Deadline: 24 July 2018

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is seeking proposals for the third round of grants from all eligible women-led and women’s rights groups and organisations in Africa and the Middle East under Leading From the South.

Under the Leading from the South initiative, AWDF aims to scale up its grantmaking and advocacy initiatives to promote women’s rights, amplify their voices, increase economic opportunities and improve access to spaces of decision-making.

AWDF is one of four Women’s Funds from the Global South managing the Leading from the SouthFund- a funding initiative created to resource women’s rights activism in the global South over 4 years.

Impact Areas

• Eliminate violence against women and girls & sustain respect for women’s bodily integrity and autonomy
• Protect full economic rights and justice for women
• Expand democratic space; sustain inclusive governance and equal political participation of women

Grant Types and Size

• Yala! Grants
  • Size: US$20,000 to US$ 50,000 a year for up to 2 years
  • Geographic scope: Local and national.
• Ananse Grants
  • Size: US$51,000 to US$ 199,000 a year for up to 2 years
  • Geographic scope: National, transnational (across 2 or more countries), regional.
• Pamoja Grants
  • Size: US$200,000 to US$500,000 a year for up to 2 years
  • Geographic scope: National, transnational (across 2 or more countries), regional, international.

Eligibility Criteria

• AWDF accepts applications from women’s rights organisations registered and working in DAC recipient countries in Africa and the Middle East
• AWDF funds women-led, women’s organisations as a priority. Organisations must have:
  • a track record of work on women’s rights,
  • a woman as organisational director/lead
  • a majority (at least 70%) of women staff
  • at least 70% women involved in the governing board/body
  • a stated commitment to women’s rights/gender equality in the organisational mission/vision/values
  • At least 70% of programmatic resources must be dedicated to direct programming on women’s rights;
  • the project applied for will be managed by a woman
• For Ananse and Pamoja grants, we will also consider applications from networks/coalitions formed by three or more women’s groups. In this case applications will be made by one lead organisation who will be responsible for administering and reporting on use of funds. Funds can only be distributed by the lead to a maximum of 4 named partner/network members who must also be based in the two regions.
• Organisations must demonstrate their capacity and financial management systems to effectively implement and account for grant funding and programme delivery.
• Organisations must have registration status that enables them to receive funds from foreign sources.
• Organisations must have been in existence for at least 3 years.

How to Apply

Interested applicants must download the application form via given website.

Eligible Countries

• Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
• Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen
• Funded programmes may be implemented in any of the above countries, as well as in Sudan, South Sudan, Iran and Syria.

For more information, please visit AWDF.