1. BACKGROUND 

The present call for proposals is organized by the UNDP project “Civil Society and Youth Support” funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a nation-scale 4-year initiative which runs from 1st January 2023 until 31st December 2026. The Civil Society and Youth Support Project (CSYP) builds on many years of joint programming by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMFA) and UNDP supporting civil society and youth empowerment. CSYP contributes to the following long-term result: “Ukraine's civil society and youth are impactful players in strengthening the country's resilience and recovery, democracy and human rights agenda, including issues of respect to diversity and women's rights and social cohesion“. The project has a three-dimensional approach. Firstly, it works on strengthen civil society organizations: focusing first and foremost at the subnational level) to enable active civil society participation in strengthening Ukraine’s resilience, sustainable recovery and development processes, link established CSOs with youth groups especially newly emerged initiatives after February 2022 to ensure cross-fertilization in skills. Secondly, the project works at the central level to create a more enabling policy environment for CSOs and support the national "youth machinery". CSYP supports CSOs to monitor the implementation of national-level policies to determine progress made and areas needing additional efforts. Thirdly and finally, CSYP empowers youth in to actively participate in Ukraine’s recovery by honing their skills for good citizenship and leadership. The project supports youth-driven projects and exposes young women and men to how local governments operate to implement locally relevant initiatives. 

The ongoing war in Ukraine has severely affected the situation for young people in Ukraine, with disruption in education, displacement and psychological traumas. But despite the challenges of the war, many young people have played an active role in the emergency response, serving as volunteers in their communities, helping to distribute humanitarian aid and support internally displaced people and vulnerable populations.  

UNDP supports the promotion of young people’s voices and participation in decision-making processes at all levels in the recovery efforts. Building on a strong relationship with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and a substantive experience of supporting youth participation at national, regional and local levels. 

By supporting the drawing up and implementation of youth policy, including the Youth Worker programme, UNDP is strengthening cooperation between the government and civil society organizations to engage young people in the development of the country, promote civic participation, and acquire leadership skills. 

To equip youth workers in response to the challenges posed by the full-scale invasion, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Youth Centre, and the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine conducted the specialized, long-term training course “Civic Education for Youth Workers 3.0". The structure of the “Civic Education for Youth Worker” course offers three steps– Training for trainer (ToT) to prepare the trainers pull qualified to deliver the course topics; the 3-module training course for youth workers, where each module is lead by the duo or trio of trained earlier trainers, with each module being a deeper dive into topic of civil activism, advocacy, youth-lead initiatives planning; and the final stage - the realization of the initiatives, written by alumni of the course. 

The course on civic education aims to provide youth workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to guide youth on how to effectively solve problems in local communities, participate in policy- and decision-making processes, and contribute to positive transformations at regional and local levels. The main vision of the course is that the civic education empowers youth to be well-informed active citizens, who are engaged in policy-making and democratic governance. 

To strengthen Ukraine’s resilience, it is important to equip youth workers to amplify young voices in decision-making processes and meaningfully contribute to planning for a resilient future. 

Through this CfP, UNDP aims to strengthen collaboration between civil society organizations and youth workers to enhance young people's participation in decision-making processes and civic engagement. 

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPETITION:  

The aim of the competition is to support the activities of youth workers in sphere of fostering civic participation among youth at the local level in Ukraine.  

The proposed activities within this competition should focus on youth civic engagement and should include, but are not limited to: 

• Promoting advocacy initiatives that address challenges faced by vulnerable groups of youth in Ukraine. 
• Enhancing youth participation in decision-making processes and civic engagement, with a focus on skill-building, fostering leadership, and promoting active citizenship. 
• Strengthening social cohesion through initiatives that encourage youth collaboration within community. 
• Fostering youth involvement  in the development and implementation of regional social programmes, such as Youth of Ukraine, civil society development projects, community recovery and development strategies and plans, and similar efforts. 

Proposals should address one or more of these objectives and clearly articulate how the project will contribute to supporting youth participation and engagement. 

3. PARTICIPANTS OF THE COMPETITION:  

Non-profit organizations, in particular charitable organizations, public associations (including civil society organizations and unions) that are officially registered in Ukraine can apply to this Call. The applying organization should have proven experience in working with youth; the contest does not provide grants to profit organizations, political parties, state authorities, local governments, religious communities and private (physical) individuals and entrepreneurs. 

3.1. Eligible organizations 

The parameters that will determine whether an NGO is eligible to be considered for funding by UNDP will be based on the Capacity Assessment Checklist CACHE (Annex 5).   

Additionally, an obligatory prerequisite for participation in this competition is the active involvement of graduates from the specialized long-term training course "Civic Education for Youth Workers 3.0" in both the planning and implementation of the proposed project. 

3.2. Geographic location: 

UNDP will accept applications from all regions of Ukraine operating on the areas under control of the Government of Ukraine. The applying CSO or consortia must prove its capacity to operate in the proposed area of the intervention which will be assessed by the Grant Selection Committee. 

4. BUDGET AND ALLOWED EXPENSES: 

Eligible costs must: 

• be necessary for caring out project activities; 
• comply with the principles of sound financial management, in particular value for and cost-effectiveness; 
• be properly recorded, identifiable and verifiable, and backed by original supporting documents. 

UNDP grant may only be used to cover the following costs: 

• Staff salaries and expert fees; 
• Purchase of consultative services provided that these are essential for project goals and objectives; 
• Consumables and supplies, including minor personal protective equipment; 
• Printing and copying; 
• Utility services; 
• Renting, catering and other services envisaged by the project activities; 
• Travel costs (provided that travel complies with internal UNDP regulations). 

The following costs are ineligible: 

• Costs of project proposal preparation; 
• Debts reconciliation; 
• International travel; 
• Reimbursement of expenses related to exchange rate fluctuations; 
• Creation and registration of the organization; 
• Direct fiscal support to state authorities; 
• Political activity; 
• Religious propaganda; 
• Activities leading to direct or indirect discrimination of any social strata; 
• Projects aimed at gaining profit from activities; 
• Construction or repair work; 
• Purchase of vehicles and / or luxury goods and related services. 

5. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AND TERMS OF IMPLEMENTATION: 

It is envisioned that the budget within project proposal should be no more than USD 5,000. The maximum timeframe for the project implementation is 5 months, with all activities to be completed between 20 January 2025, and 30 June 2025. 

The contribution from the implementing organization or from other sources will be considered and will be regarded as an advantage for the applicant. This contribution could be made both financially and in non-financial form (for example, remuneration of the personnel of the organization, provision of its office or equipment for project tasks, etc.). 

The grant tranches are paid by UNDP in advance, except for the last tranche. The last tranche, with a minimum amount of at least 10% of the total grant budget amount, should be covered by the CSOs' own funds. After successfully processing the final financial report, UNDP will compensate the eligible expenses incurred under the second tranche. 

6. PROJECT PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: 

Project proposals are submitted in Ukrainian and sent by e-mail to the addresses: grants.ua@undp.org and viktoriia.demidova@undp.org specifying in the subject line, the title of the competition “Strengthening the capacity of youth workers to foster civic participation among youth’’. The deadline for submission is 26 December, 2024. 

Contact persons: 

Viktoria Demidova, project manager “Civil society and youth support” project, UNDP: viktoriia.demidova@undp.org 

7. SELECTION PROCESS  

7.1. Assessment procedures 

UNDP specialists will review the submitted project proposals against the criteria for the assessment of proposals. At this stage, the Programme can request additional information from the applicants at its own discretion. 

To ensure full transparency and equity of the process, UNDP forms a Grant Selection Committee (GSC) that will appraise the proposals that have made it through the first stage. GSC is a temporary authorized body that is responsible for considering, selecting and recommending proposals for funding. The Grant Selection Committee may decide to request additional independent expert opinion during the selection process. In addition, the Partner Capacity Assessment Tool (PCAT) and/or Partner Self-Assessment Form will be utilized to assess the capacity of the applicants, their potential to implement the grants proposed, included screening on anti-money laundering issues and PSEA capacity. Pre-selected applicants will also be obliged to provide the project team with certificates confirming PSEA Training completion (the link will be provided by UNDP) for all applicants’ staff. 

7.2. Criteria for the assessment of proposals  

The proposals shall be assessed by the GSC in accordance to the following criteria: 

 7.3. Additional round of interviews 

After a comprehensive review of project proposals, the Grant Selection Committee may recommend additional online interviews with the highest-scoring organizations to finalize project selection. 

The interview will include questions about the proposed program, budget, and team composition. 

8. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

8.1. Monitoring and evaluation, frameworks for project implementation 

The Grantee is responsible for monitoring project implementation and evaluating its results. UNDP will monitor the project through Grantee reports, online consultations, site visits, meetings with project personnel and stakeholders, and participation in project events. 

8.2. Reporting 

The Grantee shall submit the following reports according to UNDP format: 

• Brief reports on demand occasionally requested by UNDP CSYP in cases when information on Programme implementation is required in between reporting periods; 
• A Completion report, including a summary of activities and results as well as financial report for total duration of an agreement. 

ANNEXES 

Annex 1. Project proposal 

Annex 2. Grant template