Open Call for Proposals: Defenders in Development Policy Grants

• Eligibility Criteria: All countries are eligible, but proposals must meet the following criteria:
  – have a component related to civic space, the security of defenders or reprisals against human rights defenders;
  – involve at least one development finance institution or have the potential to involve at least one development finance institution.
• Type of funding: Programmatic
• Target countries: Global
• Application language: English

The Defenders in Development (DID) campaign will be awarding eight small grants (up to USD 5,000) to support groups from the Global South to carry out work to prevent and address risks human rights defenders face, when raising their voices about projects financed by development banks. 

In addition to the financial support, the Campaign is also ready to offer technical support and guidance on research and advocacy on reprisals related to activities supported by development banks.

The grants

The grants can support projects which align with the goals of the DID campaign, including but not limited to the following:

1. supporting human rights defenders in conducting advocacy with development banks on their reprisal-related concerns, pushing development banks to have better policies and practices to prevent and respond to reprisals;
2. supporting advocacy actions and campaigns to hold development banks accountable to their commitments on reprisals;
3. supporting human rights defenders in researching and documenting reprisals against defenders in the context of development projects;
4. supporting human rights defenders in researching and documenting the bank’s lack of due diligence on reprisal risks in the context of their projects.

Criteria

All proposals must meet the following criteria:

1. have a component related to civic space, the security of defenders or reprisals against human rights defenders;
2. involve at least one development finance institution or have the potential to involve at least one development finance institution.

Examples of the types of projects which the policy grants could support include (this is a non-exhaustive list):

• supply chain research: support for salary for a staff person or external consultants to identify linkages between cases of reprisals and projects funded by development banks;
• advocacy: Support for a staff person to raise cases of reprisals with the development banks;
• convening: funds for meeting and logistical costs associated with facilitating a meeting, conference or consultation on a topic related to the development banks and reprisals and/or the campaign’s objectives;
• research and documentation: Conducting research which supports the goals of the campaign such as into what failures by the development banks have led to a specific reprisal, or into trends in a region related to reprisals linked to development projects.

Alongside the funding, the campaign coordination team will offer support and expertise on the topic of development finance. It is therefore not expected that recipients will be experts in this topic.

All activities funded under the grant will need to be completed by July 31, 2024. 

Reporting requirements and deliverables will be agreed once the grant is confirmed.

The process

To apply, organizations must fill the application outlining the idea, what they want to achieve with the grant and how they will go about it, and including indicative costs. The campaign team will assess the proposals and approach the organizations that have applied for funding. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis. Funding is limited, so organizations are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

To apply, please submit the application to DiD_policygrants@proton.me or via Signal to +39 3285761056

If you are interested to apply but you need more information or clarifications, please first reach out to Dalile Antunez at dantunez@rightsindevelopment.org and Lorena Cotza at lcotza@rightsindevelopment.org

Learn more here about the call and apply.

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