Support for International NGOs from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Finland has announced that it is renewing its cooperation with international NGOs for which it has published new funding guidelines called the INGO guidelines 2012.

With the help of the new guidelines a new funding cycle is created synchronizing the processing of new funding proposals for INGOs within the Ministry.

Ideally three-year funding decisions promoting systematic and long-term development are to be made.

In addition, the guidelines clarify the division of responsibilities within the Ministry in relation to INGOs and enhance procedural principles.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs allocates development cooperation funds to international and regional non-governmental organizations (INGOs) whose activities are in line with Finland’s development policy priorities and goals.

For more information about this new funding, visit this link.

Youth Employment Network’s Fund for Evaluation in Youth Employment

The Youth Employment Network (YEN), a partnership of the United Nations, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank has issued a call for applications for the “The Fund for Evaluation in Youth Employment.”

The “The Fund for Evaluation in Youth Employment” has been set up  to contribute to the evidence gap for effective programme design and delivery. It  will provide technical and financial support to qualified organizations for designing and conducting their impact evaluation. The Fund’s contribution to the evaluation will range from US$5,000 to US$80,000, which means projects will have to bring in co-funding or fundraise to cover the evaluation full costs. Funding will only go to support monitoring and evaluation and will not cover any cost associated with project delivery.

Short-listed applicants will receive the following benefits:

• Expenses paid for one participant in the Tanzania Evaluation Clinic in September 2012
• Intensive training on M&E methodologies and techniques
• Assignment of an evaluation expert who will be focused on the organization’s evaluation live case during the clinic
• Exposure to the other clinic participant’s experiences and lessons during the work on their live cases
• Access to knowledge sharing portal and a youth entrepreneurship community of practice
• The selected grantees will get all of the above benefits plus seed funding.

Eligible organizations include NGOs / CSOs / CBOs, training organizations, bilateral or multilateral agencies, public-private partnerships, social enterprises or social entrepreneurs as long as they implementing a youth project in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only projects whose objectives involve creating self employment opportunities, developing entrepreneurial and self employment skills and competences, and improving access to finance will be eligible. Applicants must demonstrate a clear project implementation approach and at least 2 years of experience in project implementation. Organizations must also have an annual total operating budget of at least USD$ 250,000. The working language will be English.

The deadline to submit applications is 15 August 2012. For more information, visit this link.

AusAID’s Human Rights Grants Scheme 2012-2013 now open: Grants of up to $100,000 available

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) has announced the commencement of the 2012-2013 funding round of its annual Human Rights Grants Scheme. The scheme provides grants of up to $100,000 to provide direct financial support to NGOs and projects working for the promotion of human rights.

This is a competitive grant opportunity and funding is provided for the prevention or ending of human rights violations, promoting positive change in government policies, monitoring and reporting on human rights violations, educating human rights victims, workers or defenders, promoting the implementation of international human rights standards and strengthening human rights institutions and mechanisms.

To be eligible for funding in 2012-2013, organisations must be operating in one or more of the following countries:

•              Africa: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe

•              Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories

•              Asia Pacific : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu

•              Latin America and Caribbean: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Cuba, Haiti

Grants will be awarded as a single payment valued between AUD20,000 – AUD100,000.

Project activities may take place over maximum of two years. All 1 year projects must be completed by May 2014. All two year projects must be completed by May 2015.

Organisations should submit an Expression of Interest (Attachment A) to the relevant Australian diplomatic mission by 4pm (local time) 17 August 2012. This form must be no longer than 2 pages.

By 1 September 2012, Australian diplomatic missions will review, on a competitive basis, Expressions of Interest and will invite up to 2 organisations per eligible country to submit a Full Application (Attachment B).

Organisations requested to do so should submit a Full Application to the relevant Australian diplomatic mission by 4pm (local time) 1 October 2012.

For more information, visit this link.

Japan Water Forum Fund: Grants for Grassroots NGOs

The Japan Water Forum has announced a grant opportunity for grassroots NGOs in developing countries working to resolve water and sanitation problems.

Only projects planned and faithfully implemented to solve the current water and sanitation problems by grass-roots organizations in developing countries will be considered.

• These projects include for example:
• Installation of rainwater-harvesting tanks, ponds or digging wells;
• Development of small scale water supply systems;
• Building new toilets and upgrading existing sanitation facilities;
• Prevention of water-related disasters projects;
• Establishment and encouragement of water-efficient irrigation;
• Solving gender issues on water and sanitation;
• Water environment restoration activities.

Any grassroots organizations in developing countries involved in resolution of water and sanitation problems. National governments, Local governments and private companies will not be selected can apply for this opportunity.

The JWF Fund recommends that your proposed project includes capacity building/awareness-raising programs but it should not be only that. All projects need to be implemented by end of March 2013.

Proposals to be submitted using the given application form. The deadline to submit proposals is 25 July 2012. For more information, visit this link.

WEAmericas Small Grants Program

The United States Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues has announced a new funding opportunity for NGOs in Latin America espeically for countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

WEAmericas Small Grants Initiative Investing in women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is one of the best ways to simultaneously achieve economic, financial, and social impact. Research shows that women-owned SMEs are significant accelerators of economic growth; however, women often experience additional barriers which make it more difficult to start and grow a business then their male counterparts. Therefore at the Summit of the Americas in April 2012, Secretary Hillary Clinton launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas (WEAmericas), an initiative which leverages public-private partnerships to increase women’s economic participation and address three key barriers women confront when starting and growing SMEs: access to training and networks, access to markets, and access to finance.

The WEAmericas Small Grants Initiative, which is made possible by Secretary Clinton’s International Fund for Women and Girls and the Walmart Foundation, will support the development of and linkage of existing resources, programs, and infrastructure to create a strong entrepreneurial eco-system, which allows women-owned businesses to thrive in the region. The attached request for applications (RFA) asks nonprofits and social enterprises with offices in Latin America and the Caribbean to submit proposals on how a small grant of (USD $20,000-60,000) would help the organization leverage existing programs, resources, and infrastructure to address at least two barriers women entrepreneurs face when growing and starting businesses. The main barriers are: Access to Skills and Capacity Building, Access to Assets, Access to Markets, Access to Networks, and Women’s Leadership. The ultimate beneficiaries must be women and girls and the project must be designed to support an entrepreneurship ecosystem for women-owned businesses. Applicants should be able to demonstrate previous success in creating or strengthening an entrepreneurial eco-system.

Examples may include: 1) skills and capacity building programs to develop micro and SMEs, 2) strengthening and building women-owned business networks, or 3) creating necessary linkages between micro, SMEs, and large scale buyers taking all components of the value chain into consideration. Special attention will be paid to those organizations which incorporate rural and/or indigenous women-owned businesses into their proposal. See RFA for further details. This is an open grant announcement that can be found on www.grants.gov. All project proposals MUST be submitted in English and may not exceed six (6) pages, excluding Appendices.

All proposals must be submitted by August 20, 2012. For more information, visit this link.