Pacific Gender Equality Grants for Civil Society and Other Organisations

Deadline: 6-Dec-22

The Pacific Community is pleased to announce a new round of grants for gender equality through Pacific Women Lead.

Purpose

• PWL at SPC grants aim to support partners to implement Pacific regional gender equality commitments and contribute to PWL at SPC outcomes:
  • Women’s leadership is promoted
  • Women’s rights are realised
  • Women’s health (including sexual and reproductive health)
  • Women’s safety (including ending violence against women and girls)
  • Women’s economic empowerment
  • Pacific regional partners increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.
• The region’s key gender equality commitments are:
  • Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration
  • Pacific Platform for Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights
  • Outcomes of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women
  • While contributions to implementing these key regional gender equality commitments are eligible for support, the PWL at SPC grants are focused on addressing gaps in the implementation of the Outcomes of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.
• These Outcomes include three priority areas: women’s economic empowerment, gender-based violence, and gender-responsive climate justice; and four cross-cutting themes: women in leadership and decision-making; crises and disasters; sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated data and statistics; and intergenerational dialogue to ensure the perspectives of Pacific youth are heard.

Collaborative applications are strongly encouraged. These grants seek to support transformative approaches to progress regional and national gender equality commitments.

The grants are being offered by the Pacific Women Lead (PWL) programme at SPC (PWL at SPC),

Principles

• Any grant awarded by SPC must comply with the following principles:
  • Co-financing: applicants must support the implementation of actions either by contributing their own resources (i.e. staff time) or by providing funding from third parties (in the form of public or private assistance obtained elsewhere).
  • Non-retroactivity: In no circumstances will SPC award a grant for actions that are already completed.
  • Non-cumulation: the total amount awarded in the grant agreement is a maximum amount. The amount cannot be increased or accumulated in any circumstances.
  • No-profit rule: no grant may give rise to profits (i.e. income and expenditure for the action must balance). The no-profit rule applies to the action and not necessarily to the grant beneficiary.

Funding Information

• PWL at SPC is offering multi-year grants (up to 2 ½ years) of between AUD 100,000 and AUD 500,000 in financial support to: civil society organisations including women’s groups; social enterprises; academic or research institutions; and national and regional coalitions for their gender equality initiatives.
• To be eligible, project proposals will need to have a budget within the specified range:
  • Minimum: AUD 100,000
  • Maximum: AUD 500,000.
• Projects supported under this Call are expected to start in 2023. Projects may last for up to 2 ½ years. All project activities and deliverables are expected to be completed by 31 December 2025.

Expected Approaches

• In order to achieve the purpose of this call for grants, proposed projects should:
  • Present a clear commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Organisations governed and led by women, with women filling most leadership positions would be highly regarded.
  • Be inclusive and promote diversity. This means beneficiaries should not be arbitrarily excluded on the basis of disability, age, geography, ethnicity, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Grantee partners should make particular effort to reach women and girls in all their diversity, including those in rural, remote or otherwise marginalised communities.
  • Be sustainable and seek to have long-term impact in Pacific communities. Be collaborative. Joint initiatives for gender equality between grantee partners, including civil society organisations and Pacific Island governments will be highly regarded.
  • Seek to be transformative. Proposed activities should be designed to ‘shift the dial’ to accelerate gender equality in the Pacific. Grantee partners may use innovative approaches, grounded in Pacific good practice, to shift social norms that underpin gender inequality.

Outcomes

• The PWL at SPC programme uses a transformative approach to gender equality and is grounded in Pacific values and principles. It works toward achieving three outcomes:
  • Women’s leadership promoted.
  • Women’s rights realised (incorporating women’s health, women’s safety including ending violence, against women and girls, and women’s economic empowerment).
  • Pacific regional partners increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.

Eligibility Criteria

• Civil society organisations and other groups including women’s groups, social enterprises, academia, and research institutions, and national and international coalitions.
• Experience with donor funds: To be eligible for grants, lead applicants must have had experience in managing donor funds in the period since 1 January 2015.
• Location Grants will only cover projects in:
  • The Pacific region
  • SPC member Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs).
• Programme alignment Proposed projects must align with at least one of the PWL at SPC outcome areas:
  • Women’s leadership
  • Women’s rights (incorporating economic empowerment, access to health, and women’s safety including ending violence against women and girls)
  • Effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.
• Regional alignment Proposed projects must align with at least one of the regional gender equality commitments detailed in the:
  • Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration
  • Pacific Platform for Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights
  • Outcomes of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.
  • National alignment: Proposed projects which align with Pacific national priorities for gender equality, where possible, will be highly regarded. These priorities may be found in national policy documents.

Applicants must be:

• A duly-registered organisation for at least 12 months or a Statutory or State institution;
• Based in an SPC member Pacific Island country or territory (PICT);
• Duly-registered organisations based in other SPC member countries may apply as part of a regional or international coalition, which must include one or more Pacific Island organisations with a significant role in the project. For further information regarding SPC member countries and territories.
• Types of applicants that may be supported:
  • Registered civil society organisations or other non-profit entities, including women’s groups and social enterprises
  • Research/academic institutions
  • Statutory or state institutions, such as parliaments, courts and national human rights institutions
  • National, regional or international coalitions – where one partner organisation acts as the lead applicant to take on contracting, financial and reporting responsibility of the grant. The lead applicant will have to meet all the eligibility criteria, and will submit the EOI and Proposal, if shortlisted. An organisation can only be lead applicant for ONE Expression of Interest. However, organisations may be project partners in more than one EOI.
• Special Requirements
  • Any grant awarded by SPC must comply with the following principles:
    • Co-financing: applicants must support the implementation of actions either by contributing their own resources (i.e. staff time) or by providing funding from third parties (in the form of public or private assistance obtained elsewhere).
    • Non-retroactivity: In no circumstances will SPC award a grant for actions that are already completed.
    • Non-cumulation: the total amount awarded in the grant agreement is a maximum amount. The amount cannot be increased or accumulated in any circumstances.
    • No-profit rule: no grant may give rise to profits (i.e. income and expenditure for the action must balance). The no-profit rule applies to the action and not necessarily to the grant beneficiary.

Ineligible

• The following costs are ineligible under these grants:
  • Construction of new buildings
  • Purchase of vehicles
  • One-off travel proposals that are not a component of a broader project
  • scholarships
  • Loans
  • Cash transfer programmes.

Note: Grants for Pacific Island governments: PWL at SPC is offering direct funding and technical support to Pacific Island Government members (Stream A). This support will be determined in collaboration with member Governments and is not included in the 31 October 2022 grants call out.

For more information, visit https://hrsd.spc.int/node/1022