Deadline: 14 May 2020
The United States Embassy in Tirana is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program.
The Democracy Commission Small Grants Program, administered by the Public Affairs Section, supports initiatives of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged throughout Albania in a variety of fields, including:
- Anti-corruption
- Good Governance
- Investigative Journalism
- Human Rights/Minority Rights
- Empowerment of Women and Youth
- Combatting Human Trafficking
- Electoral Reform
Funding Information
The program intends to award grants in the amount up to $24,000.
Democracy Commission does NOT fund projects such as the following:
- Fundraising campaigns
- Humanitarian assistance projects
- Scientific research projects
- Projects that duplicate existing projects being implemented by an organization
- Projects submitted by for-profit, commercial organizations
- Projects that support partisan political and/or religious activity
- Conferences and individual trips abroad
- Trade activities
Evaluation Criteria
The Democracy Commission will assess the following when evaluating grant proposals:
- The project proposal demonstrates that the organization has sufficient expertise, skills, and human resources to implement the project.
- The organization demonstrates that it has a clear understanding of the underlying issue that the project is aiming to address and is able to articulate it with specificity and clarity.
- The organization has consulted relevant resources, experts, and potential partner organizations during the project’s design phase.
- The organization has identified appropriate beneficiaries or target groups in a way that maximizes project outputs and outcomes and the project has a clear focus and manageable scope.
- The project’s idea and approach are innovative, yet capable of being completed with the program period. Proposed project activities must be concrete, detailed, and supported by a reasonable work plan.
- The project’s budget is well organized, detailed, and reasonable. There are no budget lines labeled “miscellaneous expenses.” Entertainment and alcoholic beverage expenses are not included in the budget. The budget demonstrates that the organization has devoted time to plan for and assess actual expenses associated with the project instead of providing rough estimates.
- The organization has clearly articulated how it will assess and measure its own performance throughout the project implementation phase using concrete quantitative and qualitative assessment tools.
- The project proposal describes clearly the approach that will be used to ensure maximum sustainability of the project’s results after its completion.
- Past performance, including U.S. government funded grants, indicates reliability, responsible use of resources, and an ability to follow through with project aims.
Specific Guidelines
- IMPORTANT! Organizations may submit only one proposal per program
- The grant amount will be up to $24,000.
- Grants are made on a one-time basis. A successful applicant may re-apply for a second grant, but the second proposal must be for a distinctly different project than the first.
- Organizations are eligible to receiving funding from this program only one time in a two-year period.
- U.S. organizations and individuals are not eligible for grants under the program.
- The application requires a clear description of the activity for which grant funds are being requested and a budget proposal broken down by expenditure category; otherwise it will not be considered.
All applications are required to be in English.
For more information, visit https://al.usembassy.gov/education-culture/local-grants-program/