Dedicated to supporting Southern African media

Amplify Southern Africa is a mentoring, capacity-strengthening and grant funding initiative aimed at supporting independent media businesses in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa. The program’s overarching goal is to help independent media develop commercially viable and sustainable business models that deliver timely, accurate and relevant information to audiences, thereby enhancing public participation in civic life.

Key features

The program supports a diverse range of independent media organizations to help them strengthen their revenue generation, audience growth, product development, content distribution and ability to reach under-served communities.

Features of the program include:

• Bespoke one-on-one coaching to drive business growth
• Diverse media management advice by local and international experts
• Support from media start-up specialists to identify and develop optimal business strategies and models
• Focus on developing new revenue streams and building an audience, while maximizing engagement and customer experience
• Advice on organization, leadership, project structure and execution workflow
• Targeted grant funding tied to capacity support to maximize effectiveness
• Workshops, hands-on-training and opportunities to connect with peers to gain insights from successful real-world examples

Eligibility criteria

Who do we work with?

• Applicants must be media outlets based in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho or South Africa, and must be independent from the government and any other political or economic interest group.
• Applicants must be supportive of democratic practices and institutions, political pluralism, transparency, human rights, dignity and equal rights for all, regardless of race, ethnic or social origin, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, culture or language.
• Applicants should be looking to grow an existing media business or launch a new, viable media venture, using innovative ideas and new approaches to content creation, distribution, and audience engagement
• Applicants should have a particular business and/or revenue and/or strategic transformation project they are planning to work on over the next 12 months (or early in the stages of an existing project), targeting one or more of the following focal areas:
  
  New revenue opportunities: Innovative solutions to revenue challenges that media companies face – opening new revenue streams to make media organizations more sustainable and independent.
  
  Digital native products: New approaches to collecting news and information, and to reporting, storytelling and distribution, that embrace the possibilities of technology and contribute to the viability of news operations.
  
  Reaching communities in rural/underserved areas: Innovative approaches to reach that empower people generally underserved by existing news media.
  
  Innovation in distribution: Media technology and tools that help to distribute local and relevant news in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
  
  Transition to digital: Finding and implementing solutions, products or processes that assist legacy media to transform their businesses.

Amplify Southern African is currently not accepting applications. Please check back later for updates.

For any queries, contact 8C@]7:5>o@==6D]@>F9<

For any more information about the fund or any queries, contact Program Manager, Amplify Southern Africa at 8C@]7:5>o@==6D]@>F9<