UNDEF Grants: United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) primary purpose is to strengthen the voice of civil society and ensure the participation of all groups in democratic practices.

The Fund complements current UN efforts to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide and funds projects that enhance democratic dialogue and support for constitutional processes, civil society empowerment, including the empowerment of women, civic education and voter registration, citizen’s access to information, participation rights and the rule of law in support of civil society and transparency and integrity.

The following institutions are eligible for UNDEF grant funding:

• Civil Society Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, engaged in promoting democracy which are anticipated to receive the bulk of the funding.
• Independent and Constitutional Bodies, including Election Commissions, Ombudsman Institutions, National Human Rights Institutions and other independent governance bodies, for project proposals facilitating the inclusion of the voice of civil society.
• Global and Regional inter-government bodies, organizations and associations other than the United Nations, for project proposals which strengthen the voice of civil society.

In principle, UNDEF grants will be allocated for projects with default duration of two years.

However, it is fully acceptable to UNDEF if a successful applicant completes a project in less than 2 years. Grants will not necessarily match the full amounts applied for.

Grant allocations will in principle not exceed US$500,000 forany given project, and will be of a minimum of US$50,000.

Once the implementation period has elapsed, beneficiaries will be required to revert unspent funding to UNDEF.

While applications from all countries will be considered, strong preference will be given to applicants from countries and regions where the challenges of democracy are more critical, such as countries emerging from conflict, new and restored democracies, the Least Developed Countries (as per the official classification of the UN-OHRLLS), Low Income Countries (“Low Income Economies” as per the World Bank’s official classification based on Gross National Income per capita) and Middle Income Countries (“Lower and Upper Middle-income Economies”, idem).

 Deadline: 31st December.