We created this hardship fund to provide emergency relief to crew who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Applicants must be below-the-line workers who are active in the television drama or film industry and have worked with our Nigerian production company networks. We ask applicants to demonstrate that they are active in television or film production and could have been affected as a result of the lockdown (cancelled, postponed or suspended productions). Refer to the list of BTL crew.

The Fund aims at supporting a healthy local entertainment ecosystem by helping below-the-line workers who were working with our Nigerian production company networks (from Licensing and Originals) and were directly impacted by the suspension of productions in the country due to the pandemic.

The eligibility criteria are aimed at supporting and offering some relief to those workers who have been hit the hardest with the COVID-19 pandemic;

• The applicant needs to be below-the-line worker who is either active in the industry or have been recently employed at one of the production partners listed – BTL positions (Non-exhaustive List);
• The applicant must be a Nigerian resident;
• Applicant has worked in the TV and film industry in the last years (from March 2018 to Date) for at least three (3) weeks;
• The applicant must provide a 5-digit code which you can receive from the partner production house(s) you have worked at to confirm that you worked in the TV and film industry during this period.

Yes. While we don’t want to make this process difficult for applicants, we also want to make sure the people deserve this fund benefit therefore, there are additional documents necessary to prove that this should be allocated to you. These include:

• Identification document such as drivers license, international passport, national identity card or signed letter from a community/religious leader;
• Evidence that you worked in the Nigerian TV and film industry (from March 2018 to March 2020) for at least 3 weeks
• Proof of residence. (optional)

Applications will be screened after each of the two week application window. This will facilitate faster processing as the Dalberg team will be able to start disbursing the funds in an efficient manner. Applications will be assessed according to the eligibility criteria but also on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and recipients will be determined on a rolling basis until the funds are depleted.

Each applicant is eligible for a 130, 000 NGN one-time benefit

We want the process to be as agile and efficient as possible – HOWEVER, its important to note that given the end-of-year period, all applicants who submitted their applications by 13 December, should expect to receive the funds within the December period (no more than two weeks after they’ve been informed that the application is successful) while any applicant to submit prior to January 8th, should expect to receive the funds in January. Applicants from the 8th of January should expect to receive the funds in Febraury.

The application form will include a request for your contact information and Dalberg will let applicants know if they were elected for the fund.

• On submission, the application window will let you know if your application has been successfully submitted or not.
• Once your application has been assessed, applicants will be informed about the status of their applications, i.e whether it was successful or has been declined.

Funds for approved applicants will be disbursed through local bank transfer to bank accounts – the applicants will provide their account number as well as their BVN number to prove their status regarding the account and applicable details required for any grant award to reach the account.

We want to bring relief to hit workers in these difficult times with an individual one-time benefit of 130,000 NGN which will be paid out in local currency (Naira).

Application will be open from 7 December – and will close on 31 January 2021 for screening and assessment. Should there still be funds available after the first round of evaluation is completed and funds are disbursed, we will open a further window for applications – and inform members of the creative community accordingly.

There are no plans to extend the fund beyond this at the moment. We hope it can serve as a bridge until there are more means of support.