Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

Monitoring and coverage of public policy programs and government’s expenditures in sectors relevant for EU-Armenia relations

 

Deadline for apply:           24 December, 2018
Expected Starting Date:   1 February, 2018
Duration:                           Up to 4 months
Geographic Scope:           Armenia
Available budget:               2000 EUR

INTRODUCTION
The Freedom of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA) NGO implements "Access to Information and Investigative Journalism for better Informed Citizens" Project in cooperation with the Maastricht-based European Journalism Centre, with the co-financing of the European Union.
The Project is aimed at strengthening the capacity of local CSOs and media in conducting monitoring of public policy programs and government expenditures, to promote effective CSO-government dialogue both at national and regional level.
With view to achieving this goal, in the first phase of the Project “Freedom of Information and Public Oversight of the Budget” trainings were conducted for 90 Yerevan-based and regional CSOs and media outlets enabling them gain better understanding about EU-Armenia relations, reforms required by it and access to information issues, as well as best international practices and watchdog strategies. To help training participants put their skills into practice the Project will also offer 10 specific advocacy small grants (first sub-grants’ round) to the CSOs and media outlets to be selected from among training participants.

General grant provisions
The FOICA is inviting the CSOs and media outlets to submit proposals for implementing one of the 10 projects on the monitoring and coverage of public policies and state budget expenditures in sectors relevant for EU-Armenia relations.

Who can apply
This Grant is open to Yerevan-based and regional CSOs, media outlets and civil initiatives, which have participated in the training sessions described in the Introduction section above (during September-November, 2018). Participants may also submit a consortium application. Each organization can submit only ONE proposal either individually or as a part of coalition.

Scope of work
The proposals for implementing a project should refer to the monitoring and coverage of public policies and state budget expenditures in sectors relevant for EU-Armenia relations, including but not limited to health, transport, environment, energy efficiency, anti-corruption, anti-discrimination, etc.

The main components of the Project
In addition to watchdog activities, the proposals should also include reform-oriented plan of cooperation with government agencies. Applicant organizations should build the project so that the ideas presented include the following mandatory components:

• Monitoring, watchdog activities;
• Cooperation with government agencies during and after the monitoring (e.g. organizing of working group meetings and elaboration of concept papers on the project issues: at least 4 working meetings with government agencies on the Project issues during the project);
• Documentation of cooperation with state agencies and conducted monitoring (joint concept papers, official correspondence, press publications);
• Publicizing and media coverage of the project components.

Time period and budget of the proposals
The available budget for each sub-grant is 2000 EUR. The duration of the Project is up to 4 months. The applicant must start the project no earlier than January 20, 2019 and end on May 20 of the same year.

Selection criteria
The evaluation of applications that meet the conditions of the competition will be carried out according to the following criteria:

1. Project proposal description (60points)

• Compliance with the required topics;
• Description of the problem and justification of need;
• Cooperation with state bodies,
• Availability of required components;
• Creativity and innovation of the proposed actions;
• Engagement of youth, women and other social groups.

2. Expected results (30points)

• The logical link between actions and expected results.
• The expected results are concrete and tangible;
• Publicizing and media coverage the components of the project;
• At least 4 round tables should be organized within each project with participation of state bodies and CSOs,
• Documentation of cooperation with state agencies (joint concept papers, official correspondence, press publications).

3. Budget (10 points)

• Targeted distribution of the budget;
• Reasonableness of proposed expenses;
• Co-financing (in cash contribution, at least 10% of the project budget).

Submission and review process
The proposed package should include the following documents:

• Project proposal (Annex 1);
• Project Budget (Annex 2);
• Curriculum vitae (CV) of the Project Coordinator;
• List and brief summary of the Projects implemented over the last 3 years.

The application and attachments must be signed by the organization's head (s)/manager(s).

The application and accompanying documents can be submitted in Armenian or English to the following email: foicasubgrant@gmail.com no later than on December 24, 18:00, indicating “FOICA Small Grant” title in the subject line of the email.

For questions please contact Ms. Mane Madoyan, tel.: +374 10560360 or by writing to foicasubgrant@gmail.com email address.

ATTACHMENTS:

Annex 1: Project proposal

 

Annex 2: Project Budget