“Hold the Line” – a call for proposals to support veterans’ initiatives

In 2023, the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), with the financial support of the EU, launched the project “European Renaissance of Ukraine: A Civil Society Initiative for Resilience and Recovery”. This project aims to strengthen the contribution of Ukrainian civil society to the political dialogue on EU integration and Ukraine’s recovery. The International Renaissance Foundation has been a Framework Partner of the European Union in Ukraine since December 2019.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, veterans’ organizations have become centers of gravity in their communities: they provide support to people affected by the war and returning veterans, promote systemic solutions for rehabilitation and reintegration, and deal with with with with issues of commemoration and family support. According to government estimates, 1.7 million veterans are expected to return, and these are people who will need support, quality services, and decent treatment.

After two years of full-scale hostilities, veterans’ organizations must continue to be in service, maintain their pace of work and motivation, actively prepare for new challenges and an increase in veterans, and develop their professionalism and capacity.

This call for proposals aims to support veterans’ organizations that, together with their communities and local communities, pave the way for Ukraine’s victory.

The competition aims to help veteran organizations strengthen and maintain institutional sustainability and organizational resilience, develop expertise and professionalism, improve support effectiveness for female and male veterans, and promote social cohesion, reintegration, and self-organization.

Veterans’ organizations (centers, hubs, foundations, associations, spaces, unions, associations, etc.) are organizations that operate to support women and men veterans, their rehabilitation and reintegration, provide services to women and men veterans, and take care of their families.

Participants

Charitable organizations and non-profit associations are invited to participate in the competition, which

• can confirm their experience in supporting military personnel, veterans, and families of prisoners of war, the dead, and missing persons by 2023;
• can confirm the experience of receiving and using charitable contributions through the organization’s accounts, with public financial and substantive reporting;
• have experience in supporting, cooperating or interacting with local governments and/or state institutions and/or military-civilian administrations (memorandums, letters of support, examples of joint activities).

Thematic priorities

Submitted project proposals should include activities of the organization in one or more of the thematic priorities of this competition:

• Rehabilitation, physical and mental, of servicemen and women, veterans, effective organization of rehabilitation processes in communities;
• Legal, social, psychological, and information services for servicemen and women veterans and their families;
• Facilitating reintegration and preparing communities for the return of female and male veterans;
• Caring for the families of servicemen and women, “those who are waiting”, prisoners of war, the dead and missing;
• Formation of professional and effective veterans’ centers in communities aimed at providing quality services and promoting effective solutions for the veteran community.

Requirements for the content of project proposals and budgets:

• A significant portion of the project activities and budget may be directed to institutional support for organizations, including ensuring their sustainable functioning (salaries and fees of experts, administrative and logistical costs, rent, purchase of necessary equipment, materials, software, communication services, etc.)
• The project may include organizational development activities, such as strategy, training, legal support, procedures and work standards development, team support, and communication components.
• The organization is also encouraged to focus its activities and corresponding budget expenditures on project activities by the priorities of the competition to ensure longer and better results – work with target audiences, authorities, and communities.
• Support within the framework of the competition can only be provided to organizations operating in the territories/communities under the control of the state authorities of Ukraine (however, the activities may also partially relate to assistance to persons who have found themselves in the temporarily occupied territories).
• The competition does not support commercial enterprises and organizations, state and municipal institutions, political parties, state authorities, local governments, religious organizations, and private (natural) persons and individual entrepreneurs.
• The project budget should include only those costs that can be appropriately documented, justified and, understood, and supported by appropriate financial and accounting documentation.
• Project budget expenditures related to the construction or repair of infrastructure, purchase of vehicles, provision of financial assistance to third organizations (re-granting), and purchase of weapons or ammunition (except for personal protective equipment) are unacceptable.

Criteria for selecting the winners of the competition

• Compliance with the thematic priorities of the competition;
• A clear definition of the needs of the target groups with which the organization will work within the project;
• Experience and capacity of the team to attract charitable donations and other resources and implement successful projects;
• The number of people who will receive assistance as a result of the organization’s activities during the project;
• Realism of achieving the expected results and compliance with the stated goal;
• Compliance of the budget with the planned activities and expected results.

Amounts of funding and terms of project implementation

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

Minimum grant amount: UAH 600,000.

Maximum grant amount: UAH 1,200,000.

Project implementation period: 6 months or less.

The deadline for project implementation is October 31, 2024.

Procedure for submitting project proposals.

Deadline for submitting project proposals: March 11, 2024, 18.00

Announcement of the competition results: after April 1, 2024