In the third quarter of 2009, the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID) announced the Human Rights Small Grant Scheme 2009-2010 for NGOs from Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean and accepted proposals from them till 2 October 2009.
On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day celebrated on 10 December 2010, AUSAID finally announced the NGOs and projects selected for receiving the grants under the scheme. More than 35 organizations were selected and grants ranging between $20,000 and $150,000 were awarded to each of them. Below is a brief summary of the NGOs and projects which received the highest funding. More information about this is available at this link.
The Association for Voluntary Action based in India seems to have won the largest funding of $149,000 for a period of two years to implement the AUSAID Child Friendly Village Project that “will promote the right of children to an education and to end the practice of child labour. Up to 20 child friendly villages will be created in Rajasthan, India, and the project will raise awareness in these villages of education and human rights, and assist them to improve their local governance systems.” The Cambodia-based Community Legal Education Centre has won a grant of up to $147,400 for two years for a public litigation and advocacy project to promote rule of law and democratic institutions in Cambodia “by using the legal system to assert and protect citizens’ rights, particularly focusing upon land rights and ownership.” The Judicial System Monitoring Program received $110,834 for one year to “Strengthening the capacity of police, health professionals and lawyers to understand and apply the new Penal Code and Domestic Violence Law.” Under this, the rights of women and children will be promoted “by building the capacity of policy, health professionals and lawyers to understand their responsibilities under the new East Timor Penal Code and Domestic Violence Law. Up to 20 doctors, 20 lawyers, 30 nurses and midwives and 30 police officers will undertake training to better understand the implications of domestic violence and their legal responsibilities.” In Nigeria, the Centre for the Right to Health will build the capacities of civil society groups and media organizations on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights with a grant support of $104,690 for a period of two years.
Nearly six other organizations in Chile, China, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya and Palestine received funding of up to $100,000 for 1-2 year projects such as monitoring the implementation of United Nations recommendations regarding Human Rights, facilitating the role of NGOs in CEDAW Shadow Report Process, strengthening self advocacy capacities for rights and equal opportunities of Persons with disabilities, public education campaign on the CRPD for the Deaf etc.
The projects have been selected out of an international competition and apparently, it was a tough selection process. The information available about these projects can help develop new proposals on human rights and be prepared for the next round of AUSAID call for proposals on this issue.
