First call for proposals by Red Umbrella Fund to support movements and organisations fighting for sex workers’ health, human and labour rights and self-determination

Deadline: 15 September 2012

Regions/Country: All countries
Red Umbrella Fund (RUF) The first-ever global grantmaking collaborative initiatives which is guided by sex workers and working towards betterment/promotion of health, human and labour  rights for sex workers was launched in 2012. the RUF is providing support to movements and organisations fighting for sex workers’ health, human and labour rights and self-determination. The Red Umbrella Fund strengthens and sustains sex worker rights movements by funding sex worker-led organisations and their national, regional and global networks.

Red Umbrella Fund’s strategic vision  is oversees  by an International Steering Committee comprised of sex workers and donors . Sex workers hold the majority of seats on the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Red Umbrella Fund where the decisions on grants are made. The Red Umbrella Fund is hosted by Mama Cash, an international women’s fund.

The first call for proposals of the Red Umbrella Fund is Launched on 15 August 2012 and closes on 15 September 2012. It will serve as a pilot for the Red Umbrella Fund grantmaking procedures. In 2013, there will be an evaluation of the process in order to make necessary amendments and improvements based on this experiences.

Who can apply?
The Red Umbrella Fund provides funding to groups and networks that are:

• based in any country in the world;
• registered or unregistered;
• women-led, male-led and trans-led.

If you want to apply, your group or network must:
• be led by sex workers for the benefit of sex workers;

• have an inclusive understanding of gender diversity;
• have a democratic leadership;
• have a rights-based approach;
• engage in empowerment of sex workers and in strengthening the sex worker movement;
• operate on the principle that sex work is legitimate work; and
• embrace what the Red Umbrella Fund stands for (see below).

What RUF fund:
The Red Umbrella Fund provides funding for groups and networks of sex workers operating in the following thematic issues (but not limited to these points only):

• promoting universal human rights;
• right to and access to quality health care;
• ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights;
• combating violence against sex works;
• labour rights for sex workers;
• decriminalisation and depenalisation of sex work;
• social justice: lifting stigma and discrimination and promote social inclusion;
• organisational development issues and movement building.

The Red Umbrella Fund:

• recognises the self-determination of sex workers;
• believes that sex workers must be at the heart of the design, implementation and evaluation of programs;
• opposes the criminalisation of sex work and recognises that sex work is work;
• embraces the gender, sexuality, and all other types of diversity of sex workers;
• commits to learning and using what we learn to inform our interventions and demonstrate the value of working collaboratively;
• commits to support actions that catalyse advocacy for policies, laws, and practices that are based on evidence of what works;
• commits to advocacy and funding processes that are transparent and accountable to and among all of our partners and their constituencies.

Types of funding:
1. start up costs for informal groups to become legal entities;
2. core funding to sustain the organisation itself (not meant for projects);
3. peer capacity building, exchanges and/or technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of sex worker groups and networks in areas such as (but not limited to):

• organisational development and management;
• peer-to-peer exchanges;
• program development and implementation;
• resource mobilisation;
• registration assistance;
• advocacy and communication skills;
• information dissemination;
• monitoring and evaluation skills.

For this first Call for Proposals, the Red Umbrella Fund prioritises:

• groups and networks with annual budgets below 200,000 Euros;
• formal or informal groups that operate on a local or national level;
• groups operating at the margins of the sex worker movement (including but not limited to sex workers who are illiterate, of older age, indigenous, HIV positive, transgender, migrants, drug/alcohol addicted, etc.);
• groups that have little experience with managing international donor funds.

What RUF do NOT fund:

• organisations with sex worker rights as one of their programmes or projects, while the organisation as a whole has a broader focus.
• organisations that are not led by sex workers.
• organisations that seek to abolish and/or criminalise sex work;
• organisations exclusively providing charity, social services or regular medical care to a limited group of beneficiaries;
• organisations founded by, or structurally or economically dependent on, political parties,government agencies, or religious institutions;
• businesses, credit programmes or income-generating activities;
• individuals;
• academic research.

How much funding can be requested?
Grant requests can range from 4.000 EURO to 40.000 EURO

How to apply?
Interested  Persons or organizations/Community based organizations of Sex workers  can download the Application Form here and Send the completed application form before 15 September 2012 to:
BY e-mail:   info@redumbrellafund.org
By post    :   The Red Umbrella Fund c/o Mama Cash, P.O. Box 15686,   1001 ND Amsterdam,  The Netherlands.

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered for funding! After sending in the application form applicant will be notified by confirmation email, or by post if no Email is provided.
The Red Umbrella Fund staff will make a selection of eligible applications and present these to the Programme Advisory Committee which will make the final decision on the grants to award. It is possible that RUF may contact applicants in case they need more information on their application. Therefore it is important to provide full and accurate contact details along with Email.

The successful applicants may be contacted about  final decision before December 15 2012 and receive information on the next steps for finalizing the grants before 31 December 2012.
For more information and application form download, please visit Link.