Refugee projects

REFUGEE PROJECTS COMPETITION HAS BEEN CLOSED

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

BACKGROUND

Wars and violence in the Middle East and North Africa – particularly in Syria – have driven record numbers of refugees to seek safety and asylum in Europe. These refugees have little prospect of returning while war and conflict continues in their home countries, and face a lengthy wait as their cases are considered. These refugees face extreme vulnerability: according to UNHCR, over half of all Syrian refugees are children , and they often arrive in countries with little tradition of integrating people from Middle Eastern backgrounds. Civil society can play an important role in enhancing the public’s understanding and support of refugees, monitoring and documenting their human rights situations, and providing services to help refugees adapt and integrate into their new communities.

THE CITIZENS FOR DEMOCRACY PROGRAMME

The aim of the Programme, financed by the EEA Grants, is to strengthen civil society development and enhance the contribution of non-governmental organisations to social justice, democracy and sustainable development. Grants offered in the Programme are designed to: foster citizenship, promote democratic values, including human rights; develop advocacy and watchdog role; promote strengthened capacity of NGOs and an enabling environment for the sector; empower vulnerable groups. The Programme puts a special emphasis on horizontal concerns such as: hate speech, extremism and hate crime, racism and xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism, tolerance and multicultural understanding, Roma, sexual harassment, violence against women and trafficking.

THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Stefan Batory Foundation, as an Operator of Citizens for Democracy programme for non-governmental organisations, announces the open call for short-term projects addressing preparation for integration of new groups of refugees.

SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF THE CALL

The purpose of the call is to support Polish non-governmental organisations in their activities aimed at preparation for welcome and integration of new groups of refugees (mainly from Middle East countries).

Amount allocated for the call: EUR 800,000.
Estimated number of awarded grants: 10-15

 

SUPPORTED PROJECTS

Grants will be available for projects, which address one or several of the below issues:

1. Preparation of professional staff for work with new groups of refugees, including:

  • trainings for psychologists, therapists, translators, trainers, persons employed in and cooperating with non-governmental organisations etc.;
  • identifying and training of persons (including from refugee countries of origin) to prepare them for the roles of consultants/ advisers / assistants / mentors for refugees.

2. Activities to prepare local public institutions and local communities for receiving new groups of refugees, including:

  • information and training activities directed to social assistance workers, uniformed services, teachers, youth, local government representatives, non-governmental organisations, media etc.;
  • animating cooperation between local government units, sharing good practices (both from Poland and from abroad) concerning reception and integration of refugees etc.;
  • designing activities intended to engage local residents, companies, institutions in joint initiatives for refugees, focused in particular on their basic needs, such as housing, and to integrate them with local communities.

3. Preparing materials useful in work with new groups of refugees, including:

  • preparing / adapting / translating into refugee indigenous languages information materials, manuals, Polish language instruction handbooks etc. addressed to new groups of refugees;
  • preparing / adapting training programs (including programs for teachers of Polish language as a foreign language), information materials, manuals etc. useful for public administration officials, schools, non-governmental organisations in their work with new groups of refugees;
  • reviewing and describing good practices from other countries related to reception and integration of refugees.

4. Monitoring and research activities intended to diagnose existing and potential barriers and problems related to preparations for admission of new groups of refugees, including:

  • monitoring public policies concerning admission of new groups of refugees, creation of centres for refugees etc.;
  • reviewing the existing regulations and practices in the field of granting refugee status, checking persons applying for refugee status, offering help and assistance for persons residing in and leaving the centres etc.;
  • surveying opinions, examining attitudes, behaviour of various social groups towards refugees; results of the surveys and research shall help to design activities aimed to influence negative attitudes towards refugees.

DURATION OF PROJECTS

Maximum duration of projects is four months: from January 2016 until April 2016. The implementation of projects must end no later than 30 April 2016.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS AND THEIR PARTNERS

Grants are available only to groups (coalitions) of Polish non-governmental organisations, particularly foundations and associations. A group (coalition) shall consist of minimum three organisations: one leading organisation (leader) and two partners.

Applicants

On behalf of NGO groups (coalitions) an application shall be submitted by a leading organisation (leader), which:

  • is legal entity registered in the relevant National Court Register;
  • has a non‐commercial purpose;
  • is independent of local, regional and central government, public entities, commercial entities and political parties; is not religious institutions;
  • pursues public interest and abides by the principles of democratic values and human rights;
  • has a proven track record in activities related to assistance and integration of refugees and migrants

Additionally, the leading organisation (leader) shall meet the following requirements:

  • Activities presented in their applications must be in line with the applicant’s mission (statute);
  • No bankruptcy filing has been made against the applicant, the applicant is not in liquidation or subject to administrative receivership, has not suspended its operations nor is subject to any similar process;
  • The applicant is not in arrears with any public liabilities to the Tax Authorities or Social Insurance Institution;
  • None of the individuals authorised to represent the organisation has a criminal record for fraud.

Priority will be given to proposals prepared by NGOs groups (coalitions), in which at least one organisations is from outside Warsaw.

Partners

A project partners can be Polish non-governmental organisations, particularly foundations and associations.
The partners should be actively involved in and effectively contributing to the preparation and the implementation of a project. The partners should bring knowledge and expertise and its involvement should contribute to achieving better results. Partners’ involvement in the project should be based on non-profit activities (should have a non‐commercial purpose). Partners’ roles and responsibilities shall be defined in partnership declarations, which shall be attached to the application. The partners shall follow the same rules for the implementation of the project and the use of grant that apply to the leading organization that receive the grant.

The groups (coalitions) of Polish NGOs may cooperate with other entities from: Poland, the Donor States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), 15 EEA/Norway Grants Beneficiary States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia Spain), countries outside the European Economic Area which border on Poland (Belarus, Ukraine, Russia) or any inter-governmental organisation.

Due to short time given for project’s preparation and its implementation listed above entities would not be considered as project partners and would not be entitled to receive a portion of the grant. The grant can be used, however, to cover costs necessary for the efficient cooperation (for example: travel costs, experts fees, translation of materials).

GRANTS

Grants amount: PLN 100,000 – 350,000 [ca. EUR 25,000 – 87,500]. The programme finances maximum 90% of the total eligible costs of the project.
Co-financing requirement: organisations must provide minimum 10% of the total eligible costs as own contribution, maximum 50% of which can be provided in-kind and minimum 50% must be in cash. In-kind contribution may only be provided in form of voluntary work.
Own financial contribution may come from organisations’ own resources or from other sources, but shall not be derived from EEA/Norway Grants.
Categories of expenses: following expenses can be covered from a grant and own contribution:
• direct project costs;
• indirect costs (overheads) – max. 20% of direct costs.

PROPOSALS SUBMISSION

Leading organisations which intent to submit project proposal (on behalf of groups / coalitions of NGOs) shall register themselves through the Electronic Application System, accessible from the Programme’ website www.ngofund.org.pl.
Only basic information about the leading organization, which confirms compliance with the eligibility criteria, is required during registration. Leading organizations take responsibility for providing correct and true information.
The deadline for registration is November 10, 2015, 12.00 (noon) CET.
Registered organisations shall submit project proposals through the Electronic Application System. The proposals must provide all required information that is presented in the guidelines for the application. Partners’ declaration defining their roles and responsibilities in the project shall be attached to application.
The registration form, application form and guidelines, as well as partners’ declaration template are available on the Programme’s website www.ngofund.org.pl.
The deadline for project proposals’ submission is November 30, 2015, 12.00 (noon) CET.

DETAILED INFORMATION

Presented above information is a part of guidelines prepared for applicants and grantees, which details step by step requirements related to developing and filing the applications, procedure of applications’ assessment, implementing the projects and reporting. Detailed information can be found on the website at the following link: www.ngofund.org.pl/projekty-uchodzcze/