Call for Proposals: Strengthening the Capacity and Voice of Kenyan CSOs

Deadline: 5-Jun-23

The European Commission (EC) is accepting proposals to strengthen the capacity and voice of Kenyan civil society and human rights organisations as independent actors of accountability, governance and development through deepening their participation in national and sub-national policy and democratic reforms discussions in the main areas of EU-Kenya partnership.

With the adoption of the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Kenya 2021-2027, the EU revised its Roadmap of engagement with civil society for the period 2022-2025, which includes the following objectives:

• Support an enabling legal and institutional environment for Kenyan civil society, at national and county-level;
• Promote participation of Kenyan civil society in policy-making processes, at international, national and county-level, with a focus on Women and Youth;
• Strengthen the capacity of CSOs as independent actors of accountability, governance and development, in the main areas of EU-Kenya partnership;
• Initiate a structured dialogue between the EU and Kenyan civil society, covering main EU priority areas, and involving the EU, its member states, national and local authorities.

Lots and Priorities

• Lot 1:     Structured dialogue with Kenyan civil society 
  • The specific objective for this lot is to enable and empower Kenyan civil society actors to engage in a more structured, inclusive, regular and sustainable dialogue with the EU, covering the main priority areas of EU-Kenya cooperation, and involving the EU Member states, national and local authorities.
  • While ensuring youth and gender mainstreaming, as well as inclusiveness and geographic balance, the action under this lot will have to address all four following priorities:
    • Enhance dialogue, advocacy and networking capacities for participating civil society actors;
    • Coordinate the policy dialogue between civil society and the EU, with participation from EU Member States, national and local authorities;
    • Organise the logistics and facilitate the events and activities under this dialogue;
    • Establish a youth advisory group , with relevant accompanying capacity-building/networking activities, based on Terms of Reference and a proposed list of members to be identified, discussed and agreed with the EU Delegation during the Inception Period.
• Lot 2:     Digital democracy
  • The specific objective for this lot is to contribute to strengthening the voice, capacity and influence of Kenyan human rights organisations to promote and safeguard democratic, safe and inclusive digital space, including by harnessing opportunities and addressing challenges of new technologies, and the promotion of human rights and democracy in the use of digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence.
  • The priorities of this lot are:
    • To foster a safe and inclusive digital space by:
      • Addressing cyberbullying and cyberstalking against children and young adults
      • Countering online hate speech and disinformation and promoting reliable and independent sources of information
    • Enhancing digital media literacy and skills for digital safety
      • To safeguard an open, democratic and rights-based digital space by:
      • Strengthening the capacity of local organisations, i.e. CSOs and CBOs to engage in research, advocacy, outreach and accountability work to achieve priority;
      • Supporting and fostering multi-actor partnerships that develop human-centered and rights-based policy responses and/or that develop, adapt and/or roll-out innovative, human-centered and rights-based digital solutions;
• Lot 3:     Electoral reforms
  • The specific objective for this lot is to contribute to the implementation of electoral reforms, as highlighted in the EU EOM recommendations, though awareness raising, policy dialogue and initiatives in favour of changes of administrative practices and legislation towards more inclusive, transparent and credible elections.
  • The priorities for this lot are:
    • To support a multi-actor electoral reforms action focused on the EU EOM Kenya 2022 priorities and – secondarily the constituency delimitation process to be completed by end of 2024;
    • To develop initiatives that engage Kenyan CSOs in the full diversity across the country and across sectors in promotion of and consolidation of democratic governance through electoral reform discussions and proposals including CSO and citizens engagement with elected county and national officials;
    • To support initiatives to discuss, assess and promote reducing ‘costs of elections’ in Kenya incl. implementation and strengthening of campaign financing limits and their oversight, political party candidate fees, discourage vote buying and bribery taking and other direct citizenry incentives as well as mechanisms to reduce expenditure and improve transparency and accountability of such expenditure by independent electoral bodies;
    • To support advocacy, dialogue and other initiatives to advance and adopt legislation and regulations to implement and enforce the 2/3 gender rule and support elected women politicians, empower and support girls and women to engage in politics and enhance their voice and influence at national and county/local level;;
    • To support advocacy for and activities to promote more inclusive politics in Kenya, with particular preference for activities led by minority groups such as – ethnic minorities, People with Disabilities, marginalised/remotely living youth and communities – to strengthen the voice of and the capacity of their representatives to stand as candidates and in elected and executive body decision- and policy-making;
    • To support initiatives to analyse, observe and report to the public on the constituency delimitation and engage Kenyan citizens and CSOs in their full diversity in this process and enhance their understanding of the purpose, impact and political sensitivities of such processes and compromise solutions and evaluate the process from a citizens perspective;
    • To support initiatives that promote dialogue on key democratic governance processes and accountability related to elections and the functioning of independent electoral bodies and elected offices as well as respect for the important role of independent media, investigative journalism and civil society activism in this respect;
• Lot 4:     Climate change and environmental protection
  • The specific objective is to strengthen the voice, capacity and influence of wider Kenyan civil society to raise awareness of the impact and implications of climate change and promote civic engagement with emphasis on community-based natural resources management, public participation in decision-making with focus on environmental challenges of urbanisation, drought response policies and Kenyan’s international climate change and biodiversity commitments.
  • More concretely, the objective of this lot is to support initiatives from Kenyan environmental organisations and community-based organisations on strengthening their voice, including constituency engagement, capacity-building and participation on three thematic priorities:
    • Promoting public awareness of and participation in discussions at national, county and community level on sustainable and green urbanisation, including but not limited to waste management, recycling and circular economic initiatives in informal settlements or other high-density populated areas. This could include the implementation of the Waste Management Bill 2022 as well as locally-driven or sector-specific proposals by citizens to reduce, reuse and recycle waste water and solid waste i.e. through multiplication efforts;
    • Promoting civil society and affected community participation in policy dialogue at national, county and community level on policies and initiatives related to drought responses and risk management, enhancing resilience and climate change adaptation. The community engagement should be inclusive and engage affected rural and urban communities residents, including schools, youth, women and marginalised groups.
    • Raising public awareness and promote civic engagement on the implementation of Kenya’s global environmental, biodiversity and climate change related commitments, and promote participation of communities, households, public and private sector bodies in their implementation. This can include formulation of local/group action plans and support citizens and youth led awareness raising and monitoring.

Categories

• Kenya boasts one of the most active civil societies in the region. CSOs in Kenya can be classified in three broad categories:
  • Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), registered under the NGOs coordination act,
  • CSOs in the forms of societies, associations, trusts and companies limited by guarantee, registered under the Societies act, Trust deed act and Companies act,
  • Community-Based Organisations (CBOs), registered and regulated by the Department of Social Services.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2.200.000 to be financed under the 2022 budget and an indicative amount of EUR 5,400,000 to be financed under the 2023 budget. The 2023 budget amounts are subject to the availability of the appropriations provided for in the general budget of the Union for 2023. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • Lot 1:
    • minimum amount: EUR  1,500,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1,500,000
  • Lot 2:
    • minimum amount: EUR     840,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1,300,000
  • Lot 3:
    • minimum amount: EUR    970,000
    • maximum amount: EUR   970,000
  • Lot 4:
    • minimum amount: EUR  1,250,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1,250,000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 30 months nor exceed 48 months.

Location: In principle, all proposed activities must take place in Kenya. When duly justified and directly linked to the priorities for the specific lot under which the proposal is submitted, limited activities outside Kenya can be included in the Description of the Action.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a civil society organisation and/or their associations  and
  • be established in  Kenya or in a Member State of the European Union or in countries as stipulated in the basic act NDICI-GE  and
• However; if the lead applicant is not established in Kenya nor in  an EU Member State but  in  countries stipulated in the basic act NDICI-GE  it must act with at least two co-applicants of which one should be established in  an EU Member State and one established in Kenya;
• must be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • For all lots, the lead applicant must act with at least two co-applicants. If the lead applicant is established in Kenya, at least one of the co-applicants should be established in  a Member State of the European Union. If the lead applicant is established in  a Member State of the European Union, at least one of the co-applicants should be established in  Kenya;
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.

• In addition to the categories referred to the following types of organisations are also eligible as co-applicants for Lot 2 and 3: National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) established in accordance with the Paris principles  and independent commissions created by Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Kenya or acts of Parliament.
• If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
• In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.
• Affiliated Entities
• The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
• Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
  • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
• This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
  • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
• Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
  • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
  • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
  • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
• Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,…) as the proposed affiliated entities.

For more information, visit European Commission.