About: UN Women was created in 2010 with the aim of establishing an agency entirely dedicated to the empowerment of women. UN Women works both with governmental and non-governmental bodies. It supports governments to formulate new policies and legislation in favour of gender equality and it also partners with civil society actors to empower women working in grassroots projects. The core goals of this agency are to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, to empower women globally and to achieve equality between men and women.
Geographical Area of Intervention: There are no geographical restrictions although each call for proposals might have its own geographical specifications. For instance, the 2011-2012 cycle was open to organisations working in the Arab States only.
Themes: UN Women’s resources are allocated around 6 main areas of intervention:
- To stop violence against women and also to develop laws that can protect women from violence. In particular, UN Women develops and supports projects targeting the exploitation of women in conflict and addressing the issue of rape as a war weapon.
- To empower women as primary actors in peace and reconciliation processes.
- To empower women as political actors in their community of belonging.
- To empower women by enhancing their financial opportunities (access to education and jobs, property rights etc)
- To enforce women’s human rights by erasing existing forms of discrimination against women.
- To develop a sound strategy expanding the scopes of the Millennium Development Goals after 2015.
Types of Grants: Generally, UN Women is interested in sponsoring projects developed by governments and grassroots organisations that are innovative, demonstrate high impact potential and target one or more of the core themes of the Agency. There are 2 main grants made available by UN Women.
- The Fund for Gender Equality was created to support women’s political and economic empowerment. In particular, the Fund focuses on the empowerment of young women as a way to concretely work towards a generational change and the enhancement of women’s roles in society.
- The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women financially supports projects that demonstrate how violence against women and girls could be addressed, reduced and eliminated. Proposed projects must be written for women and girls especially those at risk. Projects must also involve the participation of men and boys in order to educate them and seek their active involvement in ending violence against women. This scheme does also support projects that aim to provide assistance to women and girls victim of violence whatever the circumstances (domestic violence or conflict related etc.). Lastly, this Fund sponsors projects aiming to help policy makers in the writing of more effective laws protecting women from violence in the country where they work.
Eligibility:
- All women’s led organisations working to enhance women’s rights and gender equality are eligible.
- In 2012, UN Women Fund for Gender Equality received 900 applications of which a small number was selected to submit a full proposal for further evaluation and selection. Be aware of the competition!
How to Apply: UN Women does not accept unsolicited proposals. The first call asks for the submission of a Concept Note. Only selected organisations will be invited to submit full proposals (normally within 2 months from when they are invited to do so).
Deadlines: Calls for concept papers are disseminated once a year for both Funds. In order to access relevant information, you should monitor the UN Women website (where calls are advertised).
Alternatively, you could get in contact with the UN Women office working in your country and ask to be informed as soon as a new call is advertised. For a complete list of UN Women offices, follow this link
