Community Languages Fund to provide more support for Pacific language projects

During the first round of the CLF, which closed on 31 July 2020, applicants were able to apply for up to $2,500 in funding to support language projects in their homes and in their community.

Round two of the Community Languages Fund (CLF) will provide even more support for Pacific grassroots community and family language projects with the introduction of a second funding tier of $10,000, in addition to the $2,500 tier, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio.

During the first round of the CLF, which closed on 31 July 2020, applicants were able to apply for up to $2,500 in funding to support language projects in their homes and in their community.

Launched following the Languages Innovation Fund (LIF) pilot programme for community funding administered by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples Languages Unit, the first round of the CLF received 143 applications over the eight weeks it was open.

“This was more than double the number of applications received under the Languages Innovation Fund,” says Aupito William Sio.

“Based on feedback from community groups, the main reason for the CLF’s popularity was the simple and straightforward application process.

“Another contributing factor was the on-going engagements with the community, which provided a bit more clarity on what was expected when applying for the fund.

“Groups were able to apply for funding to support events being run through the Pacific Language Weeks, and we noticed while there was an influx of applications from the larger cities, there was a growing number of smaller groups in the regions applying for funds to support their language week initiatives.  

“What these trends highlight is the need to support the growth of these community initiatives not just in the immediate future, but also in their long-term planning and development of language initiatives. 

“When the Languages Unit assessed applications for round one, it was evident some of the projects would cost more than $2,500, specifically projects that create language resources such as app development, books, and digital resources,” says Aupito William Sio. 

To support this, round two of the CLF is providing a second funding tier of $10,000 in addition to the $2,500 tier.

Round two of the CLF is open from today and will close on 28 October 2020, which will be the final round of CLF funding for 2020.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)