We believe that power needs to be redistributed into the hands of marginalised and discriminated groups in Kenya, allowing them to be empowered, accepted and participate fully in development.

Do you hold the same believe as we do? Are you an emerging and/or informal group that is led by one of Voice’s target groups? Do you want to work on leadership and/or increasing confidence of and within your group members to work against stigmatisation of marginalised and discriminated groups? Do you have and/or wish to implement home-grown strategies in mobilising key state agencies at national and sub-county level to promote a positive image of your members and fight discrimination?

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

What are we looking to fund?

Proposals with “out of the box” project ideas that focus on the following target groups:

(i) Age discriminated vulnerable groups notably the young and elderly,

(ii) Persons with disabilities, and

(iii) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, intersex (LGBTI) people.

Often the most marginalised and discriminated are those who may be vulnerable due to multiple reasons. Therefore, we have a strong preference for projects that intend to work with more than one target group 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

Empowerment Grants have a minimum of 12 months and a maximum duration of 24 months with a budget ranging from EUR 5,000 to EUR 25,000.

Where do we wish to fund?

Voice Kenya wishes to consolidate its work and will only fund projects that will be implemented in the following counties that are still unreached and inadequately served; Garissa, Wajir, Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma, Kwale, Kilifi & Tana River.

Who do we wish to fund?

We are accepting proposals from small and/or emerging informal groups where the Voice target groups and their organisations are in the driving seat, whether leading on their own, with allies, or exploring and co-creating solutions with others. International as well as national organisations cannot be lead applicants but can team up as a co-applicant in the case of consortium applications.

Preference will be given to Voice target groups still underrepresented by current grantees.

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.