In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected our lives over the past two years, digital technology has increasingly played a critical role in keeping people connected globally, enabling everyone to share their happy and difficult moments, create and share information across the world, and have greater access to facts, figures, and statistics. All this is made more possible through various online media platforms, including social networks.  

However, it was observed that many issues and challenges kept increasing which put a lot of questions on the digital environment amidst the COVID-19 pandemic including violations of privacy in health surveillance, women’s rights online, Internet shutdowns, digital empowerment for underrepresented communities, and inclusive digital access. A greater impact to the rightsholders groups already in positions of vulnerability is likely to be seen. 

In this light, Voice hopes to support organisations and coalitions based in Cambodia who have the position and capacity to respond to and engage in this arena. Likewise, we ask the following questions: 

What innovative approaches do you wish to use to safeguard the digital rights of Voice rightsholder groups and ensure a safe, inclusive digital space for all? Do you see any opportunity to promote a dialogue or other engagements with all key actors and relevant stakeholders to ensure a data privacy and protection for underrepresented communities?  Can you think about inclusive civic education initiatives that will ensure citizens’ decisions and voices are heard? Can you conceptualise a national intervention for strategic advocacy, different methods of civic engagement, and/or mobilise and coordinate a collective action of civil society leading to safeguarding our digital rights and inclusion ? 

If you answer is yes to any of the questions above, we invite you to apply for this Sudden Opportunity Grant to promote collective action by and with the Voice rightsholders groups, promote digital freedom, secure online spaces, and foster active citizenship and inclusive participation in the current political context. 

What do we wish to fund? 

Through this sudden opportunity grant, Voice Cambodia is calling on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to undertake a joint action to address specific, unanticipated opportunities to influence policy and inclusive civic education in Cambodia, especially those that could have a ripple effect or that can impact on one or more Voice rightsholder groups in one or more impact themes of Voice.  

Priority is given to applications led by organisations that work on, for, and/or with the following rightsholder groups: 

• Vulnerable elderly and young people
• Indigenous groups and ethnic minorities
• LGBTI People
• People with disabilities
• Women facing exploitation, abuse, and/or violence

Intersectionality is at the very heart of Voice. Therefore, we have a strong preference for projects that intend to work with more than one of the Voice rightsholder groups to address their overlapping or cross-cutting layers of marginalisation and vulnerability, and promote inter- and/or intra-group solidarity. For more ideas on what issues Voice prioritises on, please read the Cambodia Context Analysis summary. The full report will be made available upon request.

Voice also supports initiatives investing in the wellbeing and mental health of people at the frontlines, especially the rightsholders. We invite and encourage applicants to explore ways through which the project will allocate resources for fostering a sense of community support and self-care, which can further enable a safer and more open environment to continue the work in sensitive and high-risk contexts. 

Here are examples of Sudden Opportunities projects that may inspire your actions:  

• Making Cambodia’s National Social Security Law Transparent and Inclusive CFSWF 
• Reclaim and Protect Civic Space CCG 

• You can also have a look at other ideas that have been supported by Voice under this grant type for inspiration. 

For this call, the grant is available from €5,000 to €100,000 only for an intervention that will last between 6 and 12 months. 

Grants responding to a Sudden Opportunity are available on a rolling basis and can be applied anytime between now until 31st July 2022. The grant will be closed once the available funds have already been allocated to successful applicants. 

What is a sudden opportunity? 

Sudden opportunities can vary greatly, depending on the situation. They can be described through the common elements they share. 

• Sudden:
  These are unexpected moments, which can happen without any warning. They could be a policy direction change from the government, a shift in public opinion, or a new court ruling with deep policy implications. 
• Collective Action:
  These unexpected moments require collective action. They require a response not just from one group but from several organisations such as a coalition, a consortium, or a network. 
• Immediate:
  These unexpected moments require immediate action. They temporarily create the right set of circumstances for making a change possible. Without a response, the moment will eventually pass and the opportunity to make a change will be lost. 
• Impact on Rightsholder Groups:
  These unexpected moments have to greatly impact at least one or more of Voice the rightsholder groups. They need to be involved in the collective action being proposed. 

It is an opportunity for: 

• Campaigns calling for solidarity with oppressed peoples; 
• Strategic advocacy to amplify the voices of marginalised groups; 
• Coordination of CSOs and/collective action that can lead to a change in legal decision, policy/laws, a shift in public attitudes and practices to challenge discrimination; 
• Promote equal access and opportunities, enhance social well-being, and/or encourage social development. 

 Who do we wish to fund? 

Coalition, network or consortia with participation of human rights defenders, social enterprise, journalists, bloggers, NGOs and civil society organization who identify and agree with creative concept to promote inclusive civic education, OR jointly and collectively seek the promotion and protection of civil and political rights of Voice rightsholder groups. It is important to note that the lead applicant must be a locally registered organisation in Cambodia but that the action needs to be a collective one. 

What we won’t fund: 

• Organisations with an annual turnover of over €2 million.  
• An application where the grant awarded from Voice is more than 50% of the total annual income of the applicant organisation.  
• The way to calculate this is to divide the requested amount by number of years the project will be implement. The result will then be divided by the annual income. 
• If the result of this calculation is over 50% you can either reduce the requested amount or team up as part of a consortium where you can add up the annual incomes. 
• Funding of commercial services, investment or other commercial activities.  

• Activities with more on direct services delivery (infrastructure building, purchase vehicle…) or humanitarian response.  

 Practicing the Values of Voice 

Voice believes in the principle of Nothing About Us Without Us. In practice, this means Voice rightsholder groups need at centre of any collective action effort. They must be involved in the conceptualisation, planning, and implementation of any Sudden Opportunity grant. They are equal partners in any consortium, network, or coalition, playing key governance and leadership roles. 

Possible interventions would require creating platforms and spaces where Voice rightsholder groups can self-advocate for their economic, social and cultural rights. Joint participation of a network, consortium or coalition of human rights defenders, private institutions and companies, faith leaders, NGOs and self-interested individuals or intellectuals with the intention of using nonviolent action to amplify the voices of marginalised groups is necessary. 

Linking and Learning 

Linking and Learning is at the heart and soul of Voice. All grantees are expected to participate in facilitated meetings and gatherings enabling the exchange of ideas and learnings from each other’s experiences.  Applicants must demonstrate in their proposals how they will identify, document, and share their learnings as they implement their project. These may come in many forms such as blog posts, videos, photo essay or audio recordings. 

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.