Are you an organisation ready to break the shackles of exclusion of underrepresented groups within your region? Do you have and/or wish to take to scale home-grown empowerment strategies that raise awareness, build confidence and self-esteem of Voice target groups to claim their rights? Do you see organisations across countries needing the same capacities strengthened? Are you willing to promote a positive image of Voice groups and fight discrimination creating a powerful ripple effect across countries?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to the questions above, then consider applying to this Call for Proposals.

Voice Empowerment grants are meant for (smaller) organisations to raise awareness, develop transformative leadership, build confidence and skills, and work against stigmatisation of marginalised and discriminated groups. Informal groups can access this funding by partnering with a registered (lead) organisation.

While the majority of empowerment grants are meant for single projects in the Voice focus countries, based on the feedback we received from you we introduced this variant to Empower beyond borders! This is the first Call of its kind and pending on the learning and experience we may introduce a second Call.

The Regional Empowerment Grant allows neighbouring countries to ‘twin’ and embark on a joint learning trajectory to address commonly shared challenges. The grant is available from €5.000 to € 75.000 for a minimum duration of 12 to maximum 24 months.

What do we mean by Empowerment?

For Voice, Empowerment is a process by which people gain power over their own lives and can take their own decisions. Power is described in terms of people’s individual and collective capacity to make strategic choices and the degree to which these choices have impact on their lives.

What are we looking for and where do we wish to fund?

Proposals with “out of the box” project ideas that promote regional cross- country learning and focus on underrepresented groups within the following Voice focus regions:

• East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) Region – Age-discriminated vulnerable groups notably the young and elderly, Persons with disabilities, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex (LGBTI) people.
• West Africa (Nigeria, Niger and Mali) Region – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex (LGBTI) people, Indigenous groups and ethnic minorities.
• South East Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Indonesia) Region– Women facing exploitation, abuse and/or violence, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex (LGBTI) people, Age-discriminated vulnerable groups, notably the elderly.

However, Voice has a strong preference for projects that intend to work with more than one target group, with a lens on youth and women, to address overlapping vulnerabilities.

Your project can look at any or all of the following themes:

• Improved access to (productive) resources (finance, land and water) and employment,
• Improved access to social services, health and education in particular, and
• Space for political participation and citizen engagement.

For inspiration, you can look at the type of projects that Voice currently funds or has funded in the past via this link and filter by empowerment grants.

Who do we wish to fund?

The (lead) applicant must be target group-led. This means that the target group governs and manages the organisation with the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” guiding their work. Additionally, the (lead) applicant must be registered in at least one of the countries in the region where their project will be implemented. For example: For a project in West Africa, the (lead) applicant needs to be registered in either Niger, Mali or Nigeria.

The only exception to the above is if the grant cannot be led by an organisation based in the countries due to the nature of the proposed project presenting additional security or safety risks. In this case Voice allows an application led by a target group-led organisation in a third country (preferably in a neighbouring country but also possibly outside Africa and Asia; if so required). Obviously the majority of the activities still need to be implemented in close collaboration with local groups in the Voice focus countries, taking security and safety into account.

Please note that existing empowerment grantees can only apply with a project that will start after the current project ends. Voice encourages graduation but can only have one contract at a time with a (lead) organisation.

Who and what we won’t fund:

• (Lead) applicant(s) with an annual turnover over € 150.000.
• Funding of commercial services, investment or other commercial activities.
• Projects across regions. For example: A project proposed by a (lead) organisation based in South East Asia to be implemented in East Africa. The only exception is explained above.