Region: Kenya
Office: Hivos East Africa
Application deadline: August 1, 2022

Background

Hivos, alongside Akina Mama wa Afrika, Slum Dwellers International, SouthSouthNorth, Fundación Avina, and WWF is currently implementing the Voices for Just Climate Action program (VCA). The program aims to ensure that by 2025, local civil society and underrepresented groups will have taken on a central role as creators, facilitators, and advocates of innovative climate solutions. Their inclusion is crucial for effective and lasting climate responses, and because the climate crisis is also a societal challenge with ethical and human rights aspects.

The overall approach of the program is to work with civil society to build wide societal support for locally shaped climate solutions through an inclusive and rights-based approach. This includes building a broad-based climate alliance at the country level, and bridging divides (urban-rural, gender, youth) that amplifies voices in new unusual ways. In addition, it will influence national and global policies and financial flows (e.g. climate finance, private sector investments) in support of these locally shaped solutions.

COP 27 Champions for Climate Justice grant

The VCA program aims to bring excluded voices to the public debate and amplify them to engage and influence a just climate transition. To be able to expand civic space, three main mutually-reinforcing outcomes are needed.

• First, because there is power in numbers and diversity, and a united, strong civil society will be better able to advocate for locally-shaped solutions that benefit people and nature, diverse civil society groups will need to collaborate on a shared climate agenda.
• Second, the voices of citizens and civil society will need to be amplified so they can shape a new narrative and public debate around a just climate transition.
• Third, policy, practice, and investments will need to be influenced, adapted, and become more locally inclusive and impactful to reflect this new reality.

It is against this context therefore that VCA believes that it’s important to bring civil society and community voices to the climate conference – COP 27 – happening in Egypt in November to be part of the discussions as decisions on policies are made.

About the grant

So – what does the Champions for Climate Justice grant entail? This is a short-term grant structured to enable the participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and individuals active in the climate space (with focus on youth, women, and Indigenous people) in COP 27. The selected participants will be required to be engaged fully in making the activities listed above successful. Applicants should focus on designing a structured programme with a holistic approach in terms of COP 27 participation. This includes providing relevant training prior to COP 27, logistical and other support during COP 27 and an evaluation/next steps workshop after COP 27. The specific methods of engagement and selection will be left up to the organization; however inclusion of VCA key groups and tailoring of support for them should be elaborated upon. This programme is only meant to support participants from Kenya. However a cross-regional approach at sub-national level is preferred.

The VCA Champions for Climate Justice grant will support an organization and or a consortium with EUR 65,000 to achieve the below in a period of a maximum of three months.

Some of the activities related to this grant include but are not limited to:

• Design of the selection criteria for the participants to be engaged
• Identification and selection of participants to attend
• Participation in COP 27 in Egypt. This will be done in collaboration with the Hivos team
• Capacity development of the participants on Climate Justice, COP processes, and the basics of negotiations in Egypt
• Provide support in developing stories during and after COP 27 from the selected participants

Organizational eligibility

The call is open to organizations registered as not-for-profit, networks, and or community-based organizations based in any region in Kenya. Registration documents will be required if your organization is shortlisted. The organization has to fulfill all the below requirements.

• The organization must have good knowledge and a proven track record working on climate justice and policy work at local, regional, and international levels.
• The organization must be able to provide pre and post-COP support to the participants. This includes capacity development in a number of areas including COP processes, climate justice, storytelling, photography among others, and logistical support during COP 27 in Egypt and post-training, reporting, and collection of stories.
• Organizations can also apply as a consortium with a maximum of two members with clearly defined roles for each consortium member.
• Each consortium member should be registered and based in Kenya. International organizations are not eligible
• The organization should be able to pre-finance some of the activities related to this grant as listed above.
• Applying organizations should have at least EUR 100, 000 in annual revenue over the past two years. If in a coalition, this amount can be made up of the total income of both organizations
• Preferable but not mandatory: Organizational support for selected participants’ accreditation to COP 27
• If exceptional, applications from current VCA partners of other alliance members will be considered. Current VCA Hivos partners are not eligible for this grant

How to apply

Send an application with the following information as one PDF document:

• Name of the entity(ies) and your location(s)
• Name and contacts of the individual applicant(s)
• A work plan that briefly outlines proposed activities, overall curriculum for capacity development including a simple schedule and time frame for activities for a period of a maximum of three and a half months from September 1^st to December 9^th 2022
• Budget breakdown (including estimates of supporting selected participants to go to COP). Organizations can cater for own cost to attend COP but this should be co-financed and should not be more than 10% of total COP logistical costs)
• Any links to portfolio or social media pages where your work might have been showcased

All applications should be in English and should not be longer than 10 pages. The budget can be attached as an annex. Applications must be submitted to GrantsEA@hivos.org by August 1, 2022 with the subject line VCA Champions for Climate Justice Grant.

If you have any queries, please submit them to GrantsEA@hivos.org with the subject VCA Query.

About Hivos

Hivos is an international development organization guided by humanist values. Together with citizens and their organizations, we aim to contribute towards just, inclusive and life-sustaining societies where people have equal access to opportunities, rights and resources. We work in partnership with others in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America on three impact areas: Civic Rights in a Digital Age; Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Climate Justice. Our approach is solution driven, and we build wider movements for change by amplifying and connecting voices.