Open Society Foundations seeks proposals from innovative initiatives for Promoting Youth Participation in Response to Xenophobia and Racism in Europe

The Open Society Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people across societies, especially marginalized and excluded communities.  In continuation to achieving these specific goals, the Open Society Youth Initiative has issued a call for proposals from new and innovative initiatives to identify, support and promote the work of European youth seeking to combat xenophobia and intolerance and to promote inclusion.

Focus Areas

Proposals are sought that will focus on areas such as: political and civic engagement of youth; integration of minority and majority communities; use of new media tools to counter xenophobia and tackle discrimination; awareness raising of the importance and benefits of inclusion; as well as those that seek to promote explicitly, though not exclusively, the inclusion of minority groups, like the Roma, in the economic, social, political and social life of the community. Proposals to promote the full participation of youth with mental or physical disabilities in the cultural, economic, political and social life of their communities are also strongly encouraged.

 For the purpose of this call, Europe will be defined as the member states of the European Union as well as Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.'

Eligibility

Individuals, informal groups and registered civil society organizations can apply.

Grant awards will be no greater than €2,000.

This initiative will focus initially on funding projects in France, Belgium, Hungary and the Czech Republic.  In France and Belgium priority will be given to applications from cities where the Open Society At Home in Europe project has conducted research: Antwerp, Marseille and Paris. In Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Youth Initiative will also prioritize projects that raise awareness of and help achieve the goals of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, an international initiative to improve the welfare of Roma, which focuses on education, employment, health and housing and aims to reduce poverty, combat discrimination and promote gender mainstreaming.

Grant applications must be submitted in English, Dutch, French, Hungarian, or Czech.

Deadline

Applications for this grant are accepted on a rolling basis.

For more information and details, you can visit this link.