©️Kelvin Gitonga
Announcing $1.5 million in COVID-19 response grants
We are thrilled to announce our Emergency Response: COVID-19 grants to innovative projects that are using the Internet to help communities respond and adapt to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the hundreds of applications reviewed, four diverse projects were selected by an Independent Review Panel that evaluated projects based on criteria that included innovation, community impact and sustainability, and technical feasibility, among others.
The projects selected for grants include responses around the globe:
- $USD499,000 to enable HELP. NGO’s Disaster Immediate Response Team to expand internet connectivity for 24 critical primary health and coordination facilities across 8 countries. The pandemic has created an unprecedented strain on public health services, resulting in connectivity challenges and the threat of internet disruption for these facilities who play a critical role in implementing the COVID-19 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). Addressing this need, HELP.NGO’s work will address these connectivity gaps in the short term, and in the long-term build the connectivity and capacity for these facilities to respond to future disasters.
- $432,147 to help OneSky expand their online platform, which connects caregivers across Asia and equips them with the resources to provide high-quality care to the vulnerable young children in their communities. Through this grant, OneSky will expand the platform’s capabilities for distance learning, leveraging the power of the Internet to provide a stable digital community of practice at a time when parents and practitioners cannot access face-to-face support. Beyond the pandemic, 1BigFamily will offer robust digital learning tools, in partnership with government stakeholders, supporting OneSky’s long-term strategy of strengthening early childhood care and education systems at scale across Asia.
- $276,667 to support Fundación La Voz Pública/Chequeado in their mission to improve the quality of public debate in Argentina by putting facts and data at the forefront. In an age where the spread of misinformation through digital platforms can lead to poor decision making and negative outcomes, fact-checking is more important than ever. An innovator in this space, Chequeado plans to improve and expand the scope of their technology platform, enhancing its response time and enabling Latin American fact-checkers to rapidly provide critically needed verifiable information to the public about the COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies that may emerge in the future.
- $275,000 to help Amref Health Africa expand COVID-19 training for health workers. Through their online training platform, Amref plans to increase enrollment by 10,000 health workers in five African countries, update content and create new modules to cover more COVID-19 topics. While this project will focus in five countries, the trainings will be available for free online to any health worker, anywhere, thus helping enhance preparedness for a future pandemic and build more capacity and resilience in the health system over time.
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About
The Internet Society Foundation provides grants to the Internet community, Internet Society Chapters, nonprofits, and individuals working in one or more of the following programme areas:
- Initiatives that build community capacity to access and benefit from the Internet
- Initiatives that utilize the Internet to improve lives during or in response to an emergency situation
- Initiatives that help communities enhance preparedness and build resilience for when they are faced with adverse events such as national disasters
- Opportunities for research across technical, economic, and public policy topics
- Initiatives that demonstrate innovative techniques to advance an Internet for all; and
- Local and regional projects supported by the Internet Society’s nearly 140 Chapters and SIGs (Beyond the Net).
We will launch our next call for grant applications in late September 2020 for our Research Programme area. More information on future calls for grants can be found at: https://www.isocfoundation.org/grant-programmes/.
We were established in 2019 to support the positive difference the Internet can make to people everywhere. In partnership with other change makers, we promote the development of the Internet as a resource to enrich people’s lives, and serve as a force for good in society. Focusing in six programme areas, we awards grant to Internet Society Chapters as well as non-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to providing meaningful access to an open, globally-connected, secure and trustworthy Internet for everyone.