UNESCO’s International Fund to Promote Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction

UNESCO is accepting proposals for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) which seeks to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction in developing and least-developed countries. The Fund is a multi-donor fund established under Article 18 of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

It supports projects that aim to foster the emergence of a dynamic cultural sector, primarily through activities facilitating the introduction of new cultural policies and cultural industries, or strengthening existing ones. The use of the IFCD may take the form of legal, technical or financial support, or expertise, and must be consistent with the objectives of the IFCD.

The IFCD is notably used to promote South-South and North-South-South cooperation, while contributing to achieving concrete and sustainable results as well as structural impacts, where appropriate, in the cultural field.

Following organizations can apply for this Fund:

• all developing countries that are Parties to the Convention;
• all Parties to the Convention that have determined the existence of special situations on their territory in conformity with Articles 8 and 17 of the Convention and related operational guidelines;
• non-governmental organizations coming from developing countries that are Parties to the Convention, which meet the definition of civil society and criteria regulating admission of its representatives at meetings of organs of the Convention as mentioned in the operational guidelines relating to the role and participation of civil society*;
• international non-governmental organizations, which meet the definition of civil society and criteria regulating admission of its representatives at meetings of organs of the Convention as mentioned in the operational guidelines relating to the role and participation of civil society*, and which present projects with impact at the sub-regional, regional or inter-regional level;
• representatives of vulnerable groups and other social groups identified in Article 7 of the 2005 Convention (i.e. women and other social groups, including persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples) from developing countries that are Parties to the 2005 Convention.
• Regional networks are eligible to apply to the IFCD as long as they meet the criteria that define “civil society”, which for the purposes of this Convention means non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, professionals in the culture sector and associated sectors, groups that support the work of artists and cultural communities.

Deadline: 30 June 2013

For more information, visit this link.