Request for Proposals: Uganda Inception Program to address Child Exploitation

Deadline: 15-Jul-24

The Freedom Fund is accepting proposals for the implementation of an inception project to address the different types of child exploitation in Karamoja region of Uganda.

The inception grant will allow the successful applicant to continue, expand or refine the work being done on child exploitation.

Following a scoping study and consultations with local organizations and government bodies in Uganda, the Freedom Fund is initiating an inception year, with a view to a possible longer-term hotspot, and will start supporting organisations in two districts of the Karamoja region. The purpose of this year is to learn from existing practices among organisations in the region and develop a possible longer-term strategy to address child exploitation.

The inception grants aim to support existing work related to child exploitation while gathering learnings to co-develop a program strategy for potential implementation post-2024-2025.

The Freedom Fund is therefore inviting your organisation to submit a proposal to implement an inception project to address the different types of child exploitation in one of the two following districts: Moroto and Napak. The inception grant should allow you to continue, expand or refine the work you already do on child exploitation in Karamoja region. Eligible organisations for this grant are those already working in Karamoja. Please note that International NGOs will not be considered.

Funding Information

• Inception grants are intended to be no more than USD 25,000 for a period of 9 to 12 months with a possible start date by or before 1 September 2024.

Program Strategy

• This initial scoping study identified multiple components for systemic community-level work. They recommend that organisations should select those components that are most relevant to their existing work and align with the eligibility criteria of the inception grant.
  • Collectivising adolescent girls and boys for social empowerment, protective peer support, as well as building negotiation skills and representation within community and regional decision making.
  • Economic empowerment as well as climate adaptation in food production for at risk households and young women.
  • Working with adult women and men to enable listening and dialogue within families: positive parenting and husband/wife power sharing.
  • Engaging the larger community, especially clan leaders and elders, to identify and stand up for protective cultural values, rejecting practices that lead to harm.
  • Creating demand for improvements in schools and access to educational materials and support, so girls and boys are able and willing to continue their education.
  • Enabling knowledge, negotiating power and access to sexual and reproductive health services.
• Selected projects will be implemented alongside intervention development research using participatory methods commissioned from a research organisation by the Freedom Fund. This research will enable affected communities, local organisations and the Freedom Fund to i) prioritise which forms of exploitation and modern slavery should be the main focus of the program in these districts (one or all of the ones mentioned above); ii) which interventions and program components should be prioritised, bearing in mind the major intersecting issues driving vulnerability such as gender discrimination, food security and climate change; iii) what are the traditions, narratives and cultural beliefs that could be mobilised as assets to the program; and iv) which of the key actors and influencers they should invest most attention in.
• Each of the inception partners will support young women and girls in the communities alongside their own field staff to lead in the participatory action research, with training, supervision, and field-level guidance from the commissioned research agency. This will require about 60 days of at least 2 staff time of your project team during the inception year, so please take this into account when planning how much your team can undertake. There will be some other small costs for this research work that they will help you to build into your overall budget, if your application is successful.
• The inception year will allow the Freedom Fund to work closely with local communities and the government to refine a strategy that accurately reflects the needs of the local communities and addresses the challenges leading to child exploitation (especially child marriage, child labour and trafficking, as well as children as warriors), within the wider humanitarian situation. The inception phase will create space for grantees to co-design a programming framework for a potential implementation phase.

Eligible organisations can propose projects that: 

• Top-up a current project on child exploitation. Applicants selecting this option should have an ongoing project that is making progress in addressing child exploitation. This additional funding can help to expand, deepen, or enhance their existing efforts.
• A new/innovative programmatic component to an existing project, informed by lessons collected from previous projects or contextual needs regarding child exploitation. This option encourages applicants to propose new/innovative set of activities alongside existing work, leveraging insights gained from past experiences or adapting to evolving challenges.
• Continuation of a recently ended or about to end project that tackles child exploitation. Applicants choosing this option should consider projects that have already been implemented and are recently concluded or about to conclude. They can use this opportunity to build upon the successes and lessons learned from their previous efforts.
• Collaborate with the existing work of another organisation, to add in new components specifically against child exploitation. Applicants choosing this option should identify and agree with another organisation that is already providing climate adaptation, livelihoods, education support, humanitarian aid or other activities in a geographic area, so that the applicant then adds in components that enable local residents to prevent child exploitation and protect survivors in the same locations. Both organisations should be able to work compatibly within the same communities to multiply outcomes.
• Projects that model and enable transformative approaches to gender roles, while identifying ways that the program can shift harmful gender norms that generate violence and exploitation, will be prioritised. Meaningful engagement of people with lived experience should be at the centre of the projects.

Criteria

• The inception projects should:
  • Start in September 2024, and end on or before end of August 2025.
  • Build on the unique expertise and experience of the inception partner.
  • Be implemented either in Moroto and Napak, in communities where the inception partner is currently implementing or has implemented in the past.
  • Inception grants should not be for entirely new types of work for the organisation (though strategies can be adapted in new ways).
  • Be designed in a way that allows quick start-up to ensure the 9 – 12 months period is used for implementation, not preparation.
  • Projects should model transformative approaches, emphasizing the meaningful participation of girls and young women who are in early or forced marriages, and children who have been in exploitative situations such as trafficking or forced labour. Additionally, projects should identify referral channels and leverage partners’ skills to assist these individuals.
• Eligible organisations are those already working in Karamoja. International NGOs will not be considered.

For more information, visit Freedom Fund.