The Ā Internet Society Foundation has issued Beyond the Net Medium and Large Grants ranging from $12,000 to $30,000 to 13 new projects and three of the projects are from Africa. The Foundation was launched in February 2019, and shortly thereafter announced a call for grant applications to ISOCās Chapters and Special Interest Groups, a programme known as Beyond the Net.
The foundation received 40 applications and 13 projects were selected by the committee. The team evaluated the projects based on criteria that included originality and innovation. The Internet Society established the Internet Society Foundation to fund projects that will improve the quality of peopleās lives everywhere.
The Internet Society Foundation provides grants to initiatives that build community capacity to access and benefit from the internet, initiatives that respond to natural disasters; initiatives that demonstrate innovative techniques to advance the internet and local and regional projects supported by ISOCās .$30,000 to create Wi-Fi access points and an off-the-grid media centre within the Mamaila Tribal Authority, South Africa. The project will also provide training on cybersecurity, content development, entrepreneurship and the maintenance of community networks. This project empowers unemployed youth to organize themselves into cooperatives to advance their socio-economic objectives.
Madagascar was awarded a grant of $12,322, which will go towards creating community networks for 5,000 people in three remote farming communities and awareness-raising. The project will also provide technical training and basic internet skills to a group of people who will train others to use the internet to capture practical information for their economic development. $30,000 grant was awarded to Mali to generate reliable statistical data on the internet in particular on the use/misuse of social media, which has become popular in both rural and urban areas.
The Internet Society Foundation will launch its next call for grant applications in early 2020. For more information, visit at www.isocfoundation.org.
By Amanda Mkhiza
