“Empowerment happens when individuals and organised groups are able to imagine their society differently and to realise that vision by changing the relations of power that have kept them in the margins, restricted their voice and deprived them of their autonomy.” Anonymous 

Empowerment of excluded groups and individuals involves the redistribution of power so that it accumulates in the hands of the rightsholders. They must have the confidence to engage and interact with each other as well as in public and build mutual trust while acknowledging their differences.  

This Empowerment grant is meant for (informal) groups or organisations, mainly rightsholder-led groups, to build, strengthen and enhance their capacity of lobby and advocacy. The Voice rightsholder groups and their organisations need to be in the driving seat, whether leading on their own, with allies, or exploring and co-creating solutions with those in power. 

“Types of interventions under this grant may include, transformative leadership, confidence and skills building to work against stigmatisation of rightsholders, innovative, homegrown strategies in mobilising key state agencies at the national and local level and developing strategic partnerships with mainstream civil society, technical assistance, mentorship and coaching for community champions drawn from the rightsholder groups or among parliamentarians to support their work in creating an enabling environment for Voice focus rightsholder group”.  

Funding available is up to €25,000 and the lifetime of the projects under this grant should be for at least 18 months. 

About Voice & FREE Fund 

Voice is a grant facility based on the principles to Leave No One Behind and Nothing About Us Without Us. Voice supports projects that challenge inequality and exclusion by strengthening the political power of those currently ignored and unheard, those who remain ignored by public opinion and power-holders, and whose needs are being discussed without them at the table. Specifically, we mean the millions of people whose identity or context leave them economically, socially, and politically marginalised –they don’t have equal access to information, power, and influence. In order to contribute to making that drama reality, Voice was brought to life to tackle exclusion holistically, by focusing on 3 main impact areas:  

• Improving access to (productive) resources (finance, land and water) and employment. 
• Improving access to social services, health and education in particular 
• Promoting the creation of more open and inclusive spaces for political participation and citizen engagement. 

FREE Fund: The FREE (Financial Resilience and Economic Empowerment) Fund aims to ensure long-term investment in the economic empowerment of adolescent girls and young women. FREE is envisioned as a pooled funding mechanism designed to support the needs of adolescent girls and young women. With foundational investment from Standard Chartered Bank, FREE will accelerate progress towards SDG 5 and SDG 8 by increasing the economic opportunities available to girls and women. Existing funds related to COVID-19 response for girls and women are primarily focused on short-term, critical needs. This fund will identify promising initiatives, provide resources to expand and scale existing work, and connect innovators to be able to share solutions. 

Who to fund  

Voice and FREE seek to pool learning and resources in our commitment to reduce inequality and celebrate inclusion. In its first round of funding, FREE received 1696 applications including 1403 from the 4 overlap countries: Nigeria- 587, Uganda-556, Tanzania- 226 and the Philippines – 28.  With the large number of applications received, FREE was able to fund a lower percentage of applications than envisioned, through its initial investment from Standard Chartered Bank.  This Empowerment grant, therefore, seeks to support strong applications and innovative project ideas shortlisted through the FREE fund selection process.  

Information session

Information sessions have been organised to ensure that all applicants are well furnished with useful information on the application process as well as on the creative formats that could be used for application.

The dates and venues are as follows;- 

Date 4th April 2022

Venue: Teams – Information Session: Free To Voice: Meeting Link Click here 

Name of organisation: Her Initiative, OKOA new generation, Hakizetu, WATED  

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.