Call for Investigations on Local Government

• Eligibility Criteria
  – All journalists in Albania, employed by other media or freelance, have the right to apply for the grant for investigations on Local Government;
  – Applicants may submit more than one application, but only one proposal per candidate will be selected.
• Type of Funding: Programmatic
• Target Region: Albania
• Application Language: English

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is offering grants to produce investigative in-depth articles on local government in Albania.

BIRN is offering three reporting grants for individual journalists or journalistic teams to cover stories on abuse of office and corruption at local level in Albania.

Topics

The call will fund reporting grants for journalists that investigate corruption and abuse of office in local government, with a particular focus on the topics highlighted during a roundtable held in Tirana on September 17 between journalists and representatives of civil society organisations:

• The lack of implementation of integrity and anti-corruption plans, particularly on the elements of ethics and conflict of interests in municipalities and municipal councils;
• Nepotism and clientelism in the human resources of municipalities;
• Transparency of budgets, public procurement procedures and public contracts awarded by municipalities;
• The appointment of people with a criminal background to public inspectorates and their role during elections;
• Corruption cases with contracts on waste management or treatment of solid waste;
• The lack of representation of rural areas at municipal level;
• Lack of sewage and sewage treatment plants in rural areas;
• Problems of urban development, building criteria, parking, garbage bins, etc;
• Lack of budgets to implement social plans or address the needs of marginalised groups.

Funding Information

• Selected applicants, who will receive a stipend of EUR 1,200 (minus personal income tax), will have a period of three months to complete their research and prepare the article for publication.
• The winning candidates are expected to engage and fulfill all obligations related to the investigation, such as: frequent meetings with the editor, publishing the text on the BIRN Albania website www.Reporter.al, as well as respecting the standards of investigative journalism and professional ethics .
• During the investigation process, the selected journalists will be mentored, supervised and trained on the use of investigative journalism and data journalism techniques, as well as encouraged to establish closer cooperation with civil society partners in the field of local government.

See here to learn more and apply.

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