Media Literacy Taskforce Fund
DCMS is launching the Media Literacy Taskforce Fund to award grant funding to projects piloting new methods of delivering media literacy interventions to ‘hard to reach’ citizens.
Applies to England
Summary
The UK has a rich media literacy landscape with research finding at least 170 educational resources being delivered. However, we know there are many citizens who do not engage with media literacy interventions, or do not have access to support. These citizens have been termed ‘hard to reach’. As set out in the Online Media Literacy Strategy, we are committed to taking action to support media literacy organisations to better engage ‘hard to reach’ citizens.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is inviting UK organisations and local government bodies to bid into the newly established Media Literacy Taskforce Fund. The grant scheme will provide funding to organisations piloting new methods of engaging ‘hard to reach’ citizens with media literacy initiatives. We are interested in piloting projects that will work through local communities to engage ‘hard to reach’ citizens in ways that are tailored to their needs and relevant to their daily lives.
We are encouraging proposals that will demonstrate partnership across organisations with expertise of how to engage specific ‘hard to reach’ citizens — for example, working with local governments, local charities or youth groups. As well as applications from individual organisations, we will also be accepting applications from consortia who can demonstrate the requirements set out in the ‘project criteria’ section, across numerous organisations. Consortia can include public bodies outside of central government.
Applicants may only submit one application as the sole bidder, however they may submit one application as the sole bidder and one as part of a consortium.
Organisation eligibility
- your organisation must be registered to operate in the UK
- you must have experience of delivering media literacy interventions or equivalent subject matter expertise
- your project must target a local area in England (e.g. a town or county)
Consortia
If you are bidding into the Fund as a consortium you must meet the following criteria:
- the lead organisation in the consortium must be based in the UK, and
- at least one organisation in the UK must have experience of delivering media literacy interventions or equivalent subject matter expertise
Application criteria
Proposals submitted to the fund will be assessed against the following essential criteria:
- applicants must demonstrate media literacy expertise
- applicants must demonstrate experience of delivering media literacy interventions effectively
- applicants must demonstrate knowledge of how to engage citizens with educational initiatives
- proposals must set out which audience it is targeting to engage, and provide a sound justification for describing their target audience as ‘hard to reach’
- proposals must demonstrate how they will engage their target audience using a tailored approach
- proposals must demonstrate how they will pilot targeted delivery methods in local communities, and set out which local areas in England will be targeted (note: media literacy is a devolved matter)
- applicants must demonstrate experience of partnership working and managing multiple project stakeholders
- proposals must demonstrate plans for robust monitoring and evaluation of the process and impact of the project
- proposals must include a breakdown of budgets that demonstrate value for money
- proposals must include clear plans for project management including setting out milestones and timelines.
It is desirable that:
- applicants can demonstrate an understanding of the media literacy needs of their target audiences
- applicants can demonstrate knowledge and/or experience of working at a local level or through communities to engage citizens in a project, or to improve educational outcomes for citizens
- applicants can demonstrate knowledge of and/or existing links with the local communities proposals are seeking to target
Proposals submitted by consortia can demonstrate the essential and desirable criteria across multiple organisations in the consortium.
Funding
We will be accepting bids for projects that either conclude this financial year (ending March 2023) or extend into the next financial year (ending January 2024).
We expect to administer a maximum of £250,000 grant funding to individual projects this financial year. However, exact amounts will be considered on a case-by-case basis. A further maximum of £250k will be available for individual projects running into the next financial year. There is no minimum funding requirement for this bid.
Proposals will be assessed on whether they demonstrate value for money. Projects seeking large amounts of funding without demonstrating proportionate results are unlikely to be successful. Projects with costings that are suspected to be fraudulent or unfeasible will not be accepted into the grant scheme. Please note that your project’s budget should not exceed 25% of your organisation’s annual turnover.
Applications must include a breakdown of budget, delivery milestones and timelines across each financial year. Funding for project activities taking place in the next financial year (April 2023 - March 2024) will be subject to a review of project delivery this financial year.
How to apply
To apply for grants please complete the below application form:
Please send completed form to medialiteracy@dcms.gov.uk.
Applications will be open until 30 August 2022, 09:00 BST. If you have any questions about this fund or the application process, please contact: medialiteracy@dcms.gov.uk.
Timelines
We will aim to notify applicants about the outcome of the grant scheme, and for grant projects to commence in autumn 2022. Timelines may be subject to change depending on the application process.
Additional information
In July 2021, DCMS published the Online Media Literacy Strategy setting out our ambition to improve national media literacy capabilities, by supporting organisations to empower and educate citizens to make safe and informed choices online. The UK has a rich media literacy landscape with research identifying at least 170 educational initiatives being delivered to citizens. However, our research and stakeholder engagement indicate that significant portions of the population do not engage with media literacy resources or lack access to media literacy support. We have termed these citizens ‘hard to reach’.
Preliminary insights suggest there may be a number of factors which contribute to lack of engagement, including:
- limited media literacy interventions targeting citizens who are outside formal education settings
- digital exclusion
- people not thinking media literacy is relevant to their lives
- people having overconfidence in their own media literacy capabilities
- limited awareness of how to access support or which resources to use
In March 2022, DCMS established the Media Literacy Taskforce, composed of 18 cross-sector experts. The taskforce has been charged with exploring the challenges relating to engaging ‘hard to reach’ citizens, and identifying ways of tackling those challenges. As part of this programme, we are launching the Media Literacy Taskforce Fund fund pilot projects, exploring novel and innovative ways of engaging ‘hard to reach’ citizens with media literacy interventions.
Consultation with the Media Literacy Taskforce highlighted the need to make media literacy education relevant to the lives of those who are ‘hard to reach’. The Taskforce identified that working at a local-level and tailoring media literacy provisions to the needs of a community holds significant potential for engaging these citizens.
The Taskforce Grant Fund is looking to award funding to organisations piloting new methods of delivering media literacy interventions at a local level and through communities. This could involve building partnerships with local actors who have knowledge of a user group’s specific needs and/or barriers to engagement. This could also be achieved by delivering media literacy learning through well-established, local-level infrastructures that citizens already engage with in their daily lives.
Some examples of delivery models for these interventions could include (but are not limited to):
- working closely with local authorities to integrate media literacy support across a range of public services
- establishing local, peer-to-peer education initiatives, led by influential, community-level organisations (e.g. local charities) or individuals
- partnering with employers to reach target audiences with media literacy at their place of work
As this fund is piloting new methods of delivery media literacy interventions all projects will be expected to have a strong emphasis on robust evaluation, both on methodology and impact. This should go beyond self-reported evaluation where possible. We encourage organisations to consider Ofcom’s recent guidance both on conducting evaluations and delivering effective community programmes.
Projects should clearly identify which audience group it is targeting and how delivery of media literacy provisions will be tailored to this group. Where possible this should consider:
- the audience’s media literacy needs
- existing barriers to engaging with media literacy support
- how the audience can be most effectively reached at a local level
The grant fund will encourage a wide range of approaches to media literacy interventions including and going beyond conventional classroom-style learning such as delivering learning in more informal and community-based ways.
Interventions should seek to do one or more of the following:
- building audience resilience to dis- and misinformation, including by developing their ability to critically evaluate the content they consume; recognise the benefits of well-researched, accurate media content; and contribute positively to press sustainability
- supporting citizens to develop an understanding of how the online environment operates and use this to inform decisions online
- supporting citizens to develop the ability to identify online abuse and hate speech, and understanding when content may cause harm to themselves or others
- supporting citizens to develop an understanding of the risks and benefits of engaging with others online, and ability to contribute positively to their online environments
- enabling citizens to participate positively in democratic debate online
Last updated 12 August 2022 + show all updates
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Updated to add information on multiple applications and funding available for projects running into the next financial year, and minor clarifications to application criteria.
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First published.