SIDA Grant for Democratisation and Freedom of Expression

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has issued a call for proposals to provide grant support to individuals, groups and civil society organizations working for democratization and freedom of expression.

The call is part of the Special Initiative for Democratization and Freedom of Expression launched in 2009 for a three-year period. Now, the Government of Sweden has decided to extend this initiative in order to continue strengthening Sweden’s overall work for democracy, human rights and equal access to justice.

The Special Initiative aims to improve the conditions for actors for change to work for enhanced democratization and freedom of expression. It targets individuals, groups, civil society organizations and other relevant actors at local, national, regional and global levels, and attends to threats against democracy and freedom of expression, and restrictions on the freedoms and human rights of girls and boys, women and men.Grant will be offered to entities belonging to countries and contexts characterized by lack of respect for human rights and where fundamental freedoms are hampered and where there is limited room for political pluralism.

The support must be directed to interventions and actors for change with restriction to countries eligible for official development assistance (ODA-recipient countries) according to the OECD/DAC-classification.

As this is an open call for proposals, full applications are required to be submitted in the format given in the Guidelines for Applicants document.

The deadline to submit proposals is 15 April 2012. For more information, visit this link.

AGFUND for “Food Security for the Poor”: NGOs, INGOs, Government and Individuals invited to applyAGFUND for “Food Security for the Poor”: NGOs, INGOs, Government and Individuals invited to apply

Nominations are now open for the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) International Prize for Pioneering Human Development Projects 2012. The Prize supports the distinguished efforts aiming at promoting the concepts of human development; highlight the best practices in development, which aim to improve the living conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged with particular emphasis on women and children; enhance the exchange dissemination of the successful development experiences; and develop better mechanisms to solve the problems of poverty and marginalization of vulnerable groups.

The 2012 Prize invites nominations in the subject area of “food security” and NGOs, INGOs, regional organizations, ministries, public agencies, universities, research centers and the UN can apply. The Programme has allocated over $500,000 spread over four categories or the Prize.

First category: The role of international organizations in supporting the developing countries’ national policies and programs for a sustainable food security (For projects implemented by UN, international or regional organizations).

• Second category: NGOs-led efforts to developing the skills and capabilities of the poor for food security in the poor communities, (For projects implemented by national NGOs).
• Third category: Governmental efforts in adoption of pioneering programs, polices and best practices to achieve food security for the poor, (For projects by government ministries and public institutions).
• Fourth category: Individual-led efforts to integrate the poor and poor households in food security activities, (For projects initiated, sponsored and/or implemented by individuals).

The eligible nominations are evaluated by qualified development experts specialized in the Prize subject, while the selection of winners is undertaken by the Prize Committee, after sufficient discussion of the evaluation results and reports.

The deadline to submit nominations is 31 May 2012. For more information, visit this link.

USAID’s Global Development Alliance inviting NGOs and Private Sector to address development challenges

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued the Annual Program Statement (APS) for the FY2012 Global Development Alliance (GDA) which brings together NGOs and the for-profit agencies together under the public-private partnership to address critical development challenges worldwide.

Under this APS, USAID is inviting the private sector for a mutually beneficial partnership where resources from both the parties will be leveraged equally leading to an increase in the sustainable impact of development assistance programs. Apart from the private sector, USAID has also opened the invitation to submit project ideas that reach out to the private sector and explore ways in which collaboration might help all the partners to more effectively solve key problems, advance respective interests and achieve far greater development results and impacts.

The alliances developed under the APS must support one or more of USAID’s core development initiatives and advance the development objectives and priorities that guide USAID’s development assistance programs and investments.

Only concept notes have to be submitted initially. Fully applications will be requested after review of concept notes. These have to be submitted at USAID Missions and B/IOs (i.e. regional bureaus, pillar bureaus, offices) of the USAID.

USAID will consider alliance concept papers as they arrive throughout the issuance period of the APS. However, resources are limited and we expect a significant number of submissions. The earlier a concept paper is received the greater the chance that funding might be available. The APS is issued annually and is open from date of release in 2012 until January 31, 2013.

For more information, visit grants.gov and search by funding opportunity number for: APS-OAA-12-000003

Call for Applications: Global Faculty Grants Program

Deadline: April 15, 2012

The Open Society Scholarship Program has launched a call for proposals for the Global Faculty Grants Program. This program will offer and support professional development and research to faculty in the social sciences and humanities in select countries.

Two separate tracks of support are available for eligible scholars:

Track I is devoted primarily to developing the teaching and research expertise of younger faculty with an eye towards encouraging improved course content via improved research and pedagogy. These fellowships last up to 10 months, are not renewable, and are tenable at universities arranged by program administrators.

Track II is devoted to helping well-established faculty to pursue research leading to publication at universities outside of their home country. These fellowships last up to 5 months, and are renewable once, after residence in the home country for a minimum one (1) year.

For further details visit this link.

Fund for Gender Equality Call for Proposals

This is the second call for proposals (2011-2012) for the Fund for Gender Equality that aims to provide grants for projects promoting women’s economic and/or political empowerment grants with a focus on women in situations of marginalization.

This UN Women’s global grantmaking fund was launched with an initial contribution from Spain (USD $65 million), Norway (USD $3 million), Mexico (USD $800,000) and most recently, the Netherlands (USD $1.18 million). It is currently seeking innovative and impact-oriented proposals from eligible countries in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia and the Caribbean.

The themes to be covered under this Fund are:

Women’s Political Empowerment Grants:

To increase women’s political participation, leadership, and influence in the decisions that affect their lives, including through leadership trainings and education and with a focus on youth.

Women’s Economic Empowerment Grants:

To increase women’s access to and control over resources and assets – including land, water, technology, and viable employment – while also addressing the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work on women and girls, with particular emphasis on holistic and environmentally sustainable  development approaches.

Priority areas cover economic/political empowerment, gender equality, innovation & creativity, fostering dialogues, a rights-based approach, engagement of women in situations of marginalization, matching funds and sustainability. All programmes must articulate how they will achieve tangible results in the lives of specific groups of women and girls.

All grants range from a minimum of US$200,000 to a maximum of US$1 million distributed over a period of one to three years.

Proposals have to be submitted through an online application process which will open on March 12, 2012.

The deadline to submit applications is 23 March 2012. For more information, visit this link.

Saving Lives at Birth: Grant Opportunity includes seed funds, transition funding

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) have again come together to seek applications for the second round of Saving Lives at Birth Challenge, which offers seed funding and transition funding for innovative projects. The Challenge seeks entries on groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the time of delivery.

In order to address the problems of maternal deaths, neonatal deaths and stillbirth in low- and middle- income countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, this Challenge is organized to find innovative solutions based upon scientific, technological and operation breakthroughs.

This Challenge seeks innovative approaches to prevention and treatment across the following three areas.

 (1) Technologies: Inviting bold ideas for science and technology advances that prevent, detect or treat maternal and newborn problems at the time of birth. Examples include simpler or portable technologies for newborn resuscitation, feeding, warming, and care of preterm and low birthweight newborns, infection management, and prevention and treatment of hypertensive disorders like preeclampsia/eclampsia.

 (2) Service Delivery: Bold ideas for new approaches to provide high-quality care at the time of birth. Examples may include new ways of using information and communication technology (ICT) to improve health and healthcare delivery in rural areas, approaches that bring the benefits of fixed health systems to the community setting, new incentive plans for recruiting and retaining skilled personnel, training programs for community-based or alternative health workers, or better ways to refer and transport sick newborns and mothers with complications.

 (3) Demand: Bold ideas for empowering and engaging pregnant women and their families. Examples may include innovative use of Information and computer technology (ICT) to incentivize individuals to seek care and/or adopt healthy behaviors; or mass communication methods that can change individual and collective behavior to improve outcomes around the time of birth.

The deadline to submit applications is 2 April 2012. For more information, visit this link.