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AKARTA: The Ford Foundation, in cooperation with Wikimedia Indonesia, ICT Watch and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), is offering a US$1 million grant to the public to improve media conditions in Indonesia.

The foundation will give the grant to 30 people, or an organization, that want to contribute their innovative ideas through digital or analog media.

David Hulse, Ford Foundation’s country representative, said Friday that the foundation was supporting the freedom of speech through the enhancement of the media, independent movie sector, and community radio.

“We want to improve Indonesian media through innovative and new ideas,” program officer for the foundation, Heidi Arbuckle, told reporters at the program’s launch at her office in South Jakarta.

She said that some media was used for political interests and people’s voices could not be channeled properly.

She said she hoped that the program would be successful because it was a pilot project for the foundation. “We want to try different ways to give grants to people.”

She said that some foundations were closed to the public, and sometimes people don’t know how to get grants from donors.

The promotion will be held from July 17-30; the first selection will take place from Aug. 1 to Sept. 15, and the announcement of the grant’s recipients will be held on Nov. 7.