About: FRIDA’s main goal is to support young feminists globally. FRIDA believes that change derives from strengthening organisations of young feminist activists. FRIDA defines young feminist activists as “young people from across the gender spectrum committed to advancing gender equality and women’s rights through feminist means”. The term ‘feminist’ refers to “individuals working with women’s movements or in other social movements to advance the rights of equality, justice, dignity, freedom and safety of women, girls and marginalised groups”.
The core values of FRIDA are: Flexibility, Resources, Inclusivity, Diversity and Action.
Geographical Area of Intervention: Organisations based in the Global South; Africa, Asia and the Pacific, The Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Themes: FRIDA gives financial aid toward the implementation of projects
- Advancing and defending women’s rights from a feminist perspective
- Improving the lives of young women/transgender youth at local, national, regional and international levels
- Contributing to the creation of a collective feminist movement
FRIDA does not outline specific priorities as a means of ensuring flexibility and openness and also to guarantee that all possible views, voices, needs and priorities of applicants are supported.
Types of Grants: FRIDA provides small grants between $1,000 and $ 5,000 for projects lasting a maximum of 12 months. Grants are open to renewal. In addition to financial help, FRIDA offers to grantees opportunities to network with similar organisations and capacity building support intended to strengthen the participation and leadership of young feminist activists.
Eligibility: FRIDA provides grants to organisations led by young feminists and transgender youth (under the age of 30). Grantees do not need to be officially registered as an association.
FRIDA prioritizes:
- Small and emerging grassroots groups, networks or collectives with little or no access to major funding schemes
- Organisations or groups that have never received funding
- Organisations or groups working in remote or underserved areas
- Organisations or groups that are diverse in composition and working with marginalised groups of women (refuges, ethnic and national minorities, rural women, urban poor, LBT community, sex workers, women with HIV/AIDS, women with disabilities, women living in conflict or post-conflict zones)
- Organisations or groups proposing innovative methodologies and strategies to achieve FRIDA’s main goals (including arts, new media and technologies, music, culture, poetry etc)
FRIDA does not support groups developing projects for young people but lead by individuals older than 30 years of age, scholarships or internships, recipients of governmental aid, proposals submitted by individuals, governments, political or religious organisations, proposals focusing on the provision of services, projects with income generating activities and groups based in the Global North.
How to apply: FRIDA does not accept unsolicited proposals. You can find calls for proposals here Once the call is advertised, proposals must be submitted through the online system. Applications can be written in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Russian. FRIDA believes in participatory grantmaking. As such, all applicants are invited to vote and select the projects to be funded by the Fund.
Deadlines: The deadline for the 2013 call for proposals was March, 26. Additional calls will be advertised here
