Deadline: 12 January 2015
Open to: Youth-led non-governmental organizations officially registered for a minimum 2 years ( in December 2012 or earlier)
Grant: Up to US$25000 each

Description

The Youth Solidarity Fund (YSF) provides seed funding to outstanding youth-led initiatives that promote long-term constructive relationships between people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. The Fund links small scale and local work to larger movements for social and global change. The YSF supports the development of young peoples’ organizations and other means for their work to have an even broader and deeper impact and to be expanded. It was established to answer the calls for action made around the world by youth organizations since the creation of the UNAOC.

On a regular basis, the UNAOC offers technical support and trainings to the YSF projects and, in addition, provides assistance with media relations, lobbying, financial management, networking, evaluation, monitoring and sustainability. In addition, the UNAOC organizes various events to which the selected organizations are invited and where they have an opportunity to promote both the YSF and their projects. These included the UNAOC Forums in Istanbul, Rio and Doha, the UNAOC 2010, 2011 and 2012 Youth Summer Schools, etc.

Eligibility

Following countries are eligible: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Federated States of Micronesia,  Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe..

Eligibility Criteria for Youth Organizations:

Youth organizations are subject to the same criteria as other partners of the United Nations system in that they must be accountable, transparent and refrain from all discriminatory practices.

To be eligible, applying youth organizations need to fulfill each and every one of the following criteria:

• Be a membership-based youth-led organization;
• Be a non-governmental organization (with the exception of national youth councils)  registered in the country of operation as a charity, trust, foundation or association;
• Be officially registered and operational for a minimum of 2 years at the time of the application with funding base and project implementation (e.g. registered in December 2012 or earlier);
• Have a democratic governance structure, leadership nomination and consultative processes in formulating priorities and policies with members;
• Have an ability to demonstrate proper and consistent monitoring, evaluation and recordkeeping of their activities, including project evaluation reports and financial accounts;
• Have a gender perspective/balance reflected in their staff, membership and activities;
• Have no adherence to or affiliations with violent ideologies or antagonism against any particular country, culture, religion or belief system, ethnic group, gender, etc; and
• Did not receive funding under the YSF past editions or did not receive the UNAOC-BMW Intercultural Innovation Award.

Upon request, organizations will need to provide documented evidence of how they fulfill all of these criteria.
Please note that project proposals will not be considered eligible for funding if they are submitted by: governments, international governmental organizations, non-youth led organizations, unregistered groups of youth, business entities, as well as individuals.

Eligibility Criteria for Projects:

All submitted projects need to fulfill each and every one of the following criteria to be deemed eligible and be reviewed by the Selection Committee:

• Origin: The project was developed and written by youth;

• Target Audience: The project targets youth. Gender balance among project participants is ensured;
• Management: The project is managed by a youth-led organization, responding to all eligibility criteria mentioned above;
• Project Coordinator: The Project Coordinator is an employee of the applying organization and is between the ages of 18 and 35 at the moment of the application;
• Duration and Timing: The project must be implemented during March-October 2015 period, while final reports will need to be submitted by November 30, 2015 at the very latest.
• Location: Project activities are implemented in the country(ies) mentioned in the above list (see geographical coverage section);
• Budget: The organization needs to guarantee its capacity to implement all elements of the proposed project with the funds requested. Grants provided by UNAOC will not exceed USD 25,000. The proposed budget will have 90% of costs associated with direct project activities and only up to 10% of it will cover Project Coordinator’s salary/fees. Office rent cost, utilities and purchase of technical equipment (e.g. computers, copiers, printers, cameras, telephones, etc.) cannot be part of the budget;
• English: Application and CV/resume of the Project Coordinator must be in English only;
• Registration certificate and statute: A copy of a registration certificate and a statute need to be attached to the application form. They can be submitted in original language of a country, where the organization is registered;
• Application form: The duly completed application form cannot exceed 8 pages and the font must be at least 10 points.

Grant

The YSF awards grants (up to USD 25,000) to selected projects that demonstrate innovative youth approaches to intercultural or interfaith dialogue. It only supports projects that are entirely developed and managed by youth for the benefit of youth. The age definition used by the UNAOC to characterize youth is a person who is between 18 and 35 years old.

How to apply

Please carefully review the Application Guidelines and this annex before completing the Application form.

Instructions:

• Send your complete application, CV/resume, registration certificate and a copy of the statute tounaocysf2014@yahoo.com by 12 January 2015, 11:59PM, New York City time. Please email these documents in one message. If the files are too big, please compress them in RAR format.
• The subject line of your message should read: Country_Name of Organization (for example, USA_United Nations Headquarters).
• Please fill in and save your application form as follows: Country_Name of Organization_Application Form (for example, USA_United Nations Headquarters_Application Form).
• Project Coordinator CV/resume, statute and registration certificate should be saved accordingly (for example, USA_United Nations Headquarters_Statute / or, Certificate / or, Project Coordinator CV).
• Your application will be reviewed by the Selection Committee in March 2013. Visit our website to review the results of the selection process and check names of the winners.

Selection criteria, evaluation

All received project proposals will be reviewed to assess their eligibility on the basis of the criteria mentioned above. Organizations that are short-listed will be contacted by UNAOC with a request to submit a more detailed project budget, as well as more detailed work plan outlining activities, timeline, milestones, expected outcomes and outputs (forms will be provided by UNAOC).

After that, the evaluation of all eligible project proposals will be conducted by a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee members will review project proposals, detailed budgets and work plans, and give them a score. The process will be guided by the principles of fairness, transparency, competitiveness and integrity, treating all submitted proposals with confidence.

The evaluation and scoring will be done on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Objectives: The project supports the objectives of the UNAOC, i.e. improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions, and to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism. The project objectives are clear and there is a logical connection between problem, proposed activities and requested funding;
2. Activities: The project includes activities aiming to build positive and long-term collaborative relationships between youth of different cultural and religious backgrounds;
3. Relevance: The project is appropriate to the local context and targets local audience; it represents good value for money, with clear and appropriate budget;
4. Quality: Organization undertook an in depth analysis of problems/risks and sets a consistent intervention strategy. The application is concise and provides responses to all questions or sections; it includes insightful arguments and engaging narrative;
5. Impact and Multiplier Effect: The project will have a significant impact on the ground. Multiplier effect is outlined and target audiences are clearly identified – priority is given to projects that reach out to youth that would not otherwise have a chance to participate;
6. Sustainability, Monitoring, Evaluation: The project has a potential to become sustainable beyond its original duration and bring long-term results. Monitoring and evaluation elements are clearly demonstrated.

Once the compilation of scores has been completed, up to 25 organizations, which submitted the project proposals with the top scores, will be contacted by the UNAOC via email. Each winning organization will be provided with information on further steps, draft Agreements to be signed and a schedule of payments. Only winning organizations will be contacted.

The official website