European Grant for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and support for Human Rights Defenders

The European Commission has launched the Call for Proposals under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) to enhance the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries and situations where they are most at risk and where human rights defenders and civil society organisations work under severe constraints and are most under pressure

 

The specific objective of this call is to provide direct support and protection to human rights defenders and to reinforce their capacities to do their work in the short and long-term, as well as to provide tangible support and means of action to local civil society in the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms in some of the world’s most difficult, dangerous and unpredictable political situations and/or where they are the most vulnerable and threatened.

For the purpose of this call for proposals, the concept “most at risk” refers to regions, countries and situations characterised by a serious lack of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; where human rights and fundamental freedoms are systematically violated; where there exists high risk to human security making it difficult for civil society and human rights defenders to operate, and where there is little or no room for political pluralism.

This call for proposals has three lots:

The Lot 1 targets actions taking place in one single country. They shall aim at enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and at supporting human rights defenders either in countries or in situations where they are the most at risk.

The Lot 2 targets global and/or regional actions aiming at enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and at supporting human rights defenders taking place either in countries or in situations where they are the most at risk.

The Lot 3 targets actions aiming at providing local civil society and human rights defenders with the technical tools and knowledge to circumvent cyber-censorship and to improve their digital security in those countries where Internet and digital communications are the object of surveillance, tracking, filtering or blocking or where digital communications are purportedly impaired.

As this is a restricted call for proposals, the European Commission is seeking only concept notes initially. Full proposals will be requested after reviewing and shortlisting the concept notes. The deadline to submit concept notes is 20 July 2012. For more information, visit this link.

UN Women Call for Proposals to build the Capacity of National Human Rights Institutions in Southeast Asia

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has announced a call for proposals to build the capacity of National Human Rights Institutions in Southeast Asia to promote and protect women’s human rights. Civil society organizations, educational and academic institutions are invited to submit proposals.

The purposes of this call for proposals are:

(1) increase access to legal remedies and legal protection for women, particularly those from disadvantaged groups; and

(2) monitor and promote States’ compliance with women’s human rights-related treaty obligations, and follow up on human rights treaty recommendations.

Proposals can be submitted by a registered organization, or jointly by two or more registered organizations of any of the following categories:

(a) Non-governmental organizations or

(b) Educational and academic institutions.

The deadline to submit proposals is 12 July 2012. For more information, visit this link.

East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative: Seventh Round of Call for Proposals

UHAI – The East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative has announced a call for proposals to provide funding for NGOs and programmes led by and focused on sexual minorities and MSM/WSW health and rights within East Africa but also considers project grants for organisations which are working with sexual minorities but not necessarily led by them.

UHAI – The East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative is an activist fund that provides  flexible and accessible resources to support civil society activism around issues of sexuality, health and human rights

UHAI aims to build strong, diverse and organised movements for change, and to enhance the knowledge and expertise of donors supporting sexual rights in East Africa. It is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

This Call for Proposals is seeking applicants for Peer Grants. These grants are awarded on a biannual basis in an open and competitive process and funds organisations and programmes engaged in, among others, the following areas of work:

• Policy and legal advocacy: activities challenging discriminatory law and policies and responding to human rights violations through grants for documentation, strategic litigation, research and alliance building in human rights, HIV/AIDS and faith sectors.
• Rights based service delivery: developing inclusive health and legal services for sexual minorities through grants for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment activities and services, sexual health services and sexuality education, as well as legal aid.
• Strengthening institutions: activities and programmes that build organisational skills and systems; sustaining activism through grants for activist exchange visits and internships; human rights defenders initiatives; core funding and seeding networks and coalitions.
• Media and culture: transforming public opinion and social attitudes through grants for media training, engaging religious institutions, film festivals and so forth.
• Income generating initiatives: social enterprise and wealth generating activities that provide demonstrable benefit to the sexual minority community (not just an individual!)
• Additional areas for grant making: sustaining activism (such as wellness and care of activists, including therapy, group counselling, safe houses, etc.)

The deadline for submitting Peer Gran t Proposa l applications to UHA I is 6 July 2012 . For more information, download the official UHAI Call for Proposals document in English, French and Swahili.

Berghof Foundation’s Grant for Innovation in Conflict Transformation

The Berghof Foundation is dedicated to supporting conflict stakeholders and actors in their efforts to achieve sustainable peace through peacebuilding and conflict transformation. The Foundation’s grantmaking budget supports state-of-the-art conflict transformation projects that complement its operational activities in various synergistic ways.

Amongst the three grant programmes maintained by the Foundation, the Grant for Innovation in Conflict Transformation has currently issued a call for proposals 2012. This year, the thematic focus is “Virtual Spaces for Conflict Transformation” to support projects exploring the role of internet based platforms and social media as a catalyst for conflict transformation. The proposals should contribute to:

• conceptualising virtual ‘Spaces for Conflict Transformation’ in the area of conflict research, peace support and peace education;
• improving existing tools and platforms to support conflict transformation with means of virtual communication,
• information and social networking;
• creating new tools and platforms to support conflict transformation in local, regional and global settings;
• providing ‘lessons learned’ from the use of virtual tools for violence prevention, crisis management and conflict transformation;
• developing ‘virtual’ learning and information platforms aimed at socialising a culture of nonviolence.

There are no geographic limitations for this programme. Both organisations and individuals are eligible to apply. There is no minimum grant request, and the maximum grant amount is 30,000 Euro per year. The maximum project duration is two years. Willingness on the part of the applicant to provide matching funds is regarded favourably.

The deadline to submit proposals is 7 July 2012. For more information, visit this link.

MacArthur Foundation’s 2012 Call for Proposals: Strengthening Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education

The MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with The MasterCard Foundation, Wellspring Advisors and Douglas B. Marshall, Jr. Family Foundation has announced the 2012 Call for Proposals: Strengthening Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education. These funders have allocated up to $5 million for the Call for Proposals subject to the quality of proposals received, and will consider funding levels between $50,000 and $500,000 over a period of one to three years for projects.

Types of Projects
Applications are invited for the following types of projects.

Research – including descriptive studies of the nature of problems and rigorous evaluations of promising programs that help build an evidence base that informs programming, experimentation and policy planning, as well as building research capacity.

Pilot projects testing innovations – testing approaches to particular problems such as tailoring courses of study/curriculum to varied and changing labor market needs for “21st Century skills”, exploring the use of technology to deliver and to enrich instruction and learning, reducing barriers and facilitating transition and completion of secondary education for vulnerable groups, achieving and sustaining gender equity, and ensuring improved and relevant learning outcomes.

Scale-up of successful models – scoping activities to examine models of public-private partnership; explore the cost-effectiveness, relevance, strategic fit and scalability of different service delivery models; and build relationships among government, industry and private actors to develop collaborative strategies to implement first phase efforts to expand proven interventions.

Applicants may propose work in the following geographic areas.

•     East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda)
•     Nigeria (particularly the states of Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa, Lagos and Rivers)
•     India (particularly the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra)

The application process will involve two successive review stages: Letters of Inquiry (LOI) and Proposals. Successful applications will be invited to advance to the second, Proposal, phase of the review process.

Deadline for all Letters of Inquiry submissions is July 5, 2012 at 12:00pm CDT. For more information, visit this link.