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Grants for research and campaign support 2022: CALL open to all APC organisational members

This is a rolling call that will be open to all APC organisational members until 30 September 2022, or until the funds are fully allocated. The maximum allowed budget per individual proposal is USD 5,000. Joint proposals are also possible with a maximum total budget of USD 12,500. The total available amount for this grant for 2022 is USD 145,000. Projects need to be completed by the end of December 2022.

About this grant

The APC research and campaign grants are for research and campaign activities that are aligned with any of the outcomes identified in APC’s Strategic Plan 2020-2023. The APC 2020-2023 outcome areas are the following:

  • Harnessing the collective power of communities

Outcome 1: The collective power of communities within and beyond the APC network is harnessed through existing and new relationships built around transformative actions and our shared visions.

  • Enabling digital inclusion for the most vulnerable

Outcome 2: People affected by exclusion, discrimination and inequality are able to meaningfully use and shape the internet and digital technologies to meet their specific needs.

  • Co-creating a feminist internet

Outcome 3: Women and people of diverse sexualities and genders participate in, shape and co-create the internet and digital technologies that reflect and respond to their lived realities.

  • Advocating for human rights online and offline

Outcome 4: People, especially those facing discrimination and oppression, have greater power and autonomy through digital technologies to exercise their full range of human rights online and offline.

  • Promoting governance of the internet as a global public good

Outcome 5: The internet is recognised and governed as a global public good in an inclusive, transparent, democratic and accountable manner.

  • Mobilising collective action for environmental justice and sustainability

Outcome 6: APC’s collective action and activism contribute to environmental justice and preservation of the earth, and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the internet, digital technologies and the digital economy.

The grants will continue to support local campaigns that contribute to members’ advocacy work and also enable members to participate in APC-wide campaigns. Ideally, supported initiatives should promote meaningful collaboration in implementing the APC strategic priorities in the current context.

Grant priorities

Additionally to the support of members’ local campaigns, a number of priorities have been identified for this year’s research and campaign grants cycle. The thematic areas stem from the extended discussions that took place during the APC 2021 member convening and will be prioritised in the assessment process. The priorities that were identified during the convening, and which will be supported, are listed below, with some indicative examples for each:

Strengthening the APC network

Examples:

  • Promote and strengthen regional collaboration among members

  • Strengthen own organisational capacity at a local level.

Capacity building

This focus area includes capacity building for APC members and their communities in subjects such as:

  • Digital safety, encryption, right to privacy, secure communications

  • Storytelling for technologists, to facilitate a common communication code between technologists and community-based organisations

  • Self and collective care for online events and spaces

  • Compiling and submitting a United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission.

Digital infrastructure

Examples:

  • Build and use online infrastructure that contributes to institutional strengthening and facilitates exchange among members

  • Collaborative design and deployment of open, decentralised and/or federated digital infrastructure.

Data, privacy, (mis)information

Examples:

  • Fight against digital misinformation, state-based mass surveillance and the shrinking of civil digital space online.

  • Crowdsource and/or share information and raise awareness around COVID-19.

Policy and advocacy

Examples:

  • Accountability for how tech is used by powerful stakeholders and actors

  • Data protection standards and accountability of data protection institutions

  • Technology’s impact on democratic processes

  • Engagement at UN processes (e.g. open-ended group on cybersecurity, discussions on cybercrime treaty) or ITU-related work.

Basic information about this grant

The total available amount for these grants is USD 145,000. Of this total, USD 100,000 comes from APC’s Sida grant and is made available to members located in countries included in the OECD Development Assistance Committee’s list 2022. The remaining USD 45,000 comes from APC membership dues and is made available to our members who are not included in this list.

The maximum allowed budget per proposal is USD 5,000. Joint proposals are also possible with a maximum total budget of USD 12,500.

Important information about the call

Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for this cycle of our research and campaign grants are the following:

  • Members can submit proposals for up to USD 5,000 per grant or up to USD 12,500 for joint proposals.

  • A member cannot apply for more than one of each type of subgrant (i.e. research and campaign, impact, EnvSus) in a single grants cycle. A member cannot apply both as a leading organisation for one proposal and partner for a different (joint) proposal.

  • All activities for the research and campaign grants must be completed and all funds spent by 31 December 2022.

  • Only APC organisational members in good standing can avail of APC grants. This means that members must not owe APC any of the following: a) dues or other outstanding funds, b) contractual work paid for but not yet delivered, c) financial or narrative reports from activities previously supported by APC, including travel supported by the APC Member Exchange and Travel Fund (METF). In the case of joint proposals, all members should be in good standing.

Selection

The assessment and grant award decision will be carried out within a month of the application submission. All applicants will be informed about the assessment of their proposals via email. Brief summaries of all successful proposals will be published at apc.org.

We look forward to receiving your proposals! For any questions related to the process, please contact subgrants@apc.org

Submitting your application

To submit your application you need to log in to the APC subgranting platform at https://subgrants.apc.org, using your APC member credentials. If you can’t access the platform please write to rox – at – apc.org.

Assistance with submitting your application

You can review the applicant’s guidelines for the APC subgrants platform for details on how to use the platform to submit your application. If you want to draft your application before uploading it to the platform you can use the application form and budget templates. To avoid accidentally losing your content you may develop your proposal offline (i.e. using the above-mentioned template) and only copy the content to the online application form once you are done. Make sure to keep your local copy as backup.

We will also hold a Q&A online meeting to answer possible questions about this call. You will be notified via email about the details. Feedback from this meeting will be used to create an FAQ for this research and campaign grants cycle.

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