Granting Opportunity from Civil Society Organizations by Project Harmony Armenia: Armenia Civics for Engagement (ACE) Program
The ACE Program has two components which pursue the accomplishment of below described objectives:
o Component 1: Youth civic skills and sense of agency through formal education improved
o Component 2: Enabling environment for youth civic engagement is improved.
The Program’s 1 st Component targets youth under 18, working with the participants of general public education (students, teachers, administrators, and parents of Armenian secondary schools), and the 2 nd Component targets youth aged 18-29, working with universities, colleges, youth-led organizations, youth experts and practitioners, active community groups and CSOs with focus on
youth, officials responsible for youth policy making and implementing, media outlets, etc.
2. Grants Objective and Expected Results
This funding opportunity is specifically designed to contribute to the objective of the ACE Program’s 2nd Component. The proposed projects should be designed to improve the enabling environment for youth civic engagement in Armenia, through:
- Increasing the capacity and commitment of relevant government institutions to sustainably engage youth in decision-making processes.
- Improving the capacity and commitment of civil society organizations for effective youth programming and civic engagement.
- Employing new avenues for non-formal civic education of youth.
The proposed projects can choose to address any, the combination of or all of the above-mentioned three sub-objectives. Below is a list of priority themes and illustrative activities to expand on:
- Building the capacities of national or local government representatives to effectively work with youth.
- Contributing to the development and integration of youth-sensitive and gender-sensitive policies and/or practices across existing services; introducing indicators measuring the extent of youth-responsive practices within the operations of relevant national or local government institutions.
- Contributing to the institutionalization and strengthening of Youth Workers’ operations in Armenia, including through creative application of ICTs (platforms, modules, tools, gamification, etc.).
- Introducing a sustainable system or practices/mechanisms for assessing and recognizing the contributions of community-led solutions that promote youth resilience, advance their well-being, and create enablers for youth’s strong ownership of their community.
- Developing and testing with schools, positive strategies and solutions that help schools combat bullying.
- Identifying and elevating promising practices that address gender disparities; promote models and programs celebrating positive masculinities, especially in rural, underserved communities.
- Promoting culturally protective factors and enforcing youth-sensitive social norms to advance inter-generational partnership for effectively addressing youth needs.
- Supporting community-led innovation in promoting resilience among children, youth, and their families (in places such as youth centers, community organizations, schools, universities, primary care, and other children- and youth-serving or youth-led organizations)
- Increase understanding of gaps and opportunities to promote youth civic engagement, especially in underserved communities.
- Catalyzing action through public-private partnerships for creating opportunities for youth development and civic action.
- Enhancing the scope and content of current civic participation platforms with mechanisms/tools to demonstrate/measure the level of youth participation.
- Establishing new or improved mechanisms/tools granting youth ways to positively engage in dialogue with local and national authorities.
- Initiating advocacy campaigns by partner CSOs addressing specific policies to improve youth
engagement. - Creating/operating online tools to strengthen youth engagement in promoting government
accountability and whistle-blowing behavior and practices. - Establishing new opportunities/platforms to promote and empower youth-led civic
initiatives and community actions, including for gender equality and positive masculinities, - Organizing outreach initiatives to promote constructive dialogue and solutions on mitigating
or overcoming barriers to youth engagement and participation. - Supporting peer CSOs to institutionalize mechanisms/practices for effective youth
programming and civic engagement, with user-friendly guidelines easily accessible for youth. - Introducing mechanisms to strengthen school-parent collaboration for student
empowerment and engagement, including through addressing social injustice, supporting
mentor initiatives, etc. - Developing and disseminating public awareness materials on PYD framework for people with
limited hearing and visual abilities. - Enhancing youth-led action on various civic causes, including but not limited to countering
fake news, strengthening electoral processes and political accountability, environmental
protection, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, etc.
3. Performance Period and Award Ceiling per Project
Each project should be proposed for a maximum of 12 months of implementation. The maximum amount requested from PH Armenia for the implementation of the proposed project cannot exceed 3 820 000 AMD.
4. Eligibility Criteria and Special Requirements
The present RFA is restricted only to entities that meet the criteria and requirements listed below:
- Applicants should be legal entities registered as a local Armenian CSO (Civil Society Organization), i.e., a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or Community-Based Organization (CBO), association, foundation, etc.
- Applicants are expected to have well established institutional practices of good governance, accountability, and transparency, and be willing to adhere to USAID’s requirements listed in the Standard Provisions for Non-U.S. Nongovernmental Organizations: A Mandatory Reference for ADS Chapter 303 (usaid.gov).
- Applications must integrate relevant approaches of the PYD framework into their interventions. Applicants are encouraged to use the Youth Programming Assessment Tool adapted to the Armenian context (the source in English), as well as refer to PYD guides and learning materials, specifically relevant PYD indicators (source in English, in Armenian).
- Applicants are expected to have clear policies and procedures ensuring youth participation in program-related decisions of the applicant NGO, including a user-friendly guidance on how an interested young person may engage into the various elements of NGO’s programming (PCM/project cycle management), including application form, key information on NGO organizational structures, management, etc. If an applicant is yet to develop such policies and procedures, they must commit to completing it within the first 3 months of the grant at their own resources. Respective technical guidance will be offered by PH Armenia․
Closing Date, time: 20 July 2023, 17:00 (Yerevan time)
To access the complete Request For Applications, including the necessary documents for submission, please click here