Call for Proposals: Large Infrastructure Investments for Education & Culture (Palestine)

Deadline: 4-Dec-23

The NGO Development Center (NDC) announces the availability of funding to Palestinian civil society organisations (CSOs) through a call for proposals under AJIR+ programme.

The call for proposals is dedicated to large infrastructure investments developed by CSOs and aims at supporting youth and children through improved educational and cultural facilities. Duration of the selected projects shall not exceed 3 years. Designed with the overarching goal of contributing to the full emancipation of Palestinian youth, this call for proposals aims at providing funding to finance construction or renovation works in order to remove material constraints, which prevent the development of quality education and cultural provisions and infrastructures (lack of classrooms, poor premises conditions, etc.).

Objectives

• AJIR’ s primary objective is to support the resilience of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. In this context, three priority fields of action have been identified:
  • improving education and cultural services provided to youth;
  • supporting vulnerable populations; and
  • fostering the role of civil society and enhancing its capacities.

Pillars

• As cross-cutting issues, gender inequalities and environmental challenges will be addressed throughout these three pillars.
  • Pillar I: Supporting youth through the financing of education and cultural infrastructures
    • Designed with the overarching goal of contributing to the full emancipation of Palestinian youth, Pillar I will be funding construction or renovation works in order to remove material constraints which prevent the development of quality education and cultural provisions and infrastructures (lack of classrooms, poor premises conditions).
  • Pillar Il: Meeting the needs of vulnerable populations through fair and equal access to social and legal services
    • Pillar Il will be dedicated to providing social and legal services to vulnerable populations in order to improve their living conditions. A strong emphasis will thus be placed on social inclusion and professional integration or reintegration of marginalized populations (women, the elderly, people with disabilities. people exposed to violence, etc.).
  • Pillar Ill: Building civil society capacity
    • Finally, Pillar Ill will aim to foster civil society organizations (CSO) capacity building, thereby strengthening their role in the implementation of new governance models.

Funding Information

• The total cost of the project is €8 million, which will be financed through a grant to NDC.
• The funding ceiling per subproject is EUR 1.5 million while the minimum threshold is EUR 500,000;

Expected Effects of the Project

• In line with the SDGs and pursuant to AFD’s commitments at both the international and regional levels, AJIR wishes to contribute to strengthening the resilience and social well-being of the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem. By targeting youth and vulnerable populations, the programme aims to consolidate social cohesion. In that respect, education, as a key field of action of the programme, will help enhance social and professional inclusion of all Palestinian women and men in East Jerusalem, As a ripple effect, the provision of quality infrastructures and services will go hand in hand with the capacity building of civil society, thereby creating an environment conducive to inclusive and participatory governance models.

Eligibility Criteria

• CSOs have to apply individually to receive grants under the call for proposals. Each CSO is allowed to submit only one project proposal. Applicant CSOs must fulfill all of the following eligibility criteria:
  • CSO is Palestinian, non-governmental, non-profit and non-partisan organization; or a faith-based organization that provides social services to the public;
  • CSO has been registered for at least three years under the competent authority by the date of submission of the proposal and is able to provide evidence of legal registration;
  • CSO must have a local operating office (headquarters) in East Jerusalem;
  • CSO submitted individually one subproject proposal only;
  • The CSO has an operational bank account from an accredited bank and evidence has been provided.
  • The subproject activities targets East Jerusalem;
  • The proposed subproject targets the education and culture sectors;
  • Subproject duration cannot exceed 3 years;
  • Subprojects shall not involve a negative economic change or impact and population displacement.
  • The subproject budget per year shall not represent more than seventy percent of the CSO annual resources over the last three accounting periods;
  • For construction and infrastructure works, subprojects must have received (at the time of submission of the proposal) all necessary approvals from the competent authorities.

For more information, visit NDC.