UNAOC’s Youth Solidarity Fund: Seed Grant and Capacity Building Support for Youth-Led Organizations

Deadline: 31-May-2023

Are you a young change-maker looking to make a positive impact in your community? The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is pleased to invite youth-led organizations to apply for the 2023 edition of its Youth Solidarity Fund (YSF).

The call is open to organizations whose work seeks to promote peace and social inclusion through improved understanding, respect, and collaboration across borders, cultures, faiths, and beliefs.

The Youth Solidarity Fund (YSF) supports youth-led organizations that foster peaceful and inclusive societies. Seed funding is given to projects, for and by young people that demonstrate innovative and effective approaches to intercultural or interfaith dialogue. UNAOC additionally offers capacity-building support to help youth-led organizations strengthen the implementation of their projects.

The funded projects are youth-led and youth-focused. The age definition used by UNAOC to characterize youth is an individual between the ages of 18 and 35. While the projects target mainly young people, they have an impact on entire communities, often involving religious or political leaders, policy-makers, educational institutions and media organizations.

Objectives

• The project aims to 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 promotes the values of peace and development;
• The project objectives are clear, and there is a logical connection between identified issues, proposed activities, and requested funding.

Type of Projects

• Youth Solidarity Fund provides seed funding to outstanding projects promoting intercultural and interfaith dialogue. It awards grants of up to USD 25,000 for the implementation of selected projects that demonstrate innovative and effective approaches to intercultural and/or interfaith dialogue and advance the mission of UNAOC. Proposals linked to the implementation of the following frameworks/policies are particularly encouraged:
  • Projects that support the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) on Youth, Peace and Security in connection to intercultural and interfaith dialogue;
  • Projects that support the implementation of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism by promoting intercultural and interfaith dialogue as a prevention tool;
  • Projects that support the implementation of the United Nations Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 by addressing the increased stigma and discrimination of young people and their communities exacerbated by the pandemic;
  • Projects that support the implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites by promoting respect for other religions and cultures, the right of human beings to practice their faith in safety and peace, and efforts to combat extremist ideologies and narratives;
  • Projects that support the implementation of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech by addressing the issues and their impact on young people.

Funding Information

• It awards grants of up to USD 25,000.

Activities

• The project includes activities aiming to build positive and long-term collaborative relationships between youth of different cultural and religious backgrounds, therefore contributing to a long-term peaceful coexistence in society;
• The project contains elements of intergenerational partnership and dialogue;
• The project has a solid gender-mainstreaming strategy and is inclusive to minorities and/or marginalized groups to promote a more socially cohesive community;
• The project uses seed funding to implement innovative and effective approaches to intercultural and/or interfaith dialogue and advance the mission of UNAOC;
• The project supports implementation of any of the following frameworks/policies:
  • United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) on Youth, Peace and Security in connection to intercultural and interfaith dialogue;
  • United Nations Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism by promoting intercultural and interfaith dialogue as a prevention tool;
  • United Nations Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 by addressing the increased stigma and discrimination of young people and their communities exacerbated by the pandemic;
  • United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites by promoting respect for other religions and cultures, the right of human beings to practice their faith in safety and peace, and efforts to combat extremist ideologies and narratives;
  • United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech by addressing the issues and their impact on young people.

Eligibility Criteria

• Youth-led organizations registered;
• Registered youth-led organizations with projects entirely developed and managed by youth.
• 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 every one of the following criteria:
    • Be youth-led: a majority of the positions and decision-making roles within the organization are held by women and men between the ages of 18 and 35;
    • Be a non-profit, non-governmental organization (except for 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 two years prior to the deadline for applications with funding base and project implementation (operating in April 2021 or earlier);
    • Be registered and operate in one of the aforementioned countries;
    • Have a democratic governance structure and decision-making mechanism, including consultative processes in formulating priorities and policies;
    • Have an ability to demonstrate proper and consistent monitoring, evaluation, and record-keeping of their activities, including project evaluation reports and financial accounts;
    • Have a gender perspective/balance reflected in their staff, beneficiaries, 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 past editions of YSF or did not receive support through the Intercultural Innovation Hub.
  • Note: If you applied for YSF in the past but were not selected, you can apply for YSF again.
  • Upon request, organizations will need to provide documented evidence demonstrating 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 must fulfill every one of the following criteria to be eligible and reviewed by the Selection Committee:
    • Origin: The project was developed and written by youth;
    • Target Audience: The project targets youth primarily. Gender balance among project participants is ensured;
    • Objective: The project contributes to advancing UNAOC’s mandate of promoting a more socially inclusive world by building mutual respect among peoples of different cultural and religious identities;
    • Management: The project is managed by a youth-led organization, responding to all eligibility criteria mentioned;
    • Project Coordinator: The Project Coordinator is demonstrably affiliated to the applying organization and is between the ages of 18 and 35 at the time of the application;
    • Duration and Timing: The project must be implemented within 12 months of commencing. Final reports will need to be submitted no later than one month after the completion of the project;
    • Location: Project activities are implemented in the country(ies) mentioned in the list;
    • Budget: The organization needs to guarantee its capacity to implement all proposed project elements with the funds requested. The amount requested must be no more than 50 percent of the organization’s annual budget in 2022. Grants provided by UNAOC will not exceed USD 25,000. The scope of the project and the amount requested is not a determining factor in the selection process. Projects with smaller budgets are encouraged to apply. Please note that the average grant in the 9th YSF edition was USD 15,000. The proposed budget will have 90 percent of costs associated with direct project activities, and only up to 10 percent of it will cover the 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 submitted in English only;
    • Registration certificate and statute: Copies of a registration certificate and a statute need to be attached to the application form. They can be submitted in the original language of the country where the organization is registered. Translations may be requested at a later stage of the selection process.

For more information, visit UNAOC.