IFES оголошує конкурс на отримання гранту «Моніторинг використання ЗМІ на виборах». Дедлайн - 30 квітня 2019 р.

IFES invites non-governmental, not-for-profit organizations to submit applications for the 9-months monitoring project. The purpose of this project will be monitoring the use of media, particularly political advertisement, by parties and candidates to identify solutions aimed at decreasing overall cost of campaigning and level the playing field.

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an independent, non-governmental organization providing professional support to electoral democracy. Through field work, applied research and advocacy, IFES strives to promote citizen participation, transparency and accountability in political life and civil society.

Since 1994, IFES has conducted a range of assistance activities to support the development of democratic elections and political processes in Ukraine. IFES supported the country’s institutions and citizenry in building democracy through improvements in election law and administration, civil society development, rule of law and good governance. IFES continues to work closely with election officials, political parties, media, educational institutions, and the non-governmental sector through each election cycle.

Project Description

According to various expert assessments, the cost of campaigning has been steadily rising throughout Ukraine’s independence period. The lion’s share of party and candidate expenses are used for political advertisements, predominantly on TV. Absence of effective legal regulations allows electoral competitors to spend huge amounts of money on advertisements and compete with their wallets driving up the total cost of elections. As a result, established electoral competitors use their vast resources and ties to big private donors to dominate the advertisement market and keep smaller and less affluent political actors at bay. This inflates the cost of participating in elections, distorts the electoral playing field and limits electoral choice of Ukrainian citizens.” 

Domination of advertisements over all other media-related instruments of campaigning has also resulted in degradation of quality of electoral debates. Instead of offering and discussing policies and programs, many parties and candidates use advertisement to target voters with simplistic messages and emotional appeals preventing informed discussion and competition of ideas. This in turn negatively affects quality of representation and decision-making process, as well as undermines general trust in election process and democratic institutions.

In absence of legal changes or notable public attention to this issue, established and wealthy parties and candidates will most likely use their advantageous access to media to further increase their share in advertisement market during the upcoming 2019 parliamentary elections. This raises a need to bring the issue of use of media during elections to the public agenda through conducting legal assessment and monitoring real spending on media by electoral contestants followed by wide discussions of the obtained results among key stakeholders.

Implementation of the project is expected to result in identifying key challenges related to use of media during elections, establishing effective communications between key advocates for change and raising awareness about the issue among the public. Special attention should be devoted to engaging various stakeholders representing state institutions, media, political parties and civil society in wide and inclusive discussions. All activities within the project should be accompanied by innovative media outreach campaign.

IFES encourages innovative approaches in designing analysis, monitoring and awareness campaign with a strong informative component to reach the main stakeholders and the public.

The activities may include but are not limited to:

1. Assessing current legislative framework regulating use of media and political advertisement during election and pre-election period.
2. Developing methodology for monitoring real spending of parties and candidates on media during election campaigns.
3. Using developed methodology to gather data on spending of parties and candidates on media during 2019 parliamentary elections, including those not reflected in campaign and party financial reports.
4. Organizing public discussions with different stakeholders on issues related to use of media during elections and its legal regulation, based on the legal assessment and the obtained data on media spending.
5. Identify key challenges and legal gaps related to regulation of use of media during elections that need to be addressed through legal changes and other measures.
6. Organizing wide media outreach and awareness campaign by using both the traditional communication channels and innovative practices.
7. Other impactful activities could be applicable to reach the main goals of the project.

Project activities are expected to start May 15, 2019 and finish no later than January 31, 2020.

Applicants must submit:

• A completed IFES application form, including the detailed work plan for the proposed activities (Attachment A);
• A completed Performance Monitoring Plan (Attachment B);
• A detailed itemized budget in USD along with the budget notes in the unified IFES format (Attachment C) without VAT and include any applicable charges clearly identified, provided against each of the categories of expenses described in this request;
• Scanned copies of the registration documents, including by-laws;
• CVs of the project participants (project director, administrative staff, and all expected involved experts);
• If applicable, applicant should submit additional information about other projects (project summary and budget) on similar topics, submitted or already funded by other donors.

Applications must be submitted via email on or prior April 30, 2019. Late proposals will not be considered. IFES will consider applications in English.
All questions and submission of proposals shall be to the attention of Mr. Ian Swank at [email protected] and Ms. Sajia Tokhi at [email protected] with “Monitoring Use of Media during Elections Project” in the subject line for all e-mail communication. IFES will confirm timely recipient of applications within one business day.

Request for Applications (RFA-19-038), Attachment A (Application form), Attachment B (Monitoring plan), Attachment B (Budget) can be downloaded as the attachments to this announcement.