Month: November 2020

COVID-19 EMERGENCY FUND – LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

The Innovation for Change LAC Hub (I4C LAC), with the support of Tides Center, launches the Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Civil Society Organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean who want to increase their capacity and resiliency to operate and defend civic space.

Taking into account the fragile context in which CSO´s are operating due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Covid-19 Emergency Fund will provide valuable financial resources for CSO´s to continue implementing their missions.

To this end, RACI with the collaboration of Jóvenes contra la Violencia (JCV)-, opens this new call for proposals to provide an average of 15 (fifteen) local, national and regional organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean, with financial resources – up to USD 5.000 each- to target challenges CSO ́s in the region are facing during COVID-19 in relation to one or more of the following areas:

• access to information;
• transparency and accountability in public funds used during the pandemic;
• monitor of access to public services.

Projects should contribute to protect civic space through seed granting innovative movements and initiatives that creatively tackle community challenges faced during COVID-19 in relation to one or more of the above three thematic areas. Projects should also be sustainable and leave installed capacities in the CSO´s.

 

Who can apply?

Only Non-for-profit Civil Society Organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean can apply to the Covid-19 Emergency Fund. The Program will not accept proposals from individuals, business companies or governments.

 

How long should the project last and how much funding could be applied?

Projects should last no longer than 4 (four) months, finishing before 1 June 2021. The Fund will provide up to USD5,000 per project. Only one proposal per CSO will be accepted.

Selected CSO´s should submit a mid-term progress report and a final report upon completion. Provision of funds will be subjected to the approval of these reporting.

 

What activities will not be funded?

• Travel and accommodation
• Proselytizing or political activities

 

How to apply

 RACI will be responsible for receiving and assessing the applications. To apply, Organizations will have to follow these steps:

1- Download and complete the Emergency COVID-19 Fund Form 01

2- Attach the complete Emergency COVID-19 Fund Form 01 in the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/Fm4ejqBS8FVgATvo6 and complete with the rest of the information required.

The deadline to apply is 11 December at 6pm (Argentina time). Projects received after that date and time will not be considered for evaluation.

If you have any further question please write to fondoemergenciaalc@raci.org.ar.

 

In November, Felipe Solá, Foreign Affairs minister, joined Roberto Valent, UN Resident Coordinator in Argentina, with the objective of signing a new Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2021-2025 (UNSDCF). This represents a great opportunity for the country, as it manifests the support from the UN in the achievement of the Agenda 2030 and it’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

This is the third cooperation framework between the UN and Argentina. What’s more, it is the result of a collaborative analysis and planning involving different sectors: governmental representatives, civil society, academics and private sector. RACI, as representative of the non-profit sector, had the opportunity of contributing by facilitating a space for dialogue and exchange among member organizations.

The UNSDCF focuses on “four principal dimensions: Economic, Social, Environmental and Governance, and other six cross-sectional areas: Human Rights Approach, Gender Approach, not leaving anyone behind, Territory, Environmental Sustainability and COVID-19’s impact.

As mentioned above, this framework represents a greater step towards strengthening international cooperation. In words of Roberto Valent, “we believe it will serve to support the country’s solutions and responses in the economic, social and environmental spheres”.

For more information, visit: http://www.onu.org.ar/naciones-unidas-argentina-y-el-gobierno-argentino-firmaron-el-marco-estrategico-de-cooperacion-para-los-anos-2021-2025/.

 

From RACI, we want to invite you to contribute to an important regional analysis that we are promoting together with the CIVICUS Global Alliance and the social enterprise Innpactia. It seeks to evaluate the efficiency of the civil society financing system in Latin America.

In the difficult context that we are going through, it seems very important and urgent to highlight the great obstacles and high costs that organizations in the region face in accessing resources and, at the same time, being able to offer the donor community possible recommendations so that the available resources are more accessible, without the sector having to incur disproportionate expenses that are not essential for its social function.

The data that is being collected is first-hand, from a diverse and representative sample of organizations in the region.

We encourage you to participate by answering the following survey: “Transforming financing systems“. It won’t take more than 15 minutes!

All information collected within the investigation will be treated with the highest degree of confidentiality and no sensitive data will be shared under any circumstances.

The survey will be open until December 20, 2020. We would be very happy to have your participation!

This month, CIVICUS published a new report on civil society responses to the pandemic. Its aim is to outline some of the many civil society responses to the pandemic, highlights its vital contributions, draws preliminary lessons and makes recommendations for states and other stakeholders to enable and work with civil society, both in pandemic response and recovery and in tackling the underlying issues that the crisis has exposed and deepened. For its elaboration, both surveys and interviews with specialists, leaders and participants of the third sector were carried out.

The advance of COVID-19 presented a new and alarming crisis for the whole world. As the pandemic spread, people expected their countries’ governments to take rapid decisions to protect the lives and livelihoods of the population. However, while much attention has fallen on the actions of states, there has been far less acknowledgement of the vital role played by civil society. Even in difficult conditions of restricted civic space, there was a rapid and vital civil society response. Civil society met needs, defended rights and forged new paths for civic action, even in spaces that States had left vacant. The CIVICUS report compiles the responses that civil society carried out around the world regarding both the satisfaction of basic needs, as well as other aspects, such as: sharing information; providing services remotely; monitoring and defending human rights; influencing and engaging with states; using the legal system; public campaigning; protesting under the pandemic; nurturing community leadership; and helping each other.

Finally, the report proposes ideas for the next steps to take for recovery and future resilience building. These recommendations are for civil society, States, donors, the media and international institutions.

In conclusion, the report seeks to generate greater recognition of the value of civil society to face emergency situations, both in the context of the current pandemic, as in any other crisis that may occur in the future, and encourages States to work to strengthen it and associate with it, across a diverse range of civil society forms and responses, in order to achieve a more joined-up and effective responses that are respectful to social rights.

To read the full report, visit https://www.civicus.org/index.php/covid-19.

Source: CIVICUS (2020), Solidarity in the Time of COVID-19. Civil society responses to the pandemic. https://www.civicus.org/documents/reports-and-publications/SOCS/2020/solidarity-in-the-time-of-covid-19_en.pdf.

RACI has decided to launch a campaign throughout the month of December, with the aim of being more connected than ever.

These present times constitute a fundamental challenge to teamwork and we acknowledge that restrictions imposed as a means of protecting us from the pandemic has impacted many Argentinian Civil Society Organizations. Nevertheless, we also know that the Social Sector has had an undeniable importance when dealing with this health and social crisis.

At RACI, we believe more than ever that networking constitutes a unique opportunity to overcome the challenges presented to us this year. It is for those reasons that we have set out to give visibility to Civil Society by reviewing all the monumental work that has been done this year, understanding how important it has been to be connected. We believe it is essential to understand to what extent we have been able to respond to these needs by working as a team and articulating our efforts, and thus continue to promote the culture of networking!

With the contributions of all members, we will be creating content to share on social networks throughout December to make the work of CSOs visible and to promote the importance of working together.

Civil Society is active this year too!

 

#ARTICULATEtoSTRENGTHEN

PLAN 12: First free continental course made by and for teenagers

América Solidaria and UNICEF initiative, supported by Socialab and Red de Adolescentes Concausa (Concaus Teen Network), launched a learning platform for young people seeking to develop skills for the new scenarios caused by the pandemic, and in result, lead projects that transform their realities and those of their surroundings.

On October 28^th at 11:00 A.M. ART, via Zoom, the launch of “Plan 12: el curso” (Plan 12: the course); first free online course made by and for teens. This is a new initiative promoted by Fundación América Solidaria and UNICEF, in collaboration with Socialab and together with the Red de Adolescentes Concausa (Concausa Teen Network), a network of young people from Latin America and the Caribbean that works to face different challenges of social and environmental impact in the continent.

“Plan 12: el curso” (Plan 12: the course), breaks out as an outcome of an unprecedented intergenerational work methodology, which promotes the development of projects and campaigns created from the beginning by teams of teenagers and adults, with equal decision-making capacity and autonomy.

According to Camila Ponce, director of the Educación de América Solidaria line (América Solidaria Education line), “the world in which we live requires us to have the capacity to adapt, either because we are forced to change countries; or change the modality in which we work; adapt to a distance learning system, even adapt to a new way of relating between people. The world is uncertain and changing, and developing skills to be able to reinvent ourselves and adapt to this ‘new normal’ will be essential. This course is an invitation to young people in our region to learn those skills that will be the key to navigating the future”.

This initiative is part of the Plan 12 project, which under the same intergenerational work dynamics, seeks to develop skills by sharing knowledge, from teenager to teenager, through various communication channels (RR.SS., podcasts, interviews with experts, downloadable courses, etc.) and with special focus on those people without access or with limited access to the internet.

“Our goal is that teenagers from all corners of Latin America have the same opportunity to develop essential skills for today’s world. That is why the proposal has an online platform and also downloadable materials for those who have less access to the internet”, Alejandra Trossero mentions, a specialist in adolescence for UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The skills to be promoted in this course are focused on sustainable development, world citizenship, communications, project development, advocacy and life skills.

In this regard, Eyleen Menchú, a teenager from Guatemala who participated in the development of the content, adds: “In this course we learn about tools and skills that help us create a project with impact. In addition, it has the experience of both adults and teenagers, who for years have worked and learned about the development and implementation of projects. This is an interactive course in which we can all participate and put into practice what we learn, because our generation has great potential and it is time for us to be the protagonists of change”.

The adolescents who participate have the freedom to access the content that is available without restrictions of time or place; this provides an opportunity for autonomous and self-regulated learning. The downloadable material works as a replacement for the educational capsules, so it can be used offline and access the certification.

It should be noted that “Plan 12: el curso” (Plan 12: the course), aims teenagers who have an interest in developing projects, regardless of the level of knowledge they have about the topic to be developed, or previous experience of participating in projects.

For more information, write to plan12@americasolidaria.org.