Descrição

Background

Around the world, civil society plays a leading role in addressing the most important priorities of our time. Local activists, civil society organizations (CSOs), community leaders, and human rights defenders make particularly essential contributions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) .

These countries are often:

• Vulnerable to transnational challenges, such as climate change
• Facing obstacles to accessing international cooperation

Civil society in SIDS and LDCs often plays an outsized role in addressing these constraints and advancing development and good governance by:

• Promoting accountability
• Providing expertise
• Representing community interests
• Engaging in service delivery

To make these crucial contributions, civil society in SIDS and LDCs needs an enabling environment where local organizations, activists, and community representatives can freely:

• Establish and operate CSOs
• Access resources
• Express views
• Mobilize the public
• Ensure accountability
• Participate in decision-making

Promoting this open civic space requires:

• Investment in appropriate reforms
• Support for civil society in navigating challenges and constraints
• Advocacy in multilateral fora to highlight challenges and advance effective responses

There is a need to increase support and assistance to CSOs engaged in these activities to promote civic space and an enabling environment for civil society in SIDS and LDCs.

Project Activities

ICNL invites proposals to defend and expand civic space in SIDS and LDCs through:

• Advocacy for enabling reforms
• Bolstering civil society resilience
• Engagement in multilateral mechanisms and processes

Activities that may be supported include:

• Advocating for the adoption of laws, policies, and other measures that remove restrictions on and facilitate the exercise of civic freedoms;

• Bolstering civil society resilience by developing resources, trainings, and networks to support the capacity of civil society actors to navigate challenges and restrictions and exercise civic freedoms; and
• Engaging multilateral mechanisms and processes, at the international or regional level, to promote open civic space in SIDS and LDCs.

Proposals may focus on defending and expanding civic space within a single SIDS or LDC or across more than one country.
We encourage proposals combining more than one of the elements listed above (advocacy, resilience, and multilateral engagement).
All project activities must be completed by October 1, 2026.

Eligibility Requirements

This call for proposals is open to CSOs based in the following countries:

• Africa: Angola, Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia
• Asia/Pacific: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu
• LAC: Dominican Republic, Jamaica Project activities must focus on one or more of the countries listed above

Application Instructions

To apply, applicants should submit the following items in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish:

• Proposal (no more than five pages);
• Line-item budget (no more than USD $20,000); and
• Resumes/CVs of person(s) responsible for the proposed project.