The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Georgia (USAID/Georgia) is planning to seek applications from qualified entities to implement the Civil Society Engagement Activity.

The purpose of the Civil Society Engagement Activity is to increase citizen engagement, awareness and participation in civic actions and democratic processes. All interventions taking place under the activity will directly contribute to building the legitimacy and sustainability of the civil society sector.

The activity has three objectives:

• Enhance the capacity of CSOs, including new formal and informal civic groups, movements and individuals, to address citizen identified issues at the local, regional and national levels and mobilize domestic resources;
• Foster effective intra-sectoral partnerships among local, regional and national level civil society entities;
• Develop an ecosystem for sustainability and promote long term self-reliance of the civil society sector.

CSOs will be better able to engage in citizen driven/ supported advocacy campaigns (i.e., increasing their capacities to identify/ advocate for issues that are of concern to citizens, to actively involve citizens in advocacy campaigns and to communicate results back to citizens). Citizens will be empowered to engage in activism (i.e., increasing their awareness of various mechanisms for activism-philanthropy, volunteerism and increasing resources to and influence of informal/ new groups that are grounded in community needs).

Expected Activity

• Capacity of civil society to address citizen identified issues at the local, regional and national level enhanced.
• Effective intra-sectoral partnerships among local, regional and national level civil society entities promoted.
• Long term sustainability and self-reliance of the sector enhanced

Funding Information

• Estimated Total Program Funding: $15,000,000
• Award Ceiling: $15,000,000

Many international donors, both governmental and nongovernmental, support civil society development. Below are some of the donor-supported efforts supporting civil society organizations through a range of approaches:

• EU delegation in Georgia: The EU Delegation's Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society in Georgia, adopted in December 2018, constitutes a basis for the overall EU engagement with civil society in Georgia. EU support for civil society is focused on five broad areas including: (a) enhancing civil society’s enabling environment, capacity, transparency and accountability; (b) contributing to a more favorable ecosystem for social entrepreneurship; (c) increasing CSOs’ competency to better perform their roles as reliable actors of governance; (d) reinforcing the role of CSOs in tackling climate change; and (e) supporting CSOs active in the promotion and defense of human rights and democracy.
• SIDA provides a multi-year funding to its selected strategic partners – leading Georgian CSOs.
• Grantmaking organizations, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, the European Endowment for Democracy, the Black Sea Trust, and the Prague Civil Society Centre, which provide small-medium sized grants that help support independent media, civil society organizations, and human rights groups. Local grantmaking organizations include Open Society Georgia Foundation and Europe Foundation
• US Embassy: supports local CSOs through its Democracy Small Grants Program.

The civil society engagement activity will leverage the resources and opportunities presented by these activities and ensure proper coordination between donor organizations.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.