Open call for awarding grants to local civil society organizations and/or networks engaged in oversight and advocacy for the policies and practices of the local authorities

OPEN CALL

for awarding grants to local civil society organizations and/or networks engaged in oversight and advocacy for the policies and practices of the local authorities in Bitola, Tetovo and Shtip in the areas such as environmental protection, spending of public money and urban planning

Concept Partnerships in the communities for improving the local democracy

The Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) within the concept Partnerships in the communities for improving the local democracy, provides support for the joint efforts of the local civil actors to cause systemic changes regarding the environmental protection, urban planning and spending of public money in three municipalities (Bitola, Tetovo and Shtip).

The individual objectives of the concept are the following:

• To strengthen the disadvantaged communities in order for them to engage in the consultative processes in their local settings to design policy solutions that reflect their priority needs.
• To support the intensified joint efforts of civil actors for supervision and representation aimed at improving the quality of the policies and the practices in areas such as environmental protection, urban planning and spending of public money.

FOSM announces this open call for awarding grants in order to support local civil society organizations and/or networks from these three regions that have experience in overseeing the authorities and advocating policy changes based on research in the above mentioned areas.

These grants are intended for projects that present new data in public, extend the existing data sources or add new ones, improve the usefulness and the interactivity of data by increasing their visibility, comprehensibility and availability for the citizens and policymakers, and encourage actions for advocacy for improving the public policies.  Within these grants, through advocacy activities for the civil society organizations are expected to provide efficient communication of the analysis and reports with the included parties, and to successfully mobilize citizens in the public processes for changing the policies and practices through further usage of the data. In designing advocacy activities, the organizations are encouraged to use other relevant existing analyzes, surveys and reports, whether they are prepared by applicants or other sources.

Advantage in the selection will have the innovative and creative projects that promote the values of the open society, show dedication toward the active involvement of the citizens and have the potential to achieve visible influence, as well as well-conceived communication strategies. The projects must promote an integrative approach with a focus on communities, gender and people with disabilities.

The maximum amount of each individual grant must not exceed 7.000 US dollars, and the timeframe for the envisaged activities must be up to 6 (six) months after the signing of the grant agreement.

Examples of activities that can be supported:

• Elaborated new innovative methodology for implementing an oversight of the concrete policies;
• Intensified and focused oversight of the decision-making processes and the implementation of the policies and practices in the field of spending of public money (financial and budgetary practices of local government institutions, including the procurements);
• Intensified and focused oversight of the decision-making processes and the implementation of the policies and practices in the field of environmental protection);
• Intensified and focused oversight of the decision-making processes and the implementation of the policies and practices in the field of urban planning;
• Preparation and presentation of analysis/report presenting the key findings of the conducted surveys and/or research activities;
• Enhancing public awareness about the options in public policies and the influence of the policies on a particular community or target group’
• Preparation and implementation of innovative strategies for communication with the public and for advocacy for improvement of the policies, for example preparation of promotional editions (newsletters, brochures, infographics, videos, etc.), public discussions and events for mobilizing the civil society organizations and the wider community in advocacy actions, etc.;
• Using new media, online tools and innovative creative methods for raising the awareness and providing support for a particular issue;

The call is open to all civil society organizations that:

• are registered as associations and foundations in accordance with the Law on Associations and Foundations;
• have an active status in the Central Registry;
• submitted a complete application and accompanying documents;
• submitted an application by the set deadline;
• asked for funding up to 7.000 US dollars;

Each project proposal should be submitted to the application for registration available on the link below the announcement, including all the necessary attachments listed on the first page of the registration application. A compulsory attachment to the application is a short information (up to two pages) for two successfully realized projects for implemented oversight and advocacy for public policies of the local self-government within the last three years. The registration application must be fully completed using the font Calibri, size 11. The applications, together with the additional documents, should be submitted electronically, both in word and in pdf format, to the following address: solunka.zoksimovska@fosm.mk. The title of the message must contain the Name of the organization – title of the project.

The deadline for submitting applications is 25 June 2019 at 16:00 (the decisions are expected during the first half of July 2019).

During the assessment process, FOSM may request additional information about the project proposal that are considered to be necessary for the completion of the assessment. Requesting additional information does not imply that the project proposal will be supported. Organizations that have submitted applications after the call will be notified with letters of approval, i.e. rejection of the project proposals. The list of the selected projects will be published on the fosm.mk website, as well as on the social networks of FOSM.

Should you have any questions, contact solunka.zoksimovska@fosm.mk and adrijana.lavchiska@fosm.mk no later than five days before the expiration of the deadline for submission of applications.