Commonwealth Foundation Grants for Civil Society Organisations.

Deadline: 23rd October 2023 | Commonwealth Foundation Grants for Civil Society Organisations

Applications for Commonwealth Foundation Grants for Civil Society Organisations are presently being accepted by the Commonwealth Foundation to fund initiatives that aim to encourage positive interaction between the public and decision-makers, including public participation in policy development and decision-making.

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The Foundation seeks to include the voice of civil society in all facets of governance while encouraging civil society participation in formulating the laws and choices that have an impact on people’s lives.

The Commonwealth of equal, equitable, and inclusive nations is what the Foundation envisions. The purpose of the mission is to advance that vision by

• Supporting Commonwealth residents’ constructive and active participation in all facets of their governance
• Fostering the development of robust, free civic societies across the Commonwealth
• Promoting the Commonwealth’s guiding values and ideals
• Every application must show how it will incorporate gender issues into its project design and execution.

Priority Themes for Grants

• The following issues that the government and civil society could constructively discuss together are: universal health coverage
• Better availability, accessibility, quality, involvement, and accountability in the provision of health services are necessary to realise the right to health.
• The inclusive right to health should include programmes and policies that emphasise social determinants of health.
• Promoting fair access to health services for marginalised groups and those with special needs while combating structural prejudice in health systems
• Encouraging marginalised groups and those with special needs to participate in decision-making
• Battling communicable and non-communicable diseases to promote health and well-being
• Equal access to necessary medications

freedom of speech

• The following issues could be addressed through projects: Promoting a legal and regulatory framework that safeguards and maintains everyone’s right to free expression.
• promoting a legal and regulatory framework that fosters the autonomy, expansion, and vitality of civil society.
• promoting open access to information and accountability in government, especially through strong laws protecting the right to access information and their effective implementation.
• encouraging civil society participation in national, regional, and/or international systems and processes that support freedom of expression (such as Universal Periodic Reviews and national human rights agencies).
• encouraging creativity and the arts as a way to support and raise awareness of the right to free expression.
• In order to ensure representation, inclusion, and the protection of the rights of those who are most susceptible to the effects of climate change, Climate Justice Projects could assist civil society in effectively engaging with the government.
• Tackling the underlying social, political, and economic drivers of climate injustice.
• Raising voices of people most impacted by the climate catastrophe in international and domestic forums.
• Ensuring that policy conversations and decision-making at all levels place the voice, agency, and leadership of young men and women at the forefront.
• Advocating for redress for environmental injustice, including empowerment through the law, access to justice, and effective remedies.
• Ensuring responsibility and efficient redress for damages to human rights brought on by climate change.
• Creating, evaluating, enhancing, and keeping track of laws, policies, and practises that support climate justice.
• Identifying and resolving the issues that enhance social groupings’ susceptibility to the effects of climate change.
• highlighting and addressing the detrimental socioeconomic and distributive effects of climate change mitigation strategies, or fostering support for the creation of pro-poor mitigation strategies.
• Additional crucial financial concerns
• Having gender as a unifying concept
• Partnerships
• Involvement of young people
• Little-developed and vulnerable Member States
• Strengthening of Capacity

Financial Details

• For a maximum of two years, the total grant amount requested must be £15,000 or between £15,001 and £30,000 per year.

Eligible nations

• Africa includes the following countries: Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Kingdom of eSwatini, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.
• Americas: Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Canada*, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, St.
• Asia: Maldives, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Bangladesh, India Pakistan
• Europe: Malta, Cyprus, and the United KingdomAustralia, Kiribati, New Zealand, Samoa, and the Pacific:

You cannot apply for a grant as a lead applicant if your organisation is registered in one of the nations specified by an asterisk (*) in the list. Please be aware that while organisations registered in these nations are not able to apply for a grant as the main applicant, they are still allowed to participate in a project as partners.

eligibility

• The applicant must be an eligible member of the Commonwealth Foundation and be a not-for-profit civil society organisation.
• Applications are not accepted from newly registered organisations (those that have been registered and in operation for less than a year).
• Implementation of the proposed project is required in the nation of registration. The scope of a project can be national, subnational, regional, or even multinational, and it can be carried out in one or more eligible Commonwealth Foundation member nations. Strong local participation in project implementation is necessary in multi-country projects.
• The applicant organisation must have a minimum of two years of track record in the area(s) or theme(s) of the proposed project working on participatory governance and advocacy.
• The amount of the requested grant cannot be greater than 70% of the applicant organization’s average annual gross revenue over the previous two years.
• The applicant organization’s average annual revenue for the previous two years must be less than £2.5m.
• At least one of the priority themes of the Foundation must be covered by the project proposal.
• The project proposal needs to show how gender concerns have been properly incorporated.
• The projects that are planned to start in the second half of 2024 (i.e., after July 1 and before September 30) must be the subject of proposals.

Qualification Requirements

• The Commonwealth Foundation does not support: Attendance at conferences, workshops, or training sessions unless they are a component of a larger grant-funded initiative.
• Unless they are a part of a larger grant-funded project, academic study or research.
• publication of books and films, unless they’re a part of a bigger funding application.
• trade between wealthy nations.
• activities that have as their only goal the capacity-building of public officials and/or the commercial sector. If the project calls for actions like educating government employees, financing for those parts should be acquired independently.
• projects with a service delivery focus (for instance, the Foundation won’t support initiatives like the distribution of medications).

Visit the Commonwealth Foundation website for additional details.