Funding Call for CSOs to participate in “Furthering Women’s Labour Rights” Program

Deadline: 9 November 2019

Announced as part of the Action: ‘Furthering Women’s Labour Rights’, funded by the European Union and co-funded by Swedish International Development Agency.

The Coalition members include the Kosovo Women’s Network, Reactor – Research in Action from North Macedonia, Gender Alliance for Development Centre (GADC) from Albania, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka (HCABL) from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Women’s Rights Centre (WRC) from Montenegro and the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation from Sweden through its office in Serbia.

The objective of this Call for Proposals is to, through supporting projects that achieve the expected results and suggested indicators of this Call for Proposals, improve the impact of CSOs, particularly women’s rights and grassroots groups, in holding relevant institutions accountable to implementing anti-discrimination legislation related to women’s labour rights and empowering women to claim their rights. Sub-grants also will seek to strengthen CSOs’ organizational and advocacy capacities.

Expected Results

The expected results include:

• CSOs’ participation in decision-making processes and reforms related to women’s labour rights increased and improved
• Cooperative relations between CSOs and other stakeholders improved in furthering implementation of anti-discrimination legislation
• Understanding of discrimination against women at work and opportunities for its address improved among citizens, institutions and other stakeholders

Focus Areas

• Legal aid and court monitoring
• Advocacy for legal/policy changes and/or improved institutional response
• Awareness-raising and empowering women to report discrimination

Size of Grants

The overall indicative amount for all participating countries made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 200,000.00.

Duration

The planned duration of a project must be at minimum 12 months and may not exceed 18 months.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply, the applicant and (if applicable) co-applicant(s) must fulfil the following criteria:

• Be legally registered and operating in one or more of the following six countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, or Serbia;
• Be non-profit making;
• Be a civil society organization;
• Been active longer than a year;
• Have a mission that relates to the proposed activities;
• Have a clear vision of the change it wants to pursue with its initiative, which will contribute to Combatting Discrimination and Furthering Women’s Labour Rights; and
• Have some experience related to the proposed project, such as:
  • For organisations conducting awareness-raising, experience raising awareness with the targeted communities;
  • For organisations interested in providing legal aid, relevant prior experience and expertise providing legal aid;
  • Experience furthering gender equality and/or women’s labour rights, highly encouraged but not mandatory;
• Be able to show evidence of their capacity and previous experience in managing projects of a similar size (in terms of budget and duration) as the proposed action;
• Be directly responsible for preparation and management of the project;
• Have the management capacity, professional competences and qualification required to successfully complete the proposed action; and
• Seek to reach marginalised, grassroots and/or vulnerable persons (e.g., persons suffering from discrimination related to labour, particularly women, persons with different abilities, LGBTQIA+ persons, and minority ethnic groups, among others).

Under this call for proposals an organisation may submit only one application.

Eligible Activities

The types of activities eligible for support will include but not necessarily be limited to:

• Undertaking advocacy based on the needs identified in the aforementioned research (Albania and Serbia only);
• Raising awareness about the relevant legal framework, research findings, and evidence-based recommendations resulting from the research with key stakeholders including: relevant government institutions (e.g., labour inspectors, ministries of labour, judicial institutions, government-funded free legal aid providers, national gender equality mechanisms); trade unions, syndicates and other social partners; other CSOs, including women’s rights groups, business associations, free legal aid providers, and CSOs assisting LGBTQIA+ persons, persons with different abilities, minorities and women living in rural areas;
• Empowering and supporting diverse women to report gender-based discrimination related to labour;
• Providing legal assistance, legal aid and legal counselling related to gender-based discrimination and labour; and
• Monitoring court cases related to discrimination, document results, and utilise findings to inform advocacy to institutions to improve their response.

How to Apply

• Applications may be submitted in Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Macedonian and English languages.
• The full application must be submitted electronically at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit https://womensnetwork.org/kosovo-womens-fund/call-for-applications/