The Human Rights and Governance Grants Program supports more than 100 human rights-related organizations across Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and Mongolia from its Human Rights Fund.
The mission of the Human Rights Fund is to ensure that there is at least one mainstream human rights advocacy NGO in each state of the region, capable of alerting the public to, and promoting government accountability for, human rights abuses through monitoring, litigation, and advocacy. Where such organizations exist, the fund provides both institutional and project support. In countries where national organizations do not exist, the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program takes a proactive approach to identifying partner organizations withwhich to cooperate on rights-related monitoring and litigation on the ground.
Eligibility Criteria
The fund supports organizations promoting political and civil rights at the local, national, or regional level. It also provides funding to several international organizations working in the region. Funding is principally targeted towards groups working on fundamental rights issues.
The program also funds a number of specialized organizations working in critical areas such as the rights of Roma; detainees; women; the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community; and people with mental disabilities.
Program Details
The program is one of the few sources in the region providing core institutional funding, which provides organizations with the flexibility to develop programming in line with their own strategic objectives, rather than in response to donor-driven priorities. The program is also one of the few grantors providing support for litigation to promote accountability.
In 2008, the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program introduced an additional element to its human rights–related grantmaking by identifying gaps in rights protection in the region and designing proactive funding strategies to address them. As a result, a new program on women’s rights is in place, as is a program on penal reform and the rights of detainees.
Application Procedure
Prior to sending a full proposal, potential applicants should submit a brief concept paper of no more than 2-3 pages to determine whether projects meet the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program’s current funding priorities and guidelines. The concept paper should include:
- a brief description of the project, planned activities, methodology, and goals;
- information about the applicant organization;
- estimated overall budget and timeframe for the project.
Once the program has reviewed concept papers, grant seekers may be invited to submit a full application. Proposals for funding should be submitted in an electronic format and sent via email.
The narrative part of the proposal should not exceed 10-15 pages. Other relevant information may be sent as appendices. While there are no application forms, the program expects all proposals to contain the following information:
- Executive summary: a maximum 1-2 page summary on the project and desired outcomes.
- Information about the applicant organization(s): brief history of the organization, its major achievements and the kinds of projects it has implemented to date. This section should provide the program with an understanding the organization’s mission and broad strategy.
- Description of the context in which activities will take place: relevant background information, such as the situation in the area where the organization will be working, problems and difficulties, potential opportunities, etc.
- Project goal and rationale: an explanation of not only broad goals, but also very specific benchmarks
- Description of activities: a detailed outline of activities planned, how and when they will be carried out, and by whom.- Advocacy and communications strategy: details on who is the audience that will be targeted and how the proposed activities will seek to influence stakeholders to implement the desired reforms.
- Organizational capacity: the names of all persons involved in the project and their responsibilities.
- Partners: a list of all the organizations and institutions with which the applicant organization will be cooperating.
- Expected outcomes/sustainability: please identify the specific expected outcomes of the project you will be implementing. - Please include qualitative as well as quantitative indicators that will enable the organization to measure its success. As for sustainability, the program would like to get an understanding of what impact the project hopes to
- achieve and whether that impact will be sustainable.
- List of current and pending grants: a list of the names of all projects, their duration, grant amounts, and donor organizations.
Budget
Along with the proposal, applicants should submit a budget and a budget justification. The program encourages applicants to use the budget form in the attached Excel sheet, which is comprised of four separate worksheets. The attached Budget Instructions document will assist applicants in completing the budget form.
Please make sure that the budget includes the following information:
- duration of the project;
- legal name of the applicant organization in English;
- full contact information (address, tel/fax, email, website);
- bank information (name, full address, account holder, account number, SWIFT code, correspondent bank information, other information);
- name and position of the person responsible for signing documents on behalf of the organization.
Decision-Making Process
The Human Rights and Governance Grants Program accepts proposals on an ongoing basis. The program does not have specific deadlines for submitting applications; however, applicants should contact the program in order to determine the best time for submission.
While the program does not preset funding ceilings, it expects applicant organizations to demonstrate funding from other donors. Both single- and multi-year proposals are acceptable.
Once a complete application has been received, it typically takes about three months to complete the application review process and deliver the decision. Final grant decisions are made by the OSI Sub-Board for Law and Human Rights.
Grant-Monitoring Process
The grant monitoring process takes place throughout the grant period. It includes periodic reporting by the grantee as well as visits by a program officer to review activities more closely.
In certain cases, the program may request an external evaluation or audit of grantee organizations.
Contact
Human Rights and Governance Grants Program
Open Society Institute
Oktober 6. ut. 12
H-1051 Budapest
Hungary
hrggp@osi.hu
http://www.mreza-mira.net/node/1547
