“Resilience, Recovery and Development of Territorial Communities” call for proposals

“Resilience, Recovery and Development of Territorial Communities” call for proposals 

The Democracy and Good Governance Program of the International Renaissance Foundation, within the framework of the project “European Renaissance of Ukraine: Civil Society Initiative for Resilience and Recovery” in cooperation with the European Union, announces a competition to support initiatives that will promote transparent recovery and development of communities with active involvement of the public in these processes.

Even though Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine continues, the recovery process is actively underway in the territorial communities affected by the war. In parallel with the recovery process, there is an urgent need to rethink the strategic documents governing the development of territorial communities, taking into account the changes that have taken place in economic, social, demographic, and other aspects due to the significant movement of human resources both within Ukraine and abroad, as well as the relocation of many businesses.

Addressing many aspects of the restoration and development of territorial communities, considering the principles of sustainable development, is only possible by actively attracting funding from various sources, including international donors. However, as practice shows, not all territorial communities have relevant units and trained personnel within their governing bodies capable of attracting and efficiently administering additional resources. On the other hand, the problem of ensuring systematic involvement of residents of territorial communities to ensure more effective recovery and development of communities and transparency in the use of budget and borrowed funds remains acute.

This call for proposals is announced to help address these issues regarding ensuring territorial communities’ resilience, recovery, and sustainable development. 

The purpose of the call is to promote transparent community restoration/development with the active involvement of the public in these processes.

Participants 

Non-governmental organizations, public unions, self-organized bodies (SOBs), and charitable organizations are invited to participate in the competition. Participants can be registered in any region of Ukraine.

Priorities:

The project proposal may include activities in at least one of the three areas (the list of possible activities within the areas is not exhaustive):

1. Increase opportunities for sustainable strategic planning in territorial communities:

• Revising or initiating the development of recovery plans, community development strategies, comprehensive plans for the spatial development of territories of territorial communities, etc., taking into account factors caused by the consequences of the war (destruction, significant environmental damage, displacement, or closure of businesses, changes in demographics, etc.), provided that the public is actively involved in their co-creation; assistance in changing the focus from physical reconstruction to sustainable development and recovery in a broader sense;
• Ensuring the sustainability of the results achieved earlier in the recovery process, as well as the ability of territorial communities to independently implement recovery plans, community development strategies, comprehensive plans for the spatial development of territories of territorial communities, etc.;
• Ensuring that local authorities actively use forms of cooperation with the public for more effective recovery and development of communities (forms of local democracy, advisory bodies, etc.); developing opportunities/tools for collaboration between community residents and military administrations; conducting joint training on the use of public participation tools for government officials and residents of territorial communities;
• Expanding cooperation with other territorial communities of Ukraine (at the level of government and/or civil society) at the horizontal level in terms of adopting experience in restoration (in particular, “green recovery”), launching mechanisms for cooperation between territorial communities in various fields, involving the public in decision-making processes, etc.

2. Increase the capacity of local authorities to plan and implement reconstruction/local development projects and attract funding:

• Developing/strengthening the professional and organizational capacities of local authorities to work with donors and regional/national authorities responsible for reconstruction processes;
• Assistance in establishing and setting up units within the authorities that will be responsible for working with donors and attracting funding;
• Training and mentoring of the authorities in preparing projects for donors.

3. Transparency and public control over the spending of reconstruction funds by local governments and military administrations, increasing their publicity and accountability:

• Implementation and/or use of innovative tools for transparent planning and monitoring of the use of reconstruction funds;
• Involvement of residents of territorial communities in monitoring the quality of the performance of their functions by local governments and military administrations in the reconstruction, in particular, through the use of local democracy tools;
• public monitoring and/or journalistic investigations into the spending of budgetary funds and donor funds for reconstruction (including the environmental aspect);
• assistance to territorial communities in developing a package of documents in the field of corruption prevention, increasing the community’s capacity to prevent corruption, building a culture of using anti-corruption tools, whistleblowing, and increasing the capacity of anti-corruption commissioners;
• Encouraging law enforcement agencies to respond in case of detection of an offense, in particular, related to corruption.

Please take note!

The project implementation period is up to 6 months. The estimated start date for project implementation is May 1, 2024.

According to the call for proposals results, it is expected to support approximately 12-13 project proposals.

Activities under each project must be implemented in one or two territorial communities selected by the participant within the same region.

The winners of the call will be provided with advice on the principles of sustainable development and community recovery planning on an environmentally friendly basis.

Projects must meet these requirements to be considered.



Preference will be given to project proposals that:

• Are planned to be implemented in Dnipropetrovs’k, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions.
• Cover as many priorities of the competition as possible;
• Will be implemented in cooperation with local governments or military administrations (except for activities under Aim 3). Such collaboration must be confirmed by a letter of support;
• Involve the active use of public participation tools.

Criteria by which project proposals will be evaluated:

• compliance of the submitted project proposal with the purpose and priority areas of the competition;
• clarity of the purpose of the project proposal, compliance of the tasks and activities within the project with its purpose;
• projected impact of the project on achieving positive changes, involvement of public authorities and civil society institutions in achieving these changes;
• the complexity of approaches to problem-solving;
• the applicant’s previous experience in carrying out the activities envisaged by the project proposal;
• feasibility of the project, availability of a clear plan for its implementation, effectiveness of the proposed project implementation mechanisms, achievability of the expected results;
• consideration of the principles of equality and non-discrimination in the planned project activities;
• viability of the project after its completion.

The total budget of the call is UAH 12,000,000.

• The optimal grant amount is UAH 700,000-900,000.
• The maximum grant amount is UAH 1,200,000.

The deadline for submitting project proposals is March 15, 2024 (15:00 Kyiv time).

The results will be announced by April 15, 2024.

Please take note!

Project proposals (application form with annexes) should be registered on the IRF website using the “Electronic Call for Proposals” service. All documents must be attached to the project proposal in .doc, .docs, .xls, .xlsx, or .pdf format. The maximum size of each application cannot exceed 8 Mb.

Project proposals registered on the IRF website after 15:00 on March 15, 2024 (Kyiv time) will not be considered.

Project proposals submitted in any manner other than the above will not be considered.

Eligible expenses are those of the project budget that are

• necessary for the implementation of project activities;
• are incurred during the project implementation period;
• comply with the principles of practicality and cost-effectiveness, including the principles of “best value for money” and cost-effectiveness;
• can be appropriately documented, justified, understood, and supported by appropriate financial and accounting documentation.

Expenditures of the project budget related to

• preparation of a project proposal for participation in the competition;
• establishment and registration of an organization;
• payment of debts;
• reimbursement of costs associated with currency fluctuations;
• providing direct fiscal support to public authorities;
• political activity or religious propaganda;
• activities that lead to direct or indirect discrimination of any social groups;
• projects aimed at generating profit from activities;
• construction or repair work;
• procurement of humanitarian aid and/or military equipment;
• purchase of vehicles and/or luxury goods and related services;
• providing financial assistance to third organizations (re-granting).

The grantee is responsible for monitoring the project implementation and evaluating its results and compliance with EU project communication policy and branding. The grantee will submit reports in the format specified by the IRF.

Up to 15% of the project budget can be spent on the organization’s capacity development, strengthening communication skills, training, peer review, monitoring and evaluation, networking with partners, purchasing licensed software, staff security, etc.

The same organization cannot apply for support in the total amount of more than EUR 60,000 during the implementation of the project “European Renaissance of Ukraine: Civil Society for Resilience and Recovery Initiative” (2023-2024).

The Foundation does not provide grants to political parties, religious communities, private (natural) persons, or business entities that aim to make a profit.

Submitted materials will not be returned or reviewed.

All participants will be notified of the results of the competition by email.

The final decision on the project proposal is not subject to review.

Reasons for refusing to support a project proposal are not reported.

Please note that consultations on project proposals are not provided by phone. If you have any additional questions, please get in touch with olkhova@irf.ua, narezhneva@irf.ua, and orlovsky@irf.ua by March 11, 2024.