European Grants on Human Rights for NGOs & International Organizations in India

The European Commission (EC) through its European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) regulation has issued a call for proposals to provide funding for NGOs in India under its Country Based Support Schemes. These schemes are specifically developed to provide financial assistance to NGOs for implementing small and innovative projects in the area of human rights and democracy. The goal is for “Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, supporting the peaceful conciliation of group interests and consolidating political participation and representation”. The objectives are to: (i) strengthen capacities of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in protecting and promoting human rights; (ii) support the National Human Rights Institutions3 (NHRIs) towards fulfilling their mandate in promoting human rights; (iii) build synergies between state, national and international human rights institutions.

Actually there are two Lots or focus areas under this call. In the first Lot, only local civil society organizations or NGOs can apply to implement projects for advocacy, lobbying and for ensuring delivery of effective justice to disadvantaged groups. The second Lot is for international organizations and National Human Rights Institutions for addressing policy gaps, building institutional capacities and undertaking research and documentation.

The minimum and maximum amounts allocated for each project is €100,000 and €300,000 respectively. Indian NGOs can seek to cover 90% of the total projects costs from this funding while international applicant organizations can get only 80% of the total costs covered from the EC under this programme. The rest has to be covered from other sources.

This is a restricted call for proposals, which means that only concept notes have to be submitted initially by the applicants. Full proposals will be requested based on the review of the concept notes. The concept notes have to be developed based upon the guidelines given. All applicants submitting concept notes/proposals should be registered at PADOR. For more information on how to register at PADOR, visit this link. The deadline to submit concept notes is 29 January 2010 and these have to be submitted by mail/courier at the EC Delegation office in New Delhi, India. For more information, download the documents at this link.