Call for Proposals: “Weaving Paths for Life”

Deadline: 23-Aug-24

Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM) is very happy to launch the second call for proposals for 2024 “Weaving paths for life”.

With this call they will contribute to the sustainability of collectives, organizations and networks of women and feminists during the period from January 2025 to November 2026. The call offers various funding opportunities, so that organizations have resources to support their struggles and agendas.

They are very excited to invite applications from organizations led by people with disabilities, indigenous people, Afro-descendants, migrants, peasants, domestic workers, maquila workers, sex workers, feminists, lesbians, bisexuals, trans and non-binary people.

Programs

Justice and Sustainability Program
- They support initiatives that contribute to the work, strengthening and agendas of organizations that build resilience in the face of the environmental and climate crisis, oppressive economic systems and limited hegemonic punitive justice.
- The organizations, networks and groups that they will support influence, lead and build comprehensive alternatives that link gender justice with economic, environmental, climate and/or restorative justice.
- They understand justice as:
  - Restorative and healing justice: seeks to recover the collective fabric, placing the victims of the traumas of violence and their healing processes at the center, so that their voices are heard, they have processes and practices of reparation or healing, and the non-repetition of the events they suffered is guaranteed.
  - Environmental justice: seeks to guarantee the right to water, food, and a clean, healthy, and safe environment, as well as the enjoyment of the benefits and opportunities provided by nature, the recognition and support of the contribution of girls, women, trans and non-binary people to conserve and defend their territory, the implementation of environmentally fair alternatives in accordance with their identities, traditions, and worldviews, and finally participation in environmental political decisions.
  - Economic justice: that which, from a feminist perspective, allows them to understand the causes of inequalities and build proposals for sustaining life. It involves the generation of opportunities for each person to establish a sufficient material base on which to have a dignified, autonomous, productive and creative life.
    - The economic justice proposals that they finance must be initiatives that:
      - Are improving the control of economic resources and the time of women, trans and non-binary people.
      - Promote access to decent work and the development of autonomous alternatives to current economic models.
      - Are linked to the principles of feminist economics, proposing collective solutions and promoting the solidarity and leadership of girls, women, trans and non-binary people.
  - Climate justice: Recognizes the need for equitable management of global natural assets and calls for understanding climate change in relation to social and environmental justice. This includes issues such as equality, human rights, collective rights and historical responsibility, and the way they relate to the causes of climate change, and to adaptation and mitigation processes.
    - The climate justice proposals they support in the program must focus on at least one of the following priority areas:
      - Strengthen the leadership, resilience and capacities of women, trans and non-binary people to implement collaborative and inclusive initiatives for advocacy and lobbying on climate solutions with gender justice.
      - Link and promote alliances between organizations from the climate justice, environmental and women’s rights movements for joint advocacy and lobbying on climate solutions with gender justice.
      - Influence governments and decision-makers (community, local, departmental, regional or national) to implement climate solutions with gender justice.
Freedom and Autonomy Program
- This program focuses on supporting organizations, groups and networks that promote and defend the right of people to decide about their lives, bodies, identities, orientations and gender expressions, resisting the growing wave of fundamentalism and anti-rights, avoiding democratic setbacks and protecting the spaces and rights already won.
- They support organizations that, from feminist perspectives, work for the right to decide, for sex work and for sex-gender identities and their diverse intersections.
Life in Dignity Program
- Through this program, they finance the work, strengthening, and individual and collective agendas of organizations, communication initiatives, networks, and alliances of women, trans, and non-binary people. They promote and support the recognition of care work, autonomy, access, and decent employment conditions, as well as respect for the labor rights of maquila workers, home workers, laborers, and sex workers. In addition, they support the struggles against exploitation, discrimination, and violence (structural, physical, emotional, symbolic, and economic), and for the eradication of femicides and transfemicides; as well as efforts that focus on the right to migrate in safe and dignified conditions.

Funding Information

Since the creation, they have been committed to supporting and accompanying women’s and feminist movements in the Central American region. Recognizing the diversity of organizations, collectives and networks that are part of the movements, with this call, they offer four grant options, each with the following general requirements: The topics, populations and rights on which they have focused their proposal are already an integral part of their agendas and are linked to the FCAM program to which they apply.
The collectives, organizations, networks and alliances that participate must be part of women’s and/or feminist movements.
- Option 1 Applications may be for a maximum annual amount of USD 5,000 (five thousand dollars).
- Organizations or collectives with the following characteristics may participate:
  - Organizations that do not have funding, including those that are emerging and recently created, as long as they have experience and links with other organizations and feminist, women’s, or other social movements.
- Option 2 Applications may be for a maximum amount of USD 8,000 (eight thousand dollars).
- In this option, organizations or collectives with the following characteristics may participate:
  - Experience working on strategies focused on the issues, populations, and rights linked to the program to which they apply.
  - Their annual budget is equal to or greater than USD 10,000 (ten thousand dollars).
  - The organization has the organizational structure to guarantee the implementation of their work plans.
  - Proven experience in the management and transparent reporting of financial resources.
- Option 3 Applications may be for a maximum annual amount of USD 18,000 (eighteen thousand dollars).
- Organizations or collectives with the following characteristics may participate in this option:
  - Experience working on strategies focused on the issues, populations and rights related to the program to which they apply.
  - Their annual budget is equal to or greater than USD 25,000 (twenty-five thousand dollars).
  - The organization has the organizational structure to guarantee the implementation of their work plans. » Proven experience in the management and transparent reporting of financial resources.
- Option 4 Applications may be for a maximum annual amount of USD 25,000 (twenty-five thousand dollars).
- Only organizations with the following characteristics may participate in this option:
  - Experience working on strategies focused on the issues, populations and rights related to the program to which they apply.
  - Their annual budget is equal to or greater than USD 30,000 (thirty thousand dollars).
  - The organization has the organizational structure to guarantee the implementation of their work plans.
  - They have medium and/or long-term plans and strategies.
  - Proven experience in the management and transparent reporting of financial resources.
- Option 5 Depending on the annual budget of the organizations that make up the networks or alliances, applications may be made for a minimum of USD 5,000 (five thousand dollars) up to a maximum of USD 25,000 (twenty-five thousand dollars) per year.
  - At the Central American Women’s Fund, they consider that networks are groups of organizations or people who collaborate in a coordinated manner to achieve shared objectives and goals in the medium and long term. On the other hand, they define alliances as the strategic union of two or more organizations that identify opportunities in the political-social context to carry out specific actions that allow them to achieve short-term objectives. Both networks and alliances can focus their actions at a national level or among the countries of the Central American region.

Duration

The duration of the proposal to be submitted must be 2 years: from January 1, 2025 to November 30, 2026.

Eligibility Criteria

Organizations, networks, alliances and communication initiatives from Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama are eligible to apply.
They will prioritize organizations led by people with disabilities, indigenous people, Afro-descendants, migrants, peasants, domestic workers, maquila workers, sex workers, feminists, lesbians, bisexuals, trans and non-binary people.
Collectives, organizations, networks and alliances, including those that are communication initiatives, must meet the characteristics defined in the application criteria, with the link to FCAM programs and with the requirements of the type of financing to which they apply.

For more information, visit FCAM.