16th Round of United Nations Democracy Fund: Grants of up to US$300,000 per two-year project

Deadline: 6 December 2021

Applications are now open for the 16th round of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) to support projects that strengthen the voice of civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes.

The large majority of UNDEF funds go to local civil society organizations — both in the transition and consolidation phases of democratization. In this way, UNDEF plays a novel and unique role in complementing the UN’s other, more traditional work — the work with Governments — to strengthen democratic governance around the world.

Thematic Areas

For this Round, UNDEF invites project proposals covering one or more of any of its eight thematic areas:

Women’s empowerment
Community activism
Rule of law and human rights
Youth engagement
Strengthening civil society interaction with Government
Media and freedom of information
Tools for knowledge
Electoral processes

Funding Information

Grant allocations will be of a minimum of US$100,000 and not exceed US$300,000 for any given project. Applicants must request an amount within this range. The majority of projects are granted no more than $250,000.
UNDEF grants will be allocated for projects with default duration of two years.

Priority Countries and Regional Balance

Strong preference will be given to applicants from countries and regions where the challenges of democracy are more critical, such as countries emerging from conflict, new and restored democracies, the Least Developed Countries (as per the official classification of the UNOHRLLS), Low Income Countries (“Low Income Economies” as per the World Bank’s official classification based on Gross National Income per capita) and Middle Income Countries (“Lower and Upper Middle-income Economies”, idem).

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Beneficiaries
- UNDEF funds projects implemented by non-UN organizations, not individuals, profit-making or government entities. Eligible applicants must be duly constituted nationally or internationally and have legal status.
- At the project proposal stage, you will be required to indicate the type of organization applying for funding:
  - Civil Society Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations engaged in promoting democracy
  - Independent and Constitutional Bodies,
  - Global and Regional inter-government bodies, organizations and associations other than the United Nations
- UNDEF’s priority is Civil Society Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations. The organization must be legally constituted. UN accreditation is not a prerequisite to apply for UNDEF funding. UNDEF encourages local CSO’s to submit high quality project proposals.
Local and Global/Regional Projects
- UNDEF will invite proposals for projects that either take place in one country only (local) or occur in several specified states of a region or sub-region (regional) or intend to operate at the global level (global). UNDEF will reserve at least 80% of its programmable resources in each funding round for projects taking place in one country and will allocate no more than 20% to global/regional projects.