Four Calls for proposals for funding activities for Ukraine

A.       First call for Ukraine – International Visegrad Fund Strategic Grants (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia)

Strategic Grants support project addressing annual strategic priorities of the Visegrad Group. Strategic priorities are announced annually by the V4 country holding the rotating presidency over the group, which from July 2023 to June 2024 is Czechia.

Objectives: Supported projects must develop meaningful cooperation and ensure active participation of organizations from all V4 countries. The projects must clearly address one of the annual strategic priorities of the Visegrad Group:

  1. Supporting Ukraine and the EU neighbourhood – Assisting Ukrainian people in their struggle for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as supporting societies of the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries in their European integration processes.
  2. Countering disinformation and misinformation – Raising awareness and improving societal resilience in the Visegrad, Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan regions.
  3. Promoting people-to-people contacts – Bringing together the civil societies from the Visegrad region and beyond.

Deadline dates: Proposals for Visegrad Grants, Visegrad+ Grants or Visegrad Strategic Grants are accepted regularly three times per year: 1 February, 1 June, and 1 October. Applications must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CET on the given deadline date. Submissions close 20 days after the opening date.

Project budget and funding information: Visegrad Strategic Grants are to cover the costs of all or some of the outputs proposed in the project following a “value for money” principle. Projects can be financed up to 100%; although this is less probable with projects of higher financial value. Co-financing is allowed and encouraged. Visegrad Strategic Grants with budgets amounting to EUR 10,001 or more require an audit that can, however, be covered from the project’s budget (see paragraph 2.6 of the Grant Guidelines). Grants cover up to 100% of the project budget with 15% for overheads. Project budgets are to be prepared in a deliverable-based format.

Project duration: Maximum duration of projects is 36 months, minimum is 12 months

Who are eligible: Any legal entity fulfilling the eligibility criteria stated in chapter 1.1 from any country can apply for support. For strategic grants, the applicant must ensure the active participation of organizations from all V4 countries (at least one organization from each Visegrad country). Unlike the other grant schemes, Strategic Grants projects must have a minimum implementation period of 12 months.

How to apply: Project proposals are accepted only electronically through the Fund’s on-line application system, which opens 30 days before each deadline. Registering your application is possible only with a valid e-mail address. Each application is password-protected

and can be accessed and edited later. Consulting your project proposal with the Fund’s

staff is possible via e-mail, phone, online or personal meeting, on an appointment basis up to 14 days before the deadline.

For more information, please access the 2024 grant guidelines.

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B.       Second call for Ukraine – “Culture Helps” small project grants for integration through culture up to EUR 5000

The Culture Helps call for applications focuses on integration of people, who were forced to leave their homes because of the Russian war against Ukraine.  It offers support for cultural organisations that emphasise work with people, who have been forced to move to safer regions of Ukraine or Creative Europe countries (see relevant list below).

Deadline date: 21 June 2024, 22:59 Berlin time / 23:59 Kyiv time; results will be announced no later than 31 July 2024;

Duration of the project: Activities within the projects may begin no earlier than 15 August 2024 and must be completed by 15 November 2024.

Budget/grant amount: Minimum amount of the grant is EUR 2 000, maximum EUR 5 000.

Objectives and Scope: The project idea must be focused on displaced people or refugees, facilitation of their integration into new contexts through culture, and support of their mental health. Added efforts should be put into involving families and children in the project activities. Proposed activities can include workshops, co-creation processes, educational projects, art therapy or similar.  This call will support around 20 project grants.  Around 70% of the total grants are expected to be disbursed in Ukraine, 30% in Creative Europe countries.

Who are eligible:

  • A non-profit organisation or an independent initiative, based in Ukraine or a Creative Europe country.
  • Actively working on the integration of displaced people or refugees from Ukraine into new realities and communities through culture, in particular families and children.

How to apply:

  • Applications can be submitted via this link. The questions from the form are uploaded here.
  • Application can be in English or Ukrainian (choice of language will not affect the result of the assessment)
  • If you have technical or other difficulties with the Internet connection, you can submit an application as a Word document. Please reach out to them via email if this is the case.

There will be a mentoring support program for selected applicants in the first two rounds of evaluation. The programme will include a series of lectures on project management, art therapy methods, and the development of skills for applying art therapy methods at work, and other cultural practices working on mental health. Also, mentors will accompany the supported organisations during the implementation of projects and the preparation of reports if needed.

Selection process and criteria: The selection process will include:

  • Check for eligibility – make sure you are eligible to apply for the call, otherwise your application will not be considered.
  • Assessment of proposals by jury. The projects scoring 60% on each category and 80% overall will be awarded with the budget requested in the application, with a maximum of EUR 5 000. The following aspects will be assessed:
    • Capacity and competences of the team (15 points).
    • Quality of the proposal (25 points). To form a high-quality proposal when writing an application, consider the following: Is the project idea focused on displaced people or refugees from Ukraine? Is the integration through culture and/or facilitation of integration the main scope of the project proposal? Are there any unexpected & cross-sectoral activities? Is mental health awareness included in the proposal? Is the requested budget adequate for the project? Are families and children involved in the proposal?
    • Innovative/ experimental approach (15 points).
    • Sustainability of action (5 points).

Creative Europe countries within the membership: Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine.

For more information, please visit the call page.

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C.      Third call for Ukraine – Norad Call for Proposals: Supporting Civil Society in Ukraine (Nansen Support Programme)

The main objective of the Nansen Support Programme for Ukraine is to contribute to a well-functioning, democratic and safe Ukraine as well as support the country’s ambitions for Euro-Atlantic integration. The grant scheme is application- and competition-based. Norad is looking for applicants with a proven track record of capacity building of civil society organisations through networking, trainings, and small-scale grant schemes.

Deadline date: 19 June 2024, 13:00 CEST, Oslo

Objectives and Scope:

  1. Projects funded under this call for proposals must contribute to specific objective 1 below, either specific objective 2 and/or 3, or both. The call provides a menu of main expected results has been outlined under each of the three specific objectives.  Applicants can choose freely from the menu of main expected results and may also define their own expected results.

    Applicants must have a theory of change that clearly explains how the project will contribute to the specific objectives.

    Specific objectives:

    1. To enhance the organisational capacity of Ukrainian civil society organisations (CSOs).
    2. To enhance the capacity of Ukrainian CSOs to contribute to inclusive and sustainable recovery across all governance levels.
    3.  To enhance the capacity of Ukrainian CSOs to engage in advocacy and policy formulation for and oversight of democratic governance reforms.

    Provision of basic services, such as mental health services, shall only be supported as part of wider actions such as awareness-raising, advocacy, empowerment, and reform initiatives.

Types of projects eligible for funding: Programmes eligible under this call for proposal are: Technical and administrative capacity building programmes for Ukrainian CSOs, that include exchanges and networking, according to specific objective 1, in combination with small-scale grant schemes within all three specific objectives. The small-scale grants may thus include support to administrative costs and expenses related to organisational capacity building within recipient Ukrainian CSOs.

Alignment to Norad’s Guiding Principles for Support to Civil Society will be prioritised.

Cross-cutting issues: These four cross-cutting issues must be considered in all projects: 1) Human rights, with a particular focus on participation, accountability, and non-discrimination, 2) Women’s rights and gender equality, 3) Climate change and environment, and 4) Anti-corruption.

Who can apply: Potential grant recipients are: Civil society/non-governmental organisations (international, Ukrainian, Norwegian, or other foreign). Applicants may be a single organisation or a consortium of a maximum of three organisations. In the case of consortium applications, one organisation must be the lead and contractual partner. If the applicant is part of an international organisation or alliance only one entity/chapter/branch may be part of an application.

How to apply:

  • All applications must be submitted through the Grants Portal.
  • All relevant documents must be uploaded.

For more information, please access the call page.

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D.      Fourth Call for Ukraine activities – Council of Europe Call for Proposals: Civil Society Organizations to promote Gender Equality in Ukraine

Opening date: 17 May 2024

Deadline date: 7 June 2024, 23:59 Kyiv local time

Objectives:

  • The grants will fund projects designed to support awareness raising initiatives relating to different areas if gender knowledge; the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029 in its entirety; or focused on specific elements of the strategy including gender mainstreaming; intersectional discrimination; work/life balance; gender pay gap; gender inclusive budgeting etc. among civil servants, media and general public at the regional and local level.
  • Gender equality is central to the protection of human rights, the functioning of democracy, respect for the rule of law, and social well-being. Gender equality is an important policy goal of the Council of Europe. Priority areas are defined by the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029. The Strategy is structured around six objectives:
    • Preventing and combating gender stereotypes and sexism
    • Preventing and combating violence against women and girls and domestic violence
    • Ensuring women’s equal access to justice
    • Achieving a balanced participation of women and men in political, public, social, and economic life
    • Ensuring women’s empowerment and gender equality in relation to global and geopolitical challenges
    • Achieving gender mainstreaming and including an intersectional approach in all policies and measures

Preference will be given to: 

  • Projects/actions promoting the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy;
  • Projects/actions proposed by women`s rights NGOs in partnership with local authorities or gender-related coordinators/Gender Advisers or other women`s rights NGOs;
  • Projects/actions contributing to the diversity of NGO grants in Ukraine.

Project duration: Implementation period of the projects: 15 July 2024 – 15 November 2024. Narrative and financial reports shall be submitted by 20 January 2025 at the latest.

Budget/Grant amount: The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is EUR 45 000 (Forty-five thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 3 (three) grants of a maximum amount of EUR 15 000 (Fifteen thousand Euros) each.

Target Stakeholders (not exhaustive)

  • Projects should target the following key stakeholders:
    • General public, media, local/regional authorities, representatives of self-governance bodies in the territorial communities, gender advisers, gender related coordinators.
  • The above list is not exhaustive, and projects may propose to target other relevant stakeholders, while keeping in mind the general objective of the Project.

Who are eligible:

  • be legally constituted as a non-governmental organisation in Ukraine;
  • be entitled to carry out in Ukraine activities described in its project proposal;
  • have been active for at least 3 (three) years in the field of gender equality and gender mainstreaming;
  • have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
  • have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal

How to apply: The completed and signed application form, along with supporting documents in electronic format (Word, Excel and PDF), should be sent to the following email address: ProGE.Ukraine@coe.int. with the subject line: Grants-Promoting Gender Equality in Ukraine.

Please access the call document here.

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