The Center for the Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) has announced a Call for Projects for Advocacy Network Grants 2020 to encourage and encourage cooperation between different but complementary civil society organizations, whose voice and work results will be multiplied through the formation of networks, in order to achieve the goals of advocacy. Advocacy network grants are intended for target groups of environmental CSOs and are open to partnerships with other CSOs.

Additional support will be provided through trainings and mentoring visits to selected networks of civil society organizations that will implement grants. Advocacy campaigns are expected to have a wide range of results that will raise awareness among the community and environmental decision makers.

CPCD will participate in the promotion of advocacy network activities, through the engagement of media in BiH from its existing network. The CPCD will also play an important role in synchronizing advocacy initiatives, various CSOs, projects, the media and local authorities.

During the implementation of these activities, the beneficiaries of the Advocacy Networks grants will have administrative, technical and financial support from CPCD, and from Eco HUBs, formed within the project Thoughts on Nature! will have advocacy and professional assistance within the scope of their activities. 

The goal of grants for advocacy networks is to strengthen the capacity of local organizations and provide support in creating partnerships, ie networking of CSOs in order to raise awareness and responsibility of all stakeholders (citizens, companies, government agencies) on environmental protection through advocacy campaigns. Networked CSOs will be able to advocate more strongly for solutions to environmental problems in front of government institutions.

Through their project activities, civil society organizations will:

• Improve public communication with decision makers at local and other levels of government;
• Ensure implementation of existing strategic documents, laws and procedures concerning environmental protection;
• Advocate for the establishment of sustainable public services in the areas of water, forest, waste, air quality, land quality, energy efficiency and renewable energy management.
• Involve citizens in decision-making processes, and implementation of project activities;
• Provide better access to information on environmental topics and issues for all stakeholders;
• Create conditions for better and more efficient communication of the public with the environmental inspection;
• Design and run campaigns that will be focused on a long-term solution to environmental problems and that will be gender sensitive and gender inclusive.

Funding Information

• The total amount of the grant at this stage: 250,000 KM
• Maximum number of grants to be approved: 5
• Maximum amount of funds per approved grant: Up to 50,000 KM
• Duration of project implementation: From 8 to 12 months

General Provisions

One of the criteria for awarding grants is respect for gender equality through the implementation of project activities, ie equal participation of women and men in the implementation of the project. When awarding grants, the CPCD will follow the following principles:

• Nationality: all applicants (legal and natural persons) must have permanent residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Equality: the grant award process is completely impartial, which means that all applicants will be selected by the election commission, in accordance with the published criteria;
• Non-overlap: CPCD will have a flexible approach and ensure complementarity in the implementation of the Thoughts on Nature project! However, applications that have significant overlap with another application or existing projects will not be considered;
• Principle of (non) retroactivity: grants will only cover costs incurred during the approved project implementation period. Any cost incurred outside the implementation period will be considered an ineligible cost.

Who can apply

The grants are intended for a network of domestic civil society organizations dealing with environmental protection. A partnership is required between a minimum of 3 organizations, an optimal 5 organizations, and the maximum number of organizations involved is not limited. In this category, partnership with other civil society organizations is also possible. Organizations need to have experience in implementing similar projects in the same or similar field of activity and experience in managing projects of the same or similar scope.

Eligibility Criteria

The condition for applicants is that they meet one of the following criteria:

• To be registered in accordance with the positive legal regulations in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• To achieve the statutory goals in the area of public interest which is the subject of the public call

For more information, visit Thoughts on Nature.