Grants and Contributions

The Common Good Cyber Fund is a collaborative initiative designed to fortify cybersecurity defenses where they’re needed most. Led by cybersecurity experts and implemented by the Internet Society (ISOC), the fund will support the cybersecurity nonprofits whose missions are to maintain the critical cybersecurity infrastructure and deliver scalable solutions to secure high-risk actors from digital harm, including NGOs, journalists, and human rights defenders.

This project strengthens the participation of global majority, women’s rights, and other marginalized civil society actors in international digital technology governance. Working in six partner countries - Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa - it also supports policymakers and Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Member States to advance more inclusive, coordinated, and human-rights-promoting digital policy outcomes.

Digital Transnational Detection Academy will work to address the critical challenge of digital transnational repression (DTNR) by building the capacity of likeminded democratic countries to detect, analyze, and respond to DTNR activities. The Academy will provide customized and gender-sensitive training to G7 partners and aligned Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs) focused on detecting and countering DTNR operations. Training will combine expert instruction and interactive workshops, as well as community-building and technical consultations. The highly interactive training sessions will include advanced open source investigation techniques across multiple platforms, digital security practices, and methods to detect inauthentic behavior online.

This project aims to strengthen civic and democratic space in Benin and Senegal, for the benefit of citizens, in particular women and people in vulnerable situations (PSV). Project activities include: (1) implementing public engagement strategies and dissemination of public campaigns on issues related to civic and democratic space; (2) identifying training needs for CSOs, journalists and HRDs in methodologies and principles of gender-sensitive HR reporting, advocacy and communication techniques; and (3) providing technical support to CSOs in gender-sensitive security and protection.

The project aims to enhance the safety and resilience of women journalists globally, focusing on Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Chile, and Paraguay. By further disseminating the findings of FEMSOJ 1 among key actors globally, regionally, and in the target countries, and integrating new findings produced in the monitoring during FEMSOJ 2, the project seeks to catalyze policy changes in journalist safety approaches. Simultaneously, by providing holistic training and fostering peer support networks, the project aims to empower women journalists in target countries, enhancing their capacity to navigate risks and advocate for their rights. Ultimately, the project will contribute to creating a safer environment for all journalists by mainstreaming feminist approaches and bolstering the resilience of women journalists worldwide.

The project aims to strengthen the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) rights movements in North Africa, specifically in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Project activities include: (1) supporting local organizations in setting up 10 initiatives to promote the rights and well-being of LGBTQI+ people; (2) documenting and strengthening the safety, mental health and well-being of LGBTQI+ activists; and (3) enabling regional consultation and activist participation in international conferences and consultation forums.

This three-year project by Child Rights Connect (CRCnct) aims to enhance the empowerment, enjoyment of rights and protection for child human rights defenders (CHRDs) worldwide. The project takes a dual approach focussed on improving safe and sustainable promotion and defence of human rights by empowered CHRDs, particularly girl CHRDs and other groups of CHRDs most deprived of their rights, while also increasing effective recognition of CHRDs by duty-bearers and responsibility-holders, both contributing to a more enabling environment for CHRDs.

The project will contribute to increased resilience against foreign and national information operations that seek to erode the quality of democracy and the international rules-based order. The project will first conduct an extensive network analysis, qualitative interviews with stakeholders, and desk research to establish a solid empirical foundation about “information operations” (those operations and actors seeking to influence the public discourse and election campaigns) in each country. The project will combine local knowledge on key actors and key narratives being spread online with research techniques seeking to draw a picture of the way the political debate is being shaped by Foreign Influence and Manipulation of Information (FIMI). Subsequently, the project team will conduct an extensive mapping exercise in each pilot country and identify key civil society actors that are working on pro-transparency political reforms, political participation of women and the youth, and other related issues. Finally, the project will create spaces of dialogues to bring together oversight actors (i.e. electoral management bodies, political finance oversight agencies, etc.), legislators and civil society organizations to share experiences and lessons learnt, which will, in turn, build their capacities not only to better understand the problem but also equip them with practical guidelines for developing appropriate policy measures to improve information integrity in online spaces, including designing appropriate interventions to tackle the use of FIMI against women.

This project seeks to strengthen the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) Secretariat’s ability to ensure the actions of MFC member countries on media freedom are not only coordinated, inclusive and effective, but that they are targeted and impactful for journalists and media actors in the countries they represent. The project will support the MFC leadership through clear processes and administration; support members to act by providing resources, ideas and connections; ensure information flow between stakeholders to promote coordination; organize key MFC activities such as events; communicate the MFC’s work to key audiences; and monitor and evaluate MFC activity.

This initiative will help to improve the capacity of parliaments to be effective actors of change in addressing key democratic challenges through their functions of representation, lawmaking, and oversight. While the immediate beneficiaries of the initiative are parliamentary actors, the project aims to strengthen the relationship between parliaments and civil society organizations, national governments, and other stakeholders, to support societies’ democratic resilience and the fulfilment of human rights.