Entries have opened for the Challenge Award, a new grant that will award £10,000 in funding, as well as expert technical advice and mentorship, to a project that is harnessing technology to support democracy.

The Challenge Award is the first charitable grant to be awarded by DADI Foundation, a new non-profit organisation backed by blockchain technology startup DADI (Decentralized Architecture for a Democratic Internet).

Applications close on 31 July. The Challenge Award is open to small charities, NGOs, and new projects that ‘support or develop robust and inclusive democracies’. In addition to a funding grant of £10,000, the award will provide the project with a combination of world-class technical expertise, project management guidance, mentorship and ongoing support.

The DADI Foundation has been created by cloud computing services provider DADI as an extension of its aim to democratise the internet. The foundation operates independently and provides a range of research, education and grants to ensure that technology is used to help advance human rights and equality globally.

Jennifer Martin-Nye, Chief Executive of the DADI Foundation, and a former human rights advisor to the People’s Postcode Lottery/Novamedia, said:

“There is growing evidence that we need to reframe technology’s role in a world with an increasingly unequal distribution of wealth and power.” “We look forward to addressing that challenge by using technology in a proactive, positive way – helping the tech industry and human rights sector to tackle root causes of injustice, and bridging the gap between technological expertise and human rights activism. We’re excited to be opening up the foundation’s first grant as part of that mission, with a second round of grants opening later this year focused on issues such as gender and conflict as barriers to effective participatory democracy.”

The shortlist will be confirmed in August, with the winner to be announced in September.