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.