The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) at the US Department of State has issued a request for proposals for US-based nonprofits for disbursing “small, short-term emergency financial support to human rights defenders and advocates of human rights globally or regionally when the repression or restriction of basic human rights may occur.” Although only US nonprofits are eligible to apply for this grant, yet its focus is on areas where human rights violations are taking place specifically in the Near East and South Asia and local partnerships with NGOs in various countries would be critical. NGOs and human rights activists in developing countries can get in touch with their known US counterparts to respond to this funding opportunity by jointly submitting the proposals. This Fund specifically “supports human rights defenders who promote human rights, democracy and good governance, women’s rights, fair labor practices, independent media and journalism, and other issues that may raise the risk of safety and/or life for their defenders.”
Under this call, the DRL has also given the information that any human rights activist in the regions in urgent need of funding can immediately get in touch with an US nonprofit eligible to seek fund from DRL or the nearest US embassy. They will contact the DRL staff to verify the request and the grant would be issued under this call.
US organizations should demonstrate their expertise of working in the regions where they will propose their projects and should have established long-term relationships with local NGOs there. Projects should be implemented within 1-2 years timeframe. The total budget availability under this call is around US $1,500,000. DRL prefers applicants to leverage resources from other donors and build local partnerships with other entities.
Applicants need to be registered at the Grants.gov website. The deadline to submit proposals is 24 November 2009. For more information, visit this link.
