Deadline: October 18, 2012
Open to: Initiatives and activities from ODA recipient countries in which the Internet and new technologies are used to strengthen actors who work for democratisation and freedom of expression.
Grant size: not specified
Description
The Swedish Government has decided on a new Strategy for special initiatives for democratisation and freedom of expression to be implemented by Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) during the period 2012–2014. The strategy aims at strengthening actors for change, targeting civil society organisations and groups, intergovernmental organisations and individuals at local, national, regional and global levels, working for increased democratisation and freedom of expression.
Objectives
- The overall objective of this call for proposals is to promote democratisation and increase freedom of expression in countries and situations where they are most at risk and where human rights defenders and civil society organisations work under severe constraints and are most under pressure.
- The specific objective of this call is to provide direct support and protection to initiatives and activities in which information- and communication technologies are used to strengthen civic movements for democratisation and freedom of expression in challenging and repressive environments.
Eligibility
The support must be directed to interventions and actors with restriction to activities for development in countries eligible for official development assistance (ODA recipient countries). Click HERE for the list of ODA countries.
Eligibility of applicants
In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:
- be legal persons or an entity without legal personality;
- be non profit-organisations;
- belong to i.a. one of the following categories:
Grant applications may be eligible if submitted by entities which do not have legal personality under the applicable national law, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and assume financial liability.
– civil society organisations, including non-governmental organisations and independent political foundations, and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level;
– trade unions;
– free and independent media
– professional- and citizen journalist
– actors in cultural life;
– researchers;
– women’s rights groups;
– religious communities;
– community based organisations;
– private sector organisations.
This list is not exhaustive.
If selected to submit a full application organisations will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
– Documented competence in the area of democracy and freedom of expression;
– Reliable systems for management and control;
– Competence in development issues;
– Experience of working with development and human rights issues and/or support for democratisation;
– Competence in strategic use of ICT tools and methods;
– Whether or not the proposed support is additional in regard to Sida’s ongoing support.
Applicants must act in partnership with at least one local partner (be it formal or informal) from each country where the action is going to take place. This does not apply to applicants who are nationals of one of the targeted countries, but only with reference to the implementation of the action in their countries of origin.
Eligible actions
Support can be given in the form of organisational support and project support. It can be used for capacity building and/or specific and time-bound actions such as campaigns, legal activism and dissemination of information.
The proposed actions shall contribute directly in a given country or region to improve the situation relating to at least one of the following themes:
- The right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to information, including freedom of the media, fight against censorship, and access to the Internet and ICTs;
- The right to political participation;
- Accountability;
- Transparency.
Grant
Support can be given to interventions in the form of core support, programme and project support. It can be used for capacity development, such as increased capacity for management and administration, as well as time-bound activities such as dissemination of information, campaigns, training and legal activism.
For the purposes of this Call for Proposals, core support shall be understood as support to an organisation’s entire strategic action plan. A project should be understood as an individual development intervention designed to achieve specific objectives within specified resources and implementation schedules, often within the framework of a broader programme. A programme should be understood as a time bound intervention involving multiple activities that may cut across sectors, themes and/or geographic areas.
The indicative financial envelope foreseen for this call for proposals is SEK 80.000.000 for activities 2012–2014. The forecast is also that about SEK 15.000.000 of this financial envelope is from the 2012 budget. Sida reserves the right not to award all available funds and to reallocate them to other objectives. Equally, this amount could be increased should more funds become available.
Application process
Only Full Project Applications should be submitted for evaluation. Applicants must use the Full Application Form and its annexes, which can be found HERE.
The application must be submitted either
– by e-mail to democracy@sida.se; or
– by registered mail, in a sealed envelope, by registered/special mail, marked “PRIVATE – DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE”. Please note that registered mail should be used in sensitive cases and sent to the following address: Sida, Civil Society Unit, SE-105 25 Stockholm, Sweden.
For additional information about this grant you can check the guide HERE.
More information can be found at the official website.
