The shift in the country’s political landscape continues to hamper the civic space for rightsholders to amplify their voices and influence decision-makers.  In addition, their vulnerabilities are increasing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the growing stigma and discrimination against them. This is especially the case for marginalized women, youth and elderly, LGBTQI, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and even more for those with intersecting identities and multiple layers of vulnerability.   

Through this call for proposals, we are looking for empowering and transformative approaches that will enable the rightsholder groups to strengthen their capacities to access resources and participate in civic space amidst the pandemic and beyond. 

Is your organisation rightsholder-led that raises awareness to develop transformative leadership, build confidence and skills? Do you want to strengthen how your group can work better together? Do you want to strengthen your existing capacities, and work towards claiming your own empowerment process both at the individual and the organisational level? Do you want to work on your leadership and/or increase your and community’s confidence to work towards full social inclusion of people affected by stigma, marginalisation, and/or discrimination? Do you want to embark on a journey to change attitudes and/or social norms in Cambodia towards your community? 

 If you answered “yes” to the questions above, then consider applying to this call!  

Voice believes that when people are empowered, their self-esteem is higher.  We want to support communities to find their own innate strength, raise their voices, and take actions to push for social change and inclusion. 

Funding available for each grant is within €5, 000 – €25, 000 and the lifetime of the projects should be for at least 18 and maximum 24 months. 

 What do we wish to fund? 

Proposals with innovative project ideas that promote empowerment and focus on underrepresented groups within the following Voice rightsholder groups; 

• People with disabilities 
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people 
• Indigenous people and ethnic minorities 
• Vulnerable elderly and youth 
• Women facing exploitation, abuse and/or violence 

Voice has a strong preference for projects that are designed from an intersectional point of view. This means projects should aim to work with the intersection of two or more of the above groups to address overlapping vulnerabilities and/or forms of discrimination. For example, if the project aims to work with persons with disabilities, it is also possible to consider engaging women with disabilities, indigenous youth with disabilities, LGBTI with disabilities, and others.  

 All projects MUST focus on at least one or all of the following impact themes: 

• Improved access to (productive) resources such as land, water and employment, 
• Improved access to social services, particularly health and education, and 
• Fostering space for political participation and citizen engagement 

 Project activities may include, but are not limited to the following:  

• Building self-confidence and capacity of emerging and/or informal groups who want to work on movement building and organizing their group; 
• Interventions that boost individuals’ and/or groups’ economic status, such as promoting women’s economic empowerment in the informal sector, indigenous youth’s access to employment opportunities, etc.;
• Building and/or strengthening networks of rightsholder groups to improve their skills, knowledge and self-perception; 
• Civic education and public awareness campaigns to promote inclusion and access to social protection schemes for the most vulnerable rightsholder groups;  
• Strengthening the collective political voice of all women movements to improve access to productive resources such as finance, water and land; or 
• Innovative intervention to promote visibility and voices of the vulnerable rightsholder groups.  

 Still in need of more inspiration or ideas? We invite you to take a look at the different Empowerment projects supported by Voice via our Grantee page. 

 What kind of activities will not be funded? 

Voice is a non-institutional development fund and does not support any of the following: 

• Infrastructure building; 
• Purchase of heavy-duty equipment (transportation vehicles, agricultural machines, security equipment); 
• Humanitarian COVID-19 response;  
• Disaster relief 

 Who do we wish to fund? 

We encourage rightsholders groups or community-based groups who are rightsholder-led to apply including:  

• Informal groups through partnering with locally registered Cambodian organisation as the lead applicant or fiscal host.  
• Small organisations with legal registration/local permit or accreditation and a bank account under the applicant’s name.  

 We are open to cover costs relating to registration in an effort to further strengthen the group/organisation.  

 An organisation (formal/informal) is rightsholder-led when it is governed and managed by members of the rightsholder group(s). The principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” guides their work. If the target group(s) do not play roles in the governance and management of the organisation, the proposal needs to describe how the target groups are fully involved in the conceptualisation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the project. 

 Where do we wish to fund?  

Voice will only fund projects in the existing target areas of Battambong, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Chnang, Kampong Cham, Svay Reang, Takeo, Rattanakiri , Mondulkiri and Phnom Penh. 

This Call for Proposals is closed and no longer accepting applications. Come back here at a later stage to learn about the grantees that have been selected in this Call for Proposals.

The current open Calls for Proposals can be found here.