Deadline: 8 May 2020
Sida, represented by the Embassy of Sweden in Tirana (hereafter referred as the Embassy), is looking for Innovative ideas for support to environmental civil society in Albania.
The Embassy calls for new ideas on how to further enhance the capacity of environmental civil society organisations to effectively address environmental challenges in Albania. The ideas must be aligned with Sida’s current strategy in the Western Balkans and with the results achieved through the previous Sida supported environmental civil society SENIOR. Furthermore, the ideas should also contribute to enhanced environmental responsibility among the general public and civil society.
Target Group
- The main target group in the proposed programme should be primarily small and consolidated environmental organisations and networks of environmental CSOs working on common environmental themes, but also networks and alliances between environmental CSOs and other CSOs/actors cooperating on environment and combining various expertise.
- Depending on the context, the target groups could be human rights organisations, youth organisations, young activists, and broader group of relevant actors such as media, academia, private sector, public institutions at local and national level.
Priorities
The main purpose of the programme is to empower environmental civil societies to effectively address Albanian environmental and sustainable development challenges, the main objective of the suggested programme should be institutional support for Albanian organisations through mentoring, coaching, providing opportunities and incentives for networking, training and supporting core activities of the organisations, etc.
With regards to the content of intervention and grants, the following themes are prioritized:
- Watch dogging and advocacy on environmental issues and rights.
- Environmental education that could be oriented towards empowering local communities to actively participate in environmental movement.
- Protection of environmental rights that could be oriented towards providing support including legal support particularly to socially vulnerable groups subjected to environmental and climate-change induced risks.
- Monitoring the impact of environmental pollution on public health particularly women and children for evidence-based advocacy, lobbying and policy initiatives.
- Addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Embassy is inviting non-governmental organisations to submit concept notes outlining ideas for new programmes. The programme should align with the core mandate and competences of the implementing organisations, for the purpose of enhancing the capacities of ECSOs and contributing to enhanced environmental responsibility.
- The applicant organisation is strongly encouraged to engage in partnerships with other organisations in order to further strengthen and complement the implementation team. Relationships within the implementation team should be duly regulated between partners (e.g. regarding the forwarding from the implementing organisation to other organisations; financial responsibilities, tasks related to mentoring and coaching, etc.).
- Merit will be given to implementing organisations with previous experiences of similar work, and organisations should hold adequate thematic competences (civil society development and environmental expertise) in theory and practice.
Methodology
Sida is looking for innovative and cost-effective concepts for support to environmental CSOs and alliances of CSOs that synergies theory, practise, and mutual learning. The concept should incorporate methodologies such as a mix of granting schemes for small, consolidated organisations, networking grants, training, peer to peer learning, helpdesks, mentorships, etc. It is important to apply a methodology that involves a wider community of stakeholders in the change processes throughout the programme. The Concept Notes should describe the methodology and theory of change that effectively contributes to achieving the set outputs and outcomes.
For more information, visit https://www.swedenabroad.se/sv/utlandsmyndigheter/albanien-tirana/aktuellt/nyheter/call-for-applications/