Deadline: 7-Aug-23
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is inviting organisations with relevant expertise to submit project proposals that promote and protect the rights of LGBT+ people globally.
International civil society organisations, human-rights defenders, parliamentary associations and consortia, which are LGBT+ led or with a strong focus on LGBT+ rights, are eligible to apply.
The programme will support projects that address challenges faced by LGBT+ people globally including:
- reducing violence, discrimination and stigma
- advancing and upholding human rights-compliant laws
- supporting economic, cultural and societal inclusion
- supporting LGBT+ people who face unique challenges during crises, conflicts and acute threats to their life
Thematic Priorities
- Multiple and intersecting vulnerabilities can result in specific challenges to different communities such as LGBT+ people with disabilities. The experience of people at the intersection of disability and diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are often overlooked or excluded from both disability and LGBT+ inclusion efforts. Within the LGBT+ community, there are groups that are particularly under-resourced such as organisations supporting lesbian and transgender rights.
Scope of the Work
- The projects selected will work on one or more of the following areas:
- Strengthening global capability: stronger, more resilience, inclusive and sustainable organisations with the technical and legal knowledge and skills to make progress on LGBT+ equality and inclusion;
- Sub-granting to grassroots LGBT+ rights organisations to increase their reach, effectiveness, and impact;
- Technical and legal support for human rights defenders, parliamentarians and government officials for the reform of laws or policies that discriminate against LGBT+ people;
- Increasing awareness and understanding of LGBT+ rights among duty bearers, diplomats, the media, key FCDO staff, development and humanitarian workers, religious organisations, business, government, cultural traditional leadership, and amongst parents and families of LGBT+ activists;
- Advocacy, influencing parliamentarians, governments and supporting donors, multilaterals and national government to commit to LGBT+ rights through sharing and collating evidence and data to build more coherent approaches to LGBT+ rights, build political will nationally and at regional levels to prioritise LGBT+ rights and scope;
- Rapid financial support for civil society organisations in countries showing clear evidence of rolling back LGBT+ rights or where crisis contexts cause a particular risk to LGBT+ people;
- Supporting influential thought leaders including faith leaders to advocate for local and global reform;
- Innovation: identification, trialling and scaling up innovative and effective on promoting and protecting the rights of LGBT+ people;
- Learning, evidence and advice on understanding the real ‘lived’ situation in varied contexts better and sharing information on the practical and most effective approaches that work to improve the lives of individuals from the LGBT+ community.
Funding Information
- Projects up £500,000 a year will be considered. Funding available for the financial year 2023/2024 will be very limited.
- Duration: Multi-year proposals will be considered. The funding period is from November 2023 to April 2028. There will be a break-point at the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review period in April 2025 with a further approval of the budgets for the remaining years of the projects.
Components
- This is one component of a larger FCDO LGBT+ rights programme that will transform the lives of millions of LGBT+ people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination, improving access to services and legislative reform. This will be achieved through the following four components.
- Supporting international civil society organisations to promote and protect the rights of LGBT+ people (which is covered by this terms of reference).
- Regional and national programmes supporting grassroots LGBT+ organisations. The call for proposals for the intermediary funding organisations to manage the regional funding organisations will be later this year. The call for proposals for grassroots organisations will be next year.
- Work with multi-lateral organisations (such as the Commonwealth) on specific initiatives to promote and protect the rights of LGBT+ people.
- Provision rapid response support in situations of crisis and conflict.
Eligible Countries
- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo (Democratic Republic), Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, The, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Eligibility Criteria
- International civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and parliamentarian associations or consortia (LGBT+ led or with a strong focus on LGBT+ rights) are eligible to apply.
- Applicants must use the application form and budget template attached:
- Demonstrate why the organisation or consortium is the most effective to address these specific challenges at this time and in the future.
- Demonstrate a clearly articulated theory of change, risk strategy and framework for monitoring and measuring progress.
- Demonstrate the skills and capacity to deliver the impact and outcomes as set out in their theory of change.
- Demonstrate their ability to produce rigorous and influential practical evidence, knowledge and learning to progress the programme at scale.
- Demonstrate a clear mechanism for systematically listening and responding to LGBT+ grass-root organisations (and other excluded groups) and ensuring this feedback informs programme design and adaptation.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key cost drivers associated with the delivery of the programme and value for money.
For more information, visit FCDO.