Deadline: 30 July, 2021
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites proposals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSO) to build, launch, and manage the Democracy Corner – a new platform for engaging Nigerian citizens with their democracy.
The Democracy Corner platform will serve as an online civic and voter education engagement tool to promote non-partisan conversations around Nigeria’s democracy, inform citizens about their rights, and inform citizens about ways to hold elected officials accountable for their performance in office.
This platform can help respond to the decline in Nigerians’ trust in and satisfaction with democracy and the fairness of elections since 2015, as illustrated in a 2019 survey by International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The survey found that 58 percent of Nigerians are unsatisfied with Nigeria’s democracy.
Goal: The goal of the Democracy Corner platform is to increase civic education, citizens’ trust, and citizen engagement in the next 2023 general elections and beyond.
To help bridge this gap ahead of the 2023 elections, NDI is calling for applications from interested civil society organisations (CSOs) to partner on creating the National Democracy Corner Platform, which will launch in October 2021 for use in the Anambra gubernatorial election as a pilot. Based on this pilot experience, the platform will be further developed and enhanced for citizen engagement ahead of the 2023 general election.
Democracy Corner is a project under the Sustaining Electoral Engagement for Democracy (SEED) program. The SEED program seeks to advance and deepen the commitment and inclusion of Nigerian citizens and civil society in support of credible elections and democratic progress in the country.
The SEED program is implemented through the Consortium for Election and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), with two other partners, IFES and Search for Common Ground.
Award Information
- NDI plans to issue an award for up to $40,000 through a competitive selection process to one NGO. Applicants’ proposed budgets do not need to meet this ceiling if the activities can be realized with less than the maximum amount stated. Cost competitiveness and value for money will be factored into the selection process.
- Additionally, the proposed budget cannot include sub-grants to other organizations, micro-loans, or contingencies. All costs must be budgeted directly, in the NDI proposed format and have explanatory budget notes. Overall, the budget application should not exceed $40,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants should be registered NGOs with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). They must have expertise in civic technology, civic education and information and communications technology. They must be interested in implementing civic and voter education across different states. They must be interested in using technology for advocacy on civic and voter education initiatives. They should have experience in youth-related programs.
- Applicants must be non-partisan and free of any conflict of interest related to partisan competition in the elections or national or local administration of the elections, must be firmly independent, objective in their approaches, unbiased and able to work with all stakeholders in the electoral process.
- Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in Nigeria’s electoral and governance processes and have a wide range of NGO broad networks, as well as demonstrated capacity in engaging the media and high-level influencers. Applicants must demonstrate thorough financial management, monitoring and evaluation, internal control systems, policies and procedures that comply with established US and Nigeria Government standards, laws and regulations.
Project Description
In order to create the Democracy Corner, NDI will work with a civic education and tech-driven partner in Nigeria to hold a series of strategic planning sessions to design the platform and develop a communication and socialisation plan. NDI and the partner will discuss the platform’s main objectives and key themes to address through its contents, as well as target audiences and proven methods to reach these audiences.
The communication and socialization plan will use the ACADA (Assessment, Communication Analysis, Design, Action) communication model which is an evidence-based process that utilizes a mix of communication tools, channels, and approaches to facilitate participation and engagement with citizens for positive social and behaviour change. The partner will collaboratively create innovative methods to engage citizens in interactive ways.
The platform may feature civic education games, interactive forums where citizens can discuss their ideas and hopes for the elections and post-election period, virtual candidate debates, and trackers looking at elected officials’ performance on key policy priorities. To increase public interest and use of the platform, the Democracy Corner partner will engage high profile Nigerians including prominent comedians, governance and human rights experts, activists, youth influencers, and other public figures through a variety of content and on the platform.
The partner will ensure the platform’s audio and visual content is made available in English and local languages and is in accessible formats for persons with disabilities (PWD). The platform will aim to serve as an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable marketplace of ideas relevant for citizens of diverse backgrounds and the project will achieve these through deliberate targeting of members of the marginalised groups (women, youth, PWD).
Evaluation Criteria
Project Activities/Description (40points)
- The degree to which the applicant demonstrates capacity to build and maintain an engaging and user-friendly Democracy Corner platform;
- The creativity of the proposed features of the Democracy Corner platform;
- The degree to which the applicant demonstrates capacity to build and sustain strategic partnerships with other platforms or civic education forums that will help strengthen Democracy Corner;
- The degree to which the applicant is able to demonstrate sustainability of the platform;
Organizational Capacity (30 points)
- The strength of the organization’s proposed key staff who will work on the Democracy Corner project, and the degree to which the application demonstrates the staff’s relevant past work experience and skills necessary to successfully implement the proposed activities.
- The strength of the organization’s proposed key staff who will work on the Democracy Corner project, and the degree to which the application demonstrates the staff’s relevant past work experience and skills necessary to successfully implement the proposed activities.
Budget (30 points)
- The budget falls under the $40,000 ceiling.
- The degree to which the applicant can produce a budget that reflects cost reasonableness, effectiveness and consistency.
- The budget notes clearly provides justification and necessary connection between the budget and project activities.
Submission Format
Interested organizations must submit a full proposal in PDF format not exceeding ten pages by July 30, 2021. The proposal should be submitted to NDI by email with the name Democracy Corner as the subject of the email. NDI will respond to questions that seek clarification on the goals, criteria, and conditions of this award.
All applications must be submitted with the following attachments: A completed application should consist of the following:
- Valid registration as NGO with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC);
- Technical proposal with detailed activities;
- Budget in Microsoft Excel showing formulas;
- Budget notes.
For more information, visit https://www.premiumtimesng.com/promoted/471707-nigeria-democracy-corner-project-ndi-requests-ngos-to-apply-for-grant.html
