Open Call: FES Small Grants Program

Source: Friedrich Ebert Foundation

Program Statement:
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in the South Caucasus, through its various activities, promotes an inclusive and participatory democracy, sustainable social and economic policy, the advancement of labour rights, and regional cooperation to ensure peace in the South Caucasus. In pursuit of these goals, the FES announces a small grants program. In the South Caucasus, it can be challenging for new actors of civil society and academia to establish their activities in a highly competitive environment. Therefore, we especially encourage newly founded grassroots initiatives and junior researchers to apply for the small grants program. Grants can cover project and research activities of up to 5000 EUR in the local currency equivalent. Applications should address pressing issues relevant to the fields of interest of the FES that are potentially overlooked by other actors.
FES invites researchers, activists, organizations, community-based initiatives from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to apply.
Within its mandate, FES South Caucasus is ready to support projects which will aim to strengthen the foundations of democratic development, social justice, economic and ecological sustainability, local self-governance as well as provide research and educational opportunities.
The maximum amount of the small grants is 5000 EUR.
The call is open for two categories of proposals; grassroots activism and research

 

   The project proposals for the grassroots activism category should cover one or more of the following topics:
- Education (informal education, supporting critical thinking, media literacy, creation of learning tools)
- Civic participation and engagement of socially marginalized or less-active groups;
- Advocacy and Awareness raising (participatory civic initiatives that offer realistic solutions to the specific challenges faced by different communities)
- Improvement in the realization of the states’ social responsibilities (including any phase of policy realization)
- Tolerance and diversity towards various ethnic and religious minorities and vulnerable groups

* Proposed methodology should demonstrate public/community engagement in identifying problems, finding solutions, and advocating at local, regional, or national levels. APPLICATION PACKAGE: Filled application form

 The project proposal for research projects should cover one of the following topics:
- Participation and Democracy
- Social Justice, Economy and Labour
- Peace and Security

REQUIERMENTS

TOPICS: Proposals to the research category must be for academic research projects that aim to study the proposed topics. Proposals for activities other than research are not eligible for this category (e.g., scholarships, professional development, curriculum development,). Additionally, proposals for research studies focused on topics other than the mentioned, are not eligible. APPLICANTS: The applicants for research grants can be either individual scientists or research groups. In the case of individual applications, the applicant must hold minimum of an MA degree in the relevant discipline. In case of group applications, at least 1/31 of the group must be MA students. APPLICATION PACKAGE: Filled application form (insert hyperlink) CVs of all members of the research group

Technical Details:
- Duration: max. 12 months
- Deadline: September 7, 13:00 o’clock, 2020
- Amount of the small grant: max. 5.000,00 EUR
- Non-profit Organizations, individuals, initiative groups educational institutions and media organizations are eligible to apply.
- Projects can be implemented at national level in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as regionally for all three South Caucasus countries simultaneously.
Please send application to : [email protected] ; In a subject line please mention: Small Grants/the name of the applicant or the organization

*Please, note that FES is unable to support initiatives that envisage the provision of humanitarian aid. FES will process the applications as promptly as possible, in accordance with its policies and procedures.
1 In groups of two, at least one member. In groups of 4, at least 2 members. In numbers higher than 4, the number of MA students or aspiring PhD candidates will be rounded to the closest whole number, e.g. 2 per 7, 3 per 8.