1. Background

The present Call for Proposals (CfP) is administered by UNDP’s “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine” (CSDR) project which is part of the UNDP Democratic Governance portfolio, and a regional UNDP project “EU4Dialogue: Support to Conflict Transformation in the South Caucasus and the Republic of Moldova” (EU4Dialogue). The Call is implemented in coordination with the Joint UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) thanks to the financial support of European Union. Through the Democratic Governance portfolio UNDP assists the Government, civil society, and the people of Ukraine in advancing democratic policies and practices needed to accelerate progress on sustainable human development. This includes advocating for human rights and gender equality, supporting anti-corruption efforts, promoting the digital transformation agenda, ensuring that all Ukrainian citizens can protect their rights, strengthening parliament, and empowering civil society and youth activists.

The project “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine” (2017-2022) funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UNDP Ukraine is a nation-scale 5-year initiative which aims to enhance the institutional capacity of civil society actors in the region in the areas of democracy and human rights to strengthen their impact on the reform processes in the country through better coordination and networking and to contribute to more inclusive, democratic and rights-based governance. For this purpose, the project strengthens capacities of the civil society organizations to promote democracy and foster participatory and result-driven Government-CSO dialogue at all levels in Ukraine. It also develops capacities of human rights actors to promote and defend human rights in Ukraine and enhances civic youth engagement and youth participation in decision-making at all levels.

CSDR is being implemented through three main components:

1. Strengthening CSOs as guardians of democracy and good governance;
2. Supporting human rights actors to promote and defend human rights in Ukraine;
3. Enhancing civic youth engagement and youth participation in decision-making at all levels.

Joint UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is an area-based programme, implemented as part of UNDP’s Inclusive Development Recovery and Peacebuilding Portfolio, with the aim to respond to key strategic needs for recovery identified as part of the Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment. The Programme’s activities are grouped according to the following key components, which reflect the priority needs of the region:

•           Component I: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure

•           Component II: Local Governance and Decentralisation Reform

•           Component III: Community Security and Social Cohesion

The Programme, which has previous to the full-scale war been operating in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts (government-controlled areas), has since the beginning of the Russian invasion strengthened its support to conflict affected communities, MSMEs, local authorities, first responders and civil society actors, to enable and strengthen the Government and citizen-led response to the time critical needs affecting war-torn communities, hosting areas and transit hubs, ensuring continued service provision at local level, the integration of IDPs in their areas of relocation, and the upholding of human rights throughout the emergency and recovery phase.

The overall aim of the regional EU4Dialogue project, funded by the European Union, is to contribute to building a durable foundation for conflict transformation in the Eastern Partnership region by creating better socio-economic conditions and improving human security for conflict-affected communities. The activities implemented in Ukraine in 2022-2023 are part of a reprogramming of the project to support crisis response in Ukraine.

EU4Dialogue project is being implemented through two main components:

1. a competitive grant scheme to support CSO initiatives aiming at responding to the needs of conflict-affected communities; and 
2. procurement and supply of necessary equipment and consumables to support crisis response. 

According to the Government of Ukraine, as of June 2022, at least 227 enterprises, 23.8 thousand kilometers of roads, 6.3 thousand kilometers of railway tracks and 41 railway bridges, 643 health care institutions, 1123 educational institutions, 621 kindergartens, 192 cultural and 115 religious buildings, 178 warehouses, 99 administrative buildings, 28 oil depots, 19 shopping centers, more than 90 sports facilities, and more than 20 youth centers were destroyed due to hostilities.

According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, more than 35% of young people want to participate in the recovery of the country. For this purpose, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine is launching the national project "Recovery of Ukraine". The goal of the project is to promote the processes of youth engagement in the reconstruction of Ukraine and the normalization of life in communities affected by the war, through exchanges of groups of youth from different territories of Ukraine. The format of the exchange program envisages joint work of young men and women on the reconstruction of damaged civilian infrastructure objects and training on the development of civic competencies, volunteering and the values ​​of social cohesion during the war in Ukraine and in the post-war period. The project envisages the establishment of regional coordination hubs of the project based on youth centers and the involvement of more than 1,100 young men and women in the processes of reconstruction and normalization of life in communities affected by the war.

Through this CfP, UNDP would like to support youth centres and youth CSOs in strengthening their ability to act as coordination centers for organizing youth exchanges within the framework of the project "Recovery of Ukraine".

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPETITION:

The primary focus of this call is to support methodological and organizational training of youth centers / CSOs’ staff and to support the central office of the project for conducting youth exchanges, namely by:

• Supporting youth centers on conducting at least two youth exchanges in oblasts selected by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, including all organizational processes related to the accommodation, travel, and food of the participants, the organization of works on the restoration of civil infrastructure objects, and the organization of space for conducting training;
• Training of regional coordination youth centers regarding the organizational part of youth exchanges;
• Training of mentors to conduct the educational part of exchanges with a focus on the development of civic competencies, volunteering and the values of social cohesion;
• Ensuring the work of the central office of the project with aim to coordinate work of regional hubs with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and wide communication about the project within the society.

3. PARTICIPANTS OF THE COMPETITION:

Non-profit youth organizations and organizations working with youth, in particular charitable organizations, public associations (including civil society organizations and unions) that are officially registered in Ukraine. The contest does not provide grants to profit organizations, political parties, state authorities, local governments, religious communities and private (physical) individuals and entrepreneurs.

3.1. Eligible organizations

The parameters that will determine whether an NGO is eligible to be considered for funding by UNDP will be based on the Capacity Assessment Checklist CACHE (Annex 5).

3.2. Geographic location:

UNDP will accept applications from all regions of Ukraine. The applying CSO has to prove its capacity to operate in the proposed area of the intervention which will be assessed by the Grant Selection Committee.

4. COMPETITION:

The winners of the competition will be chosen on the basis of the evaluation results of the project proposals by the Grant Selection Committee.  UNDP will conclude grant agreements with those finalists that will be recommended for funding.

5. BUDGET AND ALLOWED EXPENSES:

Eligible costs must:

• be necessary for caring out project activities;
• comply with the principles of sound financial management, in particular value for and cost-effectiveness;
• be properly recorded, identifiable and verifiable, and backed by original supporting documents.

UNDP grant may only be used to cover the following costs:

• Staff salaries and expert fees;
• Purchase of consultative services provided that these are essential for project goals and objectives;
• Construction materials or repair work;
• Consumables and supplies, including minor personal protective equipment;
• Printing and copying;
• Utility services;
• Renting, catering and other services envisaged by the project activities;
• Travel costs (provided that travel complies with internal UNDP regulations).

The following costs are ineligible:

• Costs of project proposal preparation;
• Debts reconciliation;
• International travel;
• Reimbursement of expenses related to exchange rate fluctuations;
• Creation and registration of the organization;
• Direct fiscal support to state authorities;
• Political activity;
• Religious propaganda;
• Activities leading to direct or indirect discrimination of any social strata;
• Projects aimed at gaining profit from activities;
• Purchase of vehicles and / or luxury goods and related services.

6. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AND TERMS OF IMPLEMENTATION:

The maximum budget of the project proposal should not exceed 20 000 USD.

The maximum timeframe for the project implementation is 6 months.

The contribution from the implementing organization or from other sources will be considered and will regarded as an advantage for the applicant. This contribution could be made both financially and in non-financial form (for example, remuneration of the personnel of the organization, provision of its office or equipment for project tasks, etc.).

7. CONCEPTS SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

Concepts of the project proposals are submitted in Ukrainian and sent by e-mail to the addresses: grants.ua@undp.org, specifying in the subject line, the title of the competition “Engaging young men and women in recovery processes in Ukraine through youth exchange programs”. The project proposals should be submitted no later than 31 July 2022, 23:59.

Contact person:

• Anna Ostrikova, Grant/Youth Associate “Civil society for enhanced democracy and human rights in Ukraine”, UNDP: anna.ostrikova@undp.org

8. SELECTION PROCESS

8.1. Assessment procedures

UNDP specialists will check the proposals submitted by the CSOs for stage against the criteria. The Programme can request additional information from the applicants at its own discretion.

To ensure full transparency and equity of the process, UNDP forms a Grant Selection Committee (GSC) that will appraise the proposals that have made it through the first stage. GSC is a temporary authorized body that is responsible for considering, selecting and recommending proposals for funding. The Grant Selection Committee may decide to request additional independent expert opinion during the selection process.

8.2. Criteria for the assessment of proposals

The proposals shall be assessed by the GSC in accordance to the following criteria:

• Quality and responsiveness of the project proposal to the broad themes highlighted in item 2 of this CfP;
• Demonstrated ability of the proposed team to cope with the scope of works described in the project proposal;
• Demonstrated youth participation in the process of the project implementation;
• Quality of the proposed networks (including scope of partners proposed for implementation and already existing networks linked to the lead applicant).

9. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

9.1. Monitoring and evaluation, frameworks for project implementation

The Grantee is responsible for monitoring project implementation and evaluating its results. UNDP will monitor the project through Grantee reports, online consultations, site visits, meetings with project personnel and stakeholders, and participation in project events.

9.2. Reporting

The Grantee shall submit the following reports according to UNDP format:

• Brief reports on demand occasionally requested by UNDP CSDR in cases when information on Programme implementation is required in between reporting periods;
• A Completion report, including a summary of activities and results as well as financial report for total duration of an agreement.