CFPs: Human Rights Fund and Netherlands Fund for Regional Partnerships Program (Belarus)

Deadline: 03-Apr-2024

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is pleased to announce the Human Rights Fund and Netherlands Fund for Regional Partnerships Program.

Human rights are rights that apply worldwide, to all people, in all places, at all times. They are the foundations of a democracy in which every person counts. The Netherlands strives to protect and promote human rights all over the world, including Belarus.

Strengthening democratic institutions, restoring trust between citizens (and government), and working towards reducing the likelihood and impact of threats, reduces societal tensions and enhances stability.

Dutch support to Belarus consists mainly of two programs:

• Human Rights Fund (HRF)
  • The Netherlands strives to protect and promote human rights all over the world. The government cannot do this on its own. The Human Rights Fund therefore supports organisations that work for human rights worldwide.
  • Due to the dire human rights situation in Belars and the diverse activities of the Belarusian civil society in exile the Embassy selected the following priority themes for projects within the HRF in the 2024:
  • General goals
    • Freedom of expression and Internet freedom
      • Specific goals
        • Preventing attacks on and obstacles to journalists and media workers (including education and professionalization);
        • Long-term sustainability of Belarusian independent media outlets and their ability to become self-sustainable;
        • Long-term media projects promoting consolidation and preservation of structures for relocation to Belarus;
        • Protection of journalists and media workers in emergency situations;
    • Freedom of religion or belief     
      • Specific goals
        • Decrease in persecution and discrimination of religious minorities;
        • Strengthening the role of religion and faith based actors in achieving the SDGs;
    • Equal rights for women and girls
      • Specific goals
        • Decrease in violence against women and girls in public and private life (focus on home violence and PTSD in families of former political prisoners and Belarusian veterans);
    • Human rights defenders and civic space              
      • Specific goals
        • Preventing attacks on and obstacles to human rights defenders;
        • Protection of human rights defenders in emergency situations;
    • Equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people (LGBTIQ+)
      • Specific goals
        • Increase in social acceptance of LGBTQI+ people within the Belarusian society both in Belarus and in exile;
    • Tackling impunity for the most serious crimes (‘accountability’)
      • Specific goals
        • Inclusive engagement with victims and survivor groups to help them achieve (criminal) justice for international crimes, either in national, regional or international justice procedures;
• NFRP – MATRA
  • The NFRP-MATRA program provides grants for strengthening democracy and the rule of law in Europe.
  • Project proposals under the NFRP- MATRA program should preferably focus on:
  • Organizational development and capacity-building of civil society in order to strengthen democratic processes.
  • Programs are demand-driven. The Embassy does not have specific thematic focus.
  • Goals
    • Building resilient (civil) societies
      • Specific goals
        • Promotion of public participation;
        • Innovative education aimed at more engaged society;
        • More engaged society;
        • Good governance.

Specific Trajectories of supporting projects

• In order to better address the needs of the Belarusian partners Embassy made a decision to develop within both support programs two overarching trajectories:
  • The first trajectory:
    • Focus: smaller short term activities (up to 24 months long)
    • Demand-driven
    • Examples: innovative solutions (i.e. pilots), immediate support, bridge funding or immediate support (in exceptional cases, question to decide by the Embassy on the case by case basis)
  • Within the first trajectory framework in general a maximum amount of grant is €50.000,00 for a maximum of 24 months.
  • The second trajectory:
    • Focus: Long-term commitments (up to 48 months)
    • Goal 1: To build sustainability and excellence of organizations in their fields of expertise
    • Goal 2:  To improve capacity for both monetization and profit development and ability to relocate to Belarus
  • Within the first trajectory framework in general a maximum amount of grant is up to  €150.000,00 per year for a maximum of 48 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Only NGOs and non-profit organizations (including independent media) are eligible to take part in this call for proposals. In specific situation Embassy has a right to decide otherwise.

Ineligible

• The following projects, activities and budget items are not eligible for funding under NFRP – MATRA or Human Rights Fund:
  • Projects that have been submitted after the closing date of the calls for proposals;
  • Commercial activities;
  • Projects that entirely repeat previous projects;
  • (Re)construction costs ( of buildings) in projects;
• Purely charitable activities, such as medical assistance or the donation of food, are not regarded as structural contributions to the reform process. Nor do they actively involve the target group. Laudable and useful as they may be, these activities are not eligible for the NFRP – MATRA or the Human Rights Fund grant.
• A new project within HRF or NFRP-MATRA can only be supported if the previous project of an applicant has been completed and officially closed unless other agreement has been made between the Embassy and the partner. (The Embassy reserves the right to decide on a case by case basis).
• Please note that an organization can submit only one project proposal per call for proposals. If a proposal is submitted under NFRP – MATRA, the applicant cannot submit another proposal under Human Rights Fund, and vice versa.

For more information, visit Kingdom of the Netherlands.