EUROPEAN ROMANI WOMEN

Call for Proposals: Romani Women's Empowerment Grants

2011.07.05

Photo: Csaba Kocsis. This photo was an entry in the Chachipe photo contest (photo.romadecade.org) organized by the Open Society Foundations and OSA Archivum

The Open Society Roma Initiatives announce the 2011 call for proposals for the Romani Women’s Empowerment Grants initiative under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015.

                                                                                     Romani Women’s Empowerment Grants

Call for Proposals

The Open Society Roma Initiatives announce a call for proposals for the Romani Women’s Empowerment Grants initiative under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015. This initiative aims to promote gender equality both by empowering Romani women to take part in the decision making processes affecting their lives and by ensuring that the concerns of Romani women are addressed appropriately in political, policy and community domains. It seeks to give voice to Romani women’s concerns, stimulate active citizenship and build local leadership skills in an inclusive and equitable way.

The initiative is administered by the Open Society Roma Initiatives. For more information about the Roma Initiatives, see www.soros.org/initiatives/roma.

Who Can Apply?

The Romani Women’s Empowerment Grants initiative is open to applications from Roma and pro-Roma NGOs led by Romani women, or having Romani women in higher management positions, in countries participating in the Decade of Roma Inclusion: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain.

What Types of Activities Are Supported?

The call is open to proposals which have one or more of the following objectives:

Increase Romani women’s participation in public life at the local, national and international levels. This includes increased visibility, representation in and influence on public institutions, as well as increased participation and visibility of Romani women in their wider and broader communities (e.g., in their local communities and municipal policy making, in the main domestic Roma movements, in mainstream women’s civil society organizations and coalitions, etc.)

Promote voter education and other forms of active citizenship among Romani women (e.g. by explaining through community-based action the importance and benefits of exercising their citizen’s rights, etc.)

Strengthen advocacy efforts to improve and/or change policies and practices on issues of concern to Romani women. This includes projects addressing local, national and international levels of decision-making as well as building alliances with mainstream women’s organizations
Involve men in promoting the principle of gender equality and address gender relations in Roma communities, and in Central and Eastern European and South East European societies

Facilitate the labor market inclusion of Romani women

Address the issue of early marriages

Strengthen Romani women’s leadership by creating opportunities for practicing leadership skills, gaining knowledge and increasing self-confidence by involving constituencies in an organized action

Combat human trafficking in particular by raising awareness among Roma communities and young Roma girls. Building alliances with mainstream women’s organizations is also encouraged.

Respond to the particular needs and concerns of Romani women refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)

Financial Allocation

The Open Society Roma Initiatives will provide up to 10,000 USD per project.

Each applicant may submit one proposal under this call for proposals.

To Apply
If you believe that your project is in line with one or more objective of this call for proposals, you are invited to submit a concept paper of up to 2 pages long. The concept paper should include the following:

a short paragraph about your organization
statement about the problem your project would address
the target group of your project (including age; location; gender; socio-economic status and the size of the project’s constituency). Please define if the constituency of the project is the Romani women individuals whose needs are addressed by the project, or Roma communities who will benefit from the activities of Romani women empowered by the project
a brief summary of the main objectives
the main activities of the project
the proposed duration of the project

After submission of the concept paper, applicants may be invited to submit a full proposal. The full application form will be provided to applicants whose concept paper was selected for further development. Please note that an invitation to submit a full proposal does not mean that your project has been approved for funding.

The Open Society Roma Initiatives and their Advisory Group on Romani Women’s Empowerment will make every effort to review the concept paper within four weeks.

Applications in English should be sent by e-mail to roma@osi.hu by August 8, 2011.

Eligibility

 

The evaluation of proposals will take into account criteria such as the expected impact and sustainability of the proposed project and the innovative approach it brings to issues of Romani women’s empowerment.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Roma Initiatives will monitor and evaluate the activity of grantees through field visits, progress reports and final reports.

Please contact us at roma@osi.hu for further information.