GCERF seeking Expressions of Interest from Somali Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)

Deadline: 31-Jul-2020

For its first round of investment, GCERF, together with Somalia Country Support Mechanism, has announced a Call for Expressions of Interest from Somali civil society organisations (CSOs) to become a Principal Recipient (PR) or Direct Grantee of funding from GCERF’s Core Funding Mechanism (CFM).

Under the Core Funding Mechanism (CFM), GCERF funds consortia of Somali CSOs to implement initiatives aimed at strengthening community resilience against violent extremism. In a few exceptional cases, grants are provided to an organisation that does not lead a consortium (“Direct Grantees”) but implements initiatives directly. Consortium grants are managed and supported by “Principal Recipients” (PR) who are the legal recipients of GCERF funding and provide funding to “Sub-recipients” (SRs).

Grantees Priorities

Grantees will build activities to address the drivers of violent extremism in line with GCERF’s four priority leverage points for PVE (social cohesion; community agency; equal access to opportunities; and sense of purpose) in the following ways:
- Building tolerance, where violent extremists recruit the marginalized. Potential activities may include intercommunal, interfaith, and intergenerational dialogues, and engaging members of the community through cultural and culturally relevant sporting events, as positive alternatives for vulnerable individuals.
- Strengthening community agency, where violent extremists exploit governance challenges. A potential activity may be engaging local authorities and clan leaders which were identified as a key factor to ensure that the voice of community members is heard. Building bridges between the elders and youth, ensuring valuable youth participation in local governance could be essential for reconciliation. Engagement between grantees and the national government could be foreseen, for example, in the form of dialogue forums.
- Positive social and economic alternatives to what violent extremist and criminal groups claim to offer. For example, madrasa and public school students could be provided with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills (including training on the responsible use of social media that is booming in Somalia), which are not traditionally offered in the education curriculum, and marketable livelihood skills should be included as a cross-cutting theme in P/CVE interventions.

Funding Information

The first investment will be made in quarters three and four of 2020. GCERF will use the Core Funding Mechanism (CFM) and sign either one large or several smaller (minimum USD 500,000) grant agreements with civil society consortia.

Duration

The grants will be no less than 18 months and no more 36 months in duration.

Eligibility Criteria

Youth and children, (in and out of school) who are at risk to become violent extremists and criminals. – The African Youth Charter defines youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 35 (African Union 2006) and children (the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as a human being below the age of 18 years.
Youth support networks (peers, families especially parents; primary, secondary, and religious schoolteachers and management committees).
Clan leaders/traditional and religious leaders, who are connected to the youth and can generate a positive impact on youth as role models.
Note: girls and women affected by non-state armed groups including violent extremist groups should be included in the different categories to the extent possible.

Locations

Urban areas in Gedo and Lower Juba ONLY
Rural areas that are under the control of national authorities and identified as a place for recruitment for non-state armed groups in Gedo, Lower Juba ONLY
Somalia-Kenya border areas

Selection Criteria

The purpose of an Expression of Interest is for an applicant for GCERF funding to demonstrate that it meets GCERF’s established prerequisites and that it possesses the required capabilities to be a Principal Recipient of GCERF funding.

Prerequisites
- Appropriate legal registration
- Willingness to accept and fulfil the role of a Principal Recipient (as described herein).
Capabilities
- Established relationships and credibility with the communities and population groups identified in the Call, in the geographical areas also identified in the Call.
- Experience and capacity in programme design and management, and project cycle management.
- Experience and capacity in financial management and in the management of and accounting for international donor grant funding.
- Experience and capacity in working within a consortium and/or managing sub-recipients for those choosing to form a consortium.
- Experience and capacity in community-level initiatives that address the local drivers of violent extremism and strengthen resilience against violent extremist agendas.