1. BACKGROUND

About UNDP Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine Project

The present Call for Proposals (CfP) is administered by UNDP Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine project which is part of the UNDP Democratic Governance portfolio. Through this portfolio UNDP assists the government, civil society, and people of Ukraine in advancing democratic policies and practices needed to accelerate progress on sustainable human development. This includes advocating for human rights and gender equality, supporting anti-corruption efforts, promoting the digital transformation agenda, ensuring that all Ukrainian citizens can protect their rights, strengthening parliament, and empowering civil society and youth activists.

The project “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine” (2017-2022) funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UNDP Ukraine is a nation-scale 5-year initiative which aims to enhance the institutional capacity of civil society actors in the region in the areas of democracy and human rights to strengthen their impact on the reform processes in the country through better coordination and networking and to contribute to more inclusive, democratic and rights-based governance. For this purpose, the project strengthens capacities of the civil society organizations to promote democracy and foster participatory and result-driven Government-CSO dialogue at all levels in Ukraine. It also develops capacities of human rights actors to promote and defend human rights in Ukraine and enhances civic youth engagement and youth participation in decision-making at all levels.

CSDR is being implemented through three main components:

1.       Strengthening CSOs as guardians of democracy and good governance;

2.       Supporting human rights actors to promote and defend human rights in Ukraine;

3.       Enhancing civic youth engagement and youth participation in decision-making at all levels.

The war affected every young Ukrainian man and woman. According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, more than 2 million young people have become internally displaced and another 2 million have been forced to leave the country which constitutes 40% of the total number of young people in Ukraine. 17 youth centres have been destroyed, damaged, or located in territories not controlled by the Government of Ukraine. In those regions of Ukraine where there are no active hostilities, youth centres and youth organizations have transformed their work since the first days of the war. Most of them currently operate as temporary shelters for IDPs, humanitarian aid collection centres, volunteer coordination hubs, and provide assistance to those in needs. According to the survey conducted during 25-31 March, 2022 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine in cooperation with UNDP and Council of Europe, 60 percent of the youth workers in Ukraine are internally displaced. According to this survey, 51 percent of youth workers need an exchange of experience with other youth workers and 50 percent require informational support about opportunities in the field of youth sector; 47 percent mentioned the need for financial support to provide humanitarian support; 30 percent asked for financial support for the team; 27,03% asked for financial support for programme activities.

Through this CfP, UNDP would like to support youth CSOs to sustain and increase their capacity to re-organize their work, and enhance local resilience to be able to provide support to the needs of young women and men, especially IDPs and vulnerable groups of the population.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPETITION:

The primary focus of this call for proposals is to support the joint efforts of youth civil society organizations to protect young men and women in Ukraine, including vulnerable population groups and IDPs, in the national crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, namely by:

·         supporting the youth organizations and youth centres to provide the necessary services to young people including IDPs and vulnerable groups of youth;

·         supporting teams of youth organizations and youth centres that were forced to relocate from duty-stations due to active hostilities;

·         activities aimed at the adaptation of children and youth in the oblasts of temporary shelter across Ukraine;

·         strengthening community capacities and referral systems to support youth resilience through equipping community members and youth workers professionals with knowledge on psycho-social assistance, establishing safe spaces for youth etc;

·         implementing activities to ensure productive collaboration and coordination between young people, youth organizations and local authorities;

·         programmes and initiatives to support temporary displaced youth workers and youth CSOs’ resilience and help them to adapt to new realities and changing young peoples’ needs.

3. PARTICIPANTS OF THE COMPETITION:

Non-profit youth organizations and organizations working with youth, in particular charitable organizations, public associations (including civil society organizations and unions) that are officially registered in Ukraine. 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).

3.2. Geographic location:

UNDP will accept applications from all regions of Ukraine. The applying CSO has to prove its capacity to operate in the proposed area of the intervention which will be assessed by the Grant Selection Committee.

4. COMPETITION STAGES:

I – Preparation of project proposals concepts according to the following structure:

§  purpose, main goals and objectives,

§  preliminary list of measures to achieve the goals,

§  expected results,

§  partners,

§  the implementation timeframe,

§  estimated total budget without details.

Project concepts are to be submitted in an arbitrary form, no more than 2 А4 pages in total.

There is no deadline for submission of the project proposals concepts and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed once a month. The results of the concepts review will be announced on a rolling basis.

II – Submission of the project proposals

Based on the results of the review and preliminary evaluation of the concepts, the selected organizations will be invited to submit finalized project proposals. The applying organization will have up to a week to submit the completed project proposal.

The winners of the competition will be chosen on the basis of the evaluation results of the project proposals by the Grant Selection Committee.  UNDP will conclude grant agreements with those finalists that will be recommended for funding.

5. 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.

6. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AND TERMS OF IMPLEMENTATION:

The maximum budget of the project proposal should not exceed 10 000 USD

The maximum timeframe for the project implementation is 6 months.

The contribution from the implementing organization or from other sources will be considered and will 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.).

7. CONCEPTS SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

Concepts of the project proposals are submitted in Ukrainian and sent by e-mail to the addresses:  grants.ua@undp.org  specifying in the subject line, the title of the competition “Strengthening the youth sector capacity to respond to the needs of young women and men, especially IDPs and vulnerable groups”.

Contact persons:

·         Anna Ostrikova, Grant/Youth Associate “Civil society for enhanced democracy and human rights in Ukraine”, UNDP: anna.ostrikova@undp.org

8. SELECTION PROCESS

8.1. Assessment procedures

UNDP specialists will check the proposals submitted for stage II – Submission of the project proposals against the criteria. 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.

8.2. Criteria for the assessment of proposals

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

·         Quality and responsiveness of the project proposal to the broad themes highlighted in item 2 of this CFP;

·         Demonstrated ability of the proposed team to cope with the scope of works described in the project proposal;

·         Demonstrated youth participation in the process of the project implementation;

·         Quality of the proposed networks (including scope of partners proposed for implementation and already existing networks linked to the lead applicant).

9. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

9.1. 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.

9.2. Reporting

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

·         Brief reports on demand occasionally requested by UNDP CSDR 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.