Grant decision: macro projects
In the first days of August, the evaluation of the 2nd phase macro project applications was successfully completed and the final grant decision made. Accordingly, out of the 43 detailed proposals 14 received support in Thematic area I. (human rights and advocacy) and 9 in Thematic area II. (organisation and community development), with a total amount of 2.7 million €.
The goal of the macro project call was, on the one hand, to support larger national/regional NGOs which have a knowledge and experience in the above fields to run longer term (2.5-3 years) projects to develop their own capacities and to lay the foundations of sustainability. On the other hand, they were expected to design and run training, mentoring and other programs in order to transfer their knowledge and help develop other smaller NGOs. Applicants had to present detailed plans for this in their proposal: they must work together with at least 10 other organisations/groups in Thematic area I., and with 15 in Thematic area II. (the maximum grant amount was 120,000 and 140,000 €, respectively). Another important aspect was cooperation with organisations from the Donor States in order to help strengthen bilateral relationships.
So as to help develop the proposals, the Operator foundations held a whole-day preparatory session for all 2nd phase applicants and also provided opportunity for individual consultations throughout the whole application period. Proposals submitted by the 1 assessors (just like before). Based on this, the two Selection Committees of the thematic areas made a recommendation for support and the final decision was made by the Approval Board, composed of representatives of the Operator foundations. The list of supported applicants and the grant amounts may be found in the table attached.
Following contracting, the 23 grantees will launch their projects and NGO development programs during the coming 1-2 months. In most cases the NGOs did not name the organizations they would want to work with specfically, but rather left their programs openly accessible, describing only the criteria to join. Therefore, all other applicants are encouraged to look at the possibilities, follow the news here on the website, contact the grantees and apply to participate in their programs! Hopefully, this will contribute, among others, to having better project proposals, more in line with the general goals in the future calls of the NGO Fund.
