Accountability Journalism Focusing on International Aid

Project Background

As the one-year anniversary of the Beirut Port Explosion approaches, with Lebanon staggering under the weight of economic, social, and political challenges, the media has a role to play in ensuring that standards of international aid regarding accountability and transparency are not sacrificed in favour of urgency and expediency. The Samir Kassir Foundation (SKF) is launching a Request for Proposals which aims to facilitate accountability-oriented journalism, encompassing fact-checking, exploring digital data, as well as a form of beat coverage, on the subject of international aid received by Lebanon in response to the Beirut Port Explosion on August 4, 2020.

In the aftermath of the Beirut Port Explosion, the eyes of the international community turned to Beirut. In the time since, several donor countries, international NGOs and the like have committed funding, across various sectors, to help Beirut – and Lebanon – in the recovery and reconstruction process. The international aid, often springing up with an understandable urgency, has sometimes fallen short of the perceived standards regarding transparency and, therefore, accountability. This in part may have been a result of the manner in which the aid was structured, disbursed, and managed, the lack of follow-up, or simply the opportunism of the receiver. In other cases, aid has helped the most vulnerable cope with a collapsing economy and allowed new economic sectors to thrive.

SKF invites proposals from Lebanese independent media platforms for the provision of financial and professional support. Four grants of up to US$15,000 are available for projects that would support content production including investigations into the utilization, management, and path of international aid (tracking a single donor or sector) since the Beirut Port Explosion.

Supported outlets will also receive bespoke support and mentorship, including but not limited to training on financial journalism in order to equip journalists with the tools to analyse and examine financial statements of international and local parties.

Eligibility criteria (applicants must meet all requirements)

• Media organisations which produce original content (not news aggregators).
• Organisations that produce content around human rights and good governance.
• Organisations which are politically independent and transparent about funding sources.
• Organisations must be based in Lebanon.