Deadline: 29-Apr-25
The Embassy of Finland in Hanoi is currently inviting potential partners to submit concept notes for Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC).
The FLC, managed by the Embassy of Finland in Hanoi, is part of Finland’s development policy and it aims at eradicating poverty through economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development. FLC supports projects that seek to strengthen the promotion of human rights, and the promotion of democratic and accountable societies.
In 2025, the Embassy aims to finance one or two local initiatives that promote a circular economy. The focus should be on raising awareness of the circular economy, and build capacities of communities, local organisations, authorities and companies to implement circular economy practices. The project should support gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, and vulnerable groups in the target communities, especially persons with disabilities.
Priorities
- Globally, the FLC supports the goals set for Finland’s development policy: eradication of poverty by means of economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development. Development of democracy and the rule of law as well as the strengthening of human rights and well-functioning civil society create conditions for comprehensive sustainable development and are therefore important FLC targets. The FLC should be channeled especially to projects that seek to strengthen the following development policy priorities:
- promotion of human rights
- promotion of democratic and accountable society
- promotion of sustainable management of natural resources and environmental protection.
Funding Information
- The Embassy has provisionally allocated altogether 200,000 EUR to be granted to 1-2 projects, over a maximum implementation period of 24 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Embassy of Hanoi encourages especially civil society actors, such as non-governmental organizations and associations to apply for the fund. As per the FLC norm, the fund’s eligible partners include local nongovernmental organizations, science and technology communities, universities and other educational and research institutions, independent media, public bodies, and cultural institutions (for example, museums, libraries, and theatres), chambers of commerce and commercial associations, organizations engaged in the promotion of export and investment, businesses, cooperatives, interest groups of companies and employees, foundations or religious communities.
- The preferred geographical area is the Northern region in Vietnam, but proposals focusing on other regions are also welcome.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Finnish non-governmental organisations (separate application through the unit in question)
- Projects of friendship associations in Finland (separate application through the unit in question)
- Finnish government agencies or public bodies (separate application through the ICI instrument)
- Finnish municipalities (separate application through the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities)
- Finnish business
- The government, ministries or municipalities of the host country
- An unregistered association or organisation (however, taking into consideration the special circumstances in the host country)
- Support the activities of a political party
- Basic research
- Single cultural events (that have no permanent impact)
- Charity
- Humanitarian aid
- In the form of a grant, scholarship or assistance for the applicant’s personal use
- Purchasing land
- A fund
- Building the capital of microcredit systems (however, development projects and training are possible).
Selection Criteria
- Both the merits of the applicant organization and the project will be taken into account during the selection process. The previous experiences in FLC projects is an advantage. The applicant organizations are encouraged to find synergies to other Finnish initiatives in Vietnam.
- Minimum criteria (only proposals fulfilling will be further assessed):
- The applicant organization is legally registered in Vietnam.
- The project is at minimum human rights sensitive as defined in the Human Rights Based Approach to
- Development (2015) guideline of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Projects which are assessed as Human Rights blind cannot be funded.
- The applicant organization will be judged on its demonstrations that:
- it has expertise and past experience in the area of activity or with the targeted group;
- it shows strong commitment by portion of its financial contribution in the project;
- it has adequate financial management capacity to meet the Fund’s requirements;
- it has the capacity to sustain the activity or follow up its results;
- it has a good working relationship with people in the project area.
- The project proposal will be evaluated and given more assets if:
- the project has innovative activities or ideas and it takes into account other actors’ activities in the project area;
- the project follows the results-based-management approach, i.e. it has a logical results chain and indicators that measure the achievement of project objectives;
- the project’s results and objectives (short-term and long-term) are clearly defined, realistic, measurable, and sustainable;
- the selection, participation, and ownership of the project’s beneficiaries and the role of project partners are justified and clearly indicated;
- detailed activities with required resources (human and financial), work plan and timeframe are presented;
- the project is cost-effective and an effort has been made to minimize costs.
For more information, visit Embassy of Finland in Hanoi.
