About FRIDA

Background and objectives

FRIDA is a program of LACNIC (Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry) that supports projects, initiatives, and solutions that contribute to the consolidation and strengthening of the Internet in Latin America and the Caribbean.

FRIDA was created in 2004 with the support of two entities of the Government of Canada: the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Since its creation, the program has received contributions from LACNIC, IDRC, Internet Society, Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), Martel GmbH, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and Seed Alliance. Currently, FRIDA is developed, coordinated, and funded exclusively by LACNIC.

Funded projects are selected through an annual, open, and public call coordinated by LACNIC under the guidance of an external jury made up of regional experts in the categories and thematic areas of the call.

General characteristics and requirements

The FRIDA Program provides financial support (up to USD 20,000) in the form of grants, as well as technical follow-up for projects with a maximum duration of 12 months. Interested applicants must meet the detailed general requirements and submit their application within the specified deadlines.

In all cases, research projects, case studies, development of proofs of concept and/or prototypes, implementation projects, measurements, or other initiatives may be submitted, provided that they seek to achieve practical objectives, original specific results, contribute concrete solutions to technical challenges, and/or generate knowledge that may be useful to expand and promote the development of the topic addressed in the region.

The call consists of two stages for the submission and evaluation of proposals. Stage 1 consists of a simplified application that allows for the preselection of proposals most closely aligned with the general requirements. During Stage 2, preselected projects are invited to submit the full project application for technical evaluation, based on the first- and second-order criteria.