urgent call for ITU-related microgrant proposals

[Kevin Bankston]

Hello from MozFest in London:

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that tomorrow morning GMT, Mozilla Foundation will be putting out an urgent call for ITU-related microgrants; I'm giving you all a preview now so that if you are interested or know someone that might be interested that you can get to work now, because once the call goes live you will only have three days to submit your (very brief) proposal.  We're hoping that decisions will be made by Thursday, with wire transfers initiated by Friday.

I don't have the final submission email yet but I do have the presumably final language of the call, below; you'll see that its priorities are very much tied to the priorities set by the tactical breakout at Best Bits.  I will send the official release with email when I have it. 

Thanks and great seeing everyone in Baku, 
Kevin

Open Internet Microgrants to Support Civil Society Engagement with the ITU
On December 3rd, the world’s governments will begin a ten-day meeting in Dubai to update a key treaty of a UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Some proposed changes to that treaty could threaten Internet openness and innovation, increase access costs, and erode human rights online. We are urgently calling for projects that will help give civil society organizations that support an open Internet a stronger voice before and during that key meeting, the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT).

What We Want to Support
Efforts to influence your government's position in the lead up to the WCIT meeting.
Costs for civil society representatives to participate at WCIT in Dubai, provided you are already a part of your country's delegation or have otherwise demonstrated commitment and expertise in this area.
Provision of basic technical infrastructure and tools that let civil society representatives on the ground in Dubai coordinate and communicate with each other, their home organizations, and the media.

The Details
The call for proposal opens up on Nov. 12 and closes on the 15th (midnight GMT).
This is a micro grant fund. There is a total of $10,000 available. Ideally, we will be supporting 8-10 projects from that amount. That means your grant will be approximately $1,000.
You need to be able to receive a wire transfer to a bank account. It can be your personal bank account. Individuals can apply.
We will contact you if we have any questions or to award you the grant. If you have not heard from us by November 16, we will have chosen not to provide support to your project.
Once a decision has been made, you will receive a letter from Mozilla summarizing the project you've proposed and agreeing to provide you the funds. 
When the project is done, you will need to provide us a letter telling us what happened, how it went, and what you think you accomplished.

The Criteria
We will give preference to proposals that:
Ideally, show 1:1 matching support
Demonstrate your capacity to effect positive change
Facilitate regionally diverse participation in the WCIT
Can be implemented quickly

What We Need to Know
Send us an e-mail with the following information. If you are applying for travel support, be sure to tell us whether or not you are already included in your country's delegation.
Name:
E-mail:
Organization (if applicable):
Country:
URL (if applicable):
Project Title:
What are you going to do?
Why are you the one to do it?
How will you spend the money?

____________________________________
Kevin S. Bankston
Senior Counsel and Free Expression Director
Center for Democracy & Technology
1634 I St NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
202.407.8834 direct
202.637.0968 fax
kbankston at cdt.org

Follow CDT on Twitter at @cendemtech

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