Deadline: 10-Dec-20
This Request for Applications (RFA) is issued under a five-year program entitled Promoting the Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity. The program is carried out based on a Cooperative Agreement between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the East-West Management Institute (EWMI), a New York-based not-for-profit organization. The purpose of PROLoG is to strengthen the justice system to ensure due process, judicial independence, and the protection of human rights.
PROLoG supports the civil society in working towards these goals, primarily through supporting the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary uniting NGOs with an aim to promote civil society engagement and government accountability for ensuring independence and transparency of the judicial system.
Goal
- The goal of the program is to assist effective advocacy initiatives with an aim of increasing judicial independence and transparency, protecting human rights, including due process rights, and promoting equality and non-discrimination. The initiatives may be aimed at exploring problems of implementation of already initiated reforms; carrying out advocacy to address institutional issues that have not been reflected in legislative changes and /or have not yet been rooted in practice; empowering individual judges; monitoring and assessing high-profile cases that can have political implications; carrying out advocacy work on justice sector-related issues of heightened importance in the post-election environment; carrying out advocacy related to equality and anti-discrimination, and other initiatives meeting general objectives of PROLoG.
- The activities may include studies, monitoring, and advocacy campaigns. The aim is to achieve tangible improvements in law and practice as well as the institutional strength of the justice system.
Funding Information
- The grant award for each proposal is $15,000-25,000 for 5-7 months projects.
Activities
Grant funds may be used for the following:
- Expenses related to the collection of data;
- Direct costs for project-related events;
- Communication between partner organizations, e.g. phone, e-mail;
- A pro-rated portion of salaries for key participants, e.g. director, accountant;
- Purchase of a limited amount of equipment (e.g. computer, software) and stationery;
- Other expenses directly related to project implementation;
- Applicants should provide a cost-share in the amount of 5% of the funds requested from PROLoG. Higher contributions are welcome.
Eligibility Criteria
- The competition is open for NGOs as well as unregistered citizen groups.
- Applicants may team up with other organizations (Coalition members or organizations that are not the members of the Coalition) and submit joint proposals.
Selection Criteria
Grants will be awarded to projects exhibiting the following:
- Innovative, results-oriented, and feasible action plans;
- A solid research methodology for projects with a research component. Applicants may consider engaging international experts in developing research methodologies and validating results of their analyses.
- For proposals aimed at monitoring high-profile cases, applicants shall provide an outline of the approach to the monitoring and assessment, including case selection criteria, a strategy for engaging with the parties, and an analytical framework for assessing cases.
- Clear public communication strategies including plans for media campaigns if such are considered; and
- Strategies for engaging the relevant government agencies and institutions, such as Parliamentary committees, Ministries, Public Defender’s Office, State Inspector’s Office, judicial institutions, and political parties, including strategies for communicating results of studies and case analyses.
The following general criteria will also be used to assess the projects:
- Degree of compliance with the objectives and requirements of the competition;
- Scope and relevance of the project’s impact;
- Effectiveness of project methodology;
- Cost-effectiveness of the project;
- Effectiveness of the monitoring and evaluation plan;
- Sustainability of the project (please note that sustainability can refer to activities, structures, knowledge, and outcomes that result from the project implementation);
- Capacity to implement the project as demonstrated by (a) the relevant qualifications of involved personnel and/or experts and (b) past successful experience in the field; (c) capacity of the responsible organization to manage finances effectively.
Selection Process
- To ensure an objective selection process, proposals will be reviewed in accordance with the rules and procedures of PROLoG. The grant award decision will be made by PROLoG, with the approval of USAID.
- During the review process, additional information may be requested. The applicant will be asked to present all the requested additional information within five working days.
- PROLoG anticipates multiple awards under the competition. PROLoG reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted. PROLoG reserves the right not to make any awards, and all costs associated with preparing proposals are the sole responsibility of the organization submitting the proposal, and neither EWMI nor USAID will reimburse organizations for costs incurred in preparing proposals.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2V3KBlh