The Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) has announced a call for proposals for the Ad-Hoc Support Grants Program.

Ad-hoc support is an instrument established to provide rapid funding for a CSO’s immediate need or for innovation to promote civic space ONLY when there is insufficient time to operate through the standard grant award procedure.

The instrument of ad-hoc support grants is established to respond rapidly to changing conditions and immediate needs, being flexible to address new challenges as they arise. Therefore, it follows a simplified and accelerated review procedure to ensure timely responses to address a concrete issue or a challenge.

The funding for this call is made available with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), provided with the Project “Protecting Civic Space – Regional Civil Society Development Hub”.

All grants awarded under this call for proposals should contribute to strengthened regional cooperation for promoting civic space in the Western Balkan region.

The funding may be used for two types of activities:

• For the organization of experts’ missions to provide support to an organization from the WB region that requested peer advice and exchange of experience on a specific civic space topic;
• For the organization of regional gatherings of CSOs, civil society actors, and their constituencies to interact and share their problems and solutions (ideas), learn together and establish consensus on their needs and the priorities.

Funding Information

• The maximum funds available for this instrument - Ad-Hoc Support Grants is EUR 340.000,00
• It has been foreseen that these funds will be disbursed for at least 14 expert missions and at least 14 regional events.
• The maximum grant limit for an individual grant is EUR 10.000,00.

Eligibility Criteria

• All types of CSOs, platforms and organisations, registered in at least one of the countries of the Western Balkan region- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Republic of North Macedonia, as long as these are:
  • Non-governmental and
  • Not for profit.
• This means that the following types of organisations can participate:
  • Individual organizations, associations, foundations, and networks, notably registered in one of the 6 countries of the WB region;
  • Regional networks of CSOs, associations and foundations (including non-governmental, not for profit, coalitions, partnerships, networks, sectoral or thematic interest groups, media outlets, research institutes and think tanks), registered in at least one of the 6 Western Balkan countries, that have member organizations in more than 2 countries in the region;
  • Informal regional networks of CSOs, notably non-registered platforms of associations and foundations (including non-governmental, not for profit, coalitions, partnerships, networks, sectoral or thematic interest groups, media outlets, research institutes and think tanks) that have member organizations in more than 2 countries in the region.
• These types of networks can apply with one organization leading the network or through a consortium of organizations.

For more information, visit BCSDN.