Zhytomyr oblasts.
Almost 76% of contestants applied for content creation grants: for covering the impact of war, environmental issues, human rights, investigative journalism, social media content. The rest of applications were related to purchasing equipment necessary for the teams to keep working in winter and during blackouts caused by Russian shelling, as well as equipment for journalists: laptops, cameras, microphones, etc. Some also applied for the grants to cover office expenses, training classes, developing internal policies, etc.
"Ukrainian media outlets are making advance preparations for the winter, which will probably come with heating and power supply problems due to Russian shelling. So in addition to the mini grants for creating content that will show the consequences of Russia's full-scale invasion and its impact on many aspects of life, media offices are forced to actively prepare for any scenario, even the most pessimistic ones, in the summer to ensure the survival of their media," said the IMI director Oksana Romaniuk.
Earlier, the Institute of Mass Information surveyed Ukrainian media oultets in 20 oblasts to assess their key needs as of the third year of the full-scale invasion. A significant part of the surveyed outlets (39%) said they needed technical equipment to keep working, a quarter of respondents (26%) indicated they needed to expand their expertise through additional training programs, and one fifth of the needs (20%) was related to financial support.
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