Do you have an innovative idea to address the marginalisation and discrimination experienced by Voice target groups? Do you want to learn if this innovation is effective and can be scaled-up? Do you see an opportunity where new ideas and approaches can be leveraged to meet the challenges faced by your community?

If you said yes to any of the questions above, apply for an Innovate and Learn Grant! This is intended for groups, organisations, networks, and consortia to test and scale new approaches. We accept proposals for projects spanning a maximum of 2 years, ranging from €5,000 to €200,000 (approx. ₱265,000 to ₱10,600,000).

*Priority will be given to applications that work with:

• Women facing exploitation, abuse and violence;
• LGBTQI groups; and
• Persons with disability

What do we mean by innovation?

Innovation means anything that has not been tried before in a particular context, prioritising human-centred methodologies and approaches. If you have a new idea, method or approach, you are welcome to propose it in your application. Innovation does not only mean the use and applications of new technologies. It also means using tried and tested methods but for new purposes and with new target groups, audiences and themes.

The guiding questions that could be useful for you on designing the proposal:

• How have you or others have addressed the issue(s) before?
• What did you learn from what has happened before?
• What are you doing differently this time?
• What are you doing to find out if it works?
• How will others find the innovation useful?

Some additional guidelines for applicants
Based on the results of the previous Innovate and Learn Grants, Voice offers some tips for interested applicants:

• Prioritise the key issues to be addressed by the project. These should be directly linked to the needs of the target groups, and contextualised to the situation of the target areas.
• Maintain a balance between the presentation of the key issues and the proposition of the innovative solutions. Any proposal that focuses only on the latter without the former have low chances of being approved.
• Write learning questions you want to answer yourself. Answers to these questions are at the core of what the project wants to achieve. Integrate how you will share what you have learned throughout the whole process.
• Describe how target groups will meaningfully engage in the project. Social innovation is more effective when driven or demanded by the target groups themselves. Voice follows the principle of nothing about us without us.
• Articulate clearly your previous efforts related to the project (direct or indirect), This is necessary in showing your commitment in achieving the project goals.
• Rethink what innovative approaches and methodologies are. Voice promotes and supports effective solutions to address current social issues. You are challenged to assess whether the proposed strategies are business as usual or actually breakthrough solutions.

This call for proposals is closed. Application submissions are no longer possible. Please come back at a later time to learn about the selected grantees.

Calls for proposals for Influencing grants will be opened once a year. For Empowerment, Innovate and Learn, and Sudden Opportunity grants, we accept proposals on a rolling basis. The current open calls for proposals can be found here.