Call for proposals: minigrants for European Networking and Cooperation

The attraction of international expertise, joint activities with foreign partners, and accession to international coalitions considerably enhance the capacity of Ukrainian civil society organizations in attaining their strategic goals. Presently, international cooperation is challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic that has limited international travel. This is compensated, to a certain extent only, by the increased use of online communication tools – however, here too, the need arises to raise the quality of such communication, not only scale up its amount.

In 2020, the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), with the EU financial support, launched the EU4USociety project. The overall goal of the Project is to strengthen the involvement, sustainability, capacity, relevance, and influence of Ukrainian civil society in addressing current domestic, regional, and global challenges.

Click here for more information about EU4USociety

These minigrants aim at building up the capacity of the International Renaissance Foundation’s Ukrainian partner CSOs to participate in international cooperation and networking at the European level.

The minigrants’ goal: Develop cooperation and partnership with European think tanks, civil society networks, coalitions, and platforms.

Eligible applicants: Nongovernmental organizations, alliances, associations, societies, and other unions that were recipients of the IRF grant support in 2020-2021.

Project themes: The projects may address various themes provided that these themes comply with the existing strategy of activities of the organization and the scope of its project that was supported by the IRF.

Possible forms of activities:

• Preparing (small) joint analytical materials (policy briefs, analytical essays, position papers, etc.) in cooperation with nongovernmental experts / think tanks from EU and EaP countries;
• Jointly creating and distributing audiovisuals adapted for an international audience;
• Engaging international partners in the provision of expertise and consultation on their experience in promoting reforms and developing international cooperation;
• Strategic planning of joint advocacy activities;
• Organizing and/or participating in (online) discussions and public events in conjunction with European partners involving stakeholders from Ukraine and/or EU/EaP;
• Membership in international networks.

Requirements for project proposals:

• The applicant shall be an organization that received the IRF grant support in 2020-2021;
• The project’s partner(s) shall be either think tank(s) from an EU and/or EaP country (countries) or an international European civil society network (coalition, platform, etc.);
• Proof of established cooperation/contacts with the partner(s) shall be attached to the project proposal;
• The contents of the project proposal shall provide for joint activities with the partner(s); proposals providing participation in training and other international events without establishing and carrying out partnership activities will not be supported;
• The contents of the project proposal shall include justification that the proposed activities comply with the existing strategy of the organization and are relevant for enhancing the effect of the project supported by the IRF in 2020-21;
• The project implementation shall facilitate the implementation of the European integration reforms and the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and shall help in making the presentation of Ukrainian interests at international (European) institutions stronger.

Types of eligible expenses:

• Support of online events, interpretation, broadcasting, post-production, etc.;
• Organization and moderation of (online) discussions;
• Consultation and advocacy work of partners from EU countries;
• Joint international research;
• Translation, peer review, editing, and adaptation for the foreign audience of analytical materials;
• Membership fees for international networks, events, etc.

Proposals selection criteria:

• The project proposal contents meet the terms and conditions of this call for proposals;
• The logical structure of proposal (a clear and realistic action plan; level of engagement of partners);
• Effectiveness of activities (expected practical outputs);
• Organizational and financial capacity of the applicant and its partner organizations (successful experience in the project implementation and reporting);
• Budget’s adequacy and conformity with the project contents and the terms and conditions of this call for proposals

This call for proposals is standing with several deadlines for the selection committee to consider applications. For the year 2021, the following deadlines are scheduled:

Deadlines for applying after 2021 will be announced additionally.

Minimum grant amount – UAH 50,000

Maximum grant amount – UAH 150,000

Optimum grant amount – UAH 100,000 to UAH 120,000

Maximum project implementation period – 6 months

Contact persons:

Olga Kvashuk, Manager of the IRF European Program, kvashuk@irf.ua

Olena Romanova, Coordinator of the IRF European Program, romanova@irf.ua

Winners of the first round