European Election 2014: call for anti-racism & LGBTI campaign initiatives

Note!

• Only joint campaigns with one or more member organisations from both ENAR and ILGA-Europe will be accepted
• Deadline for communicating intention to apply: 14 February 2014

The specific goal of this call

The specific goal of this call is to engage ILGA-Europe and ENAR members to support a cross-community approach of advocacy for equality policies and human rights to support the targeted election campaign initiatives proposed jointly by ILGA-Europe and ENAR member organisations. These initiatives will be within the “European elections 2014: cross-communities mobilisation project for a universal and indivisible EU equality agenda”, and aimed at promoting a universal and cross-community approach of human rights and equality, ahead of the 2014 European Parliament election and nomination of the next European Commission. Strong and consistent advocacy in the coming months are essential to improve the current situation, in which equality policies have been undermined by the lack of political will and by the economic and social crisis. ILGA-Europe and ENAR are working together to counter forces trying to undermine human rights and equality, including political forces and by the rise of populist political forces spilling racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia in different EU Member States.

In the context of this project, ILGA-Europe and ENAR will support initiatives at national level that will contribute to:

• challenge extremist discourse, in particular intolerant speeches targeting LGBTI people and ethnic minorities, as well as all attempts to propagate or fuel hostility between such communities;
• reinforce and jointly deliver a message on the universality of human rights and non-discrimination, stressing the importance of championing these values at EU level;
• raise awareness about the importance of the European Parliament election in terms of setting the European Union’s political agenda in the years to come.

ILGA-Europe (within a total budget of 13.000 €) will award 4-5 grants to ILGA-Europe and ENAR national member organisations working together on the development of European election campaign initiatives. The grantees will be supported in the implementation of advocacy actions aiming at promoting a universal and cross-community approach of equality during the election campaign.

The selection of the grantees will be made in the second half of February, and the projects will need to be implemented by the end of the election campaign (the election takes place between 22 and 25 May 20147 depending on the countries). The selection of applications will be handled by ILGA-Europe, in consultation with ENAR.

Project focus and eligibility criteria

• The proposals for joint initiatives need to define clear actions that must be relevant in the context of the European election campaign. Such actions should support the cooperative documents produced by ILGA and ENAR for the purposes of this project (including the declaration for political parties, equality demands, the pledge, manifestos, EP election toolkit, political debates, visual campaign to foster voting, etc.) Actions could include (but are not limited to) translating these documents into your national language and disseminating them as well as organising campaign events and debates, creating or feeding into existing social media platforms, such as ENAR’s platform, I vote for diversity https://www.facebook.com/Ivotefordiversity, and generally raising awareness of the partners’ EU campaign manifestos, equality demands, political party declarations, and materials on equality, advocacy initiatives targeting party candidates and spokespersons to promote awareness and mobilisation of voters within LGBTI and ethnic minority communities, etc.
• The proposals need to be submitted jointly by one (or more) members of ILGA-Europe and one (or more) members of ENAR.

Selection criteria

• The initiatives need to include a European value added, for example by being instrumental in building a relationship with MEP candidates who are likely to play a role in the new European Parliament. Actions aiming at sensitising a national government as regards the nomination of members of the next European Commission could also be considered.
• Initiatives allowing or facilitating the development or strengthening of sustainable NGO coalitions (between LGBTI and anti-racist NGOs at least) will have a higher chance of being awarded a grant. Demonstrated sustainability and long-term impacts of the partnerships established during the election campaign will be an asset.
• The national or regional context of the proposal will be important in the selection process. For example, countries where important political actors are likely to use rhetoric opposing ethnic or religious communities and sexual minorities will be considered as particularly interesting. Applicants will have to show how their proposals address such risks.

Project planning

• Applications will need to include a clear activity plan based on a coherent advocacy/campaigning model.
• Applications will need to include a clear and credible provisional budget. The budget should be annexed. Overall budget proposals should be comprised between 2.000 and 4.000 €. A maximum of 20% of the budget can go to overhead expenses (administrative and office costs). All other costs are eligible if justified by the needs of the project.
• Application forms shall include a description of the planned activities and of the chosen reporting techniques. Your proposals will be evaluated taking into account the capacity of your organisations to implement the initiative and reporting requirements.

Additional conditions

• Proposals will be accepted from officially registered LGBTI and anti-racist organisations or unregistered initiative groups. These organisations and groups need to be members of ILGA-Europe or ENAR. Grantees commit to make themselves available to participate to an event organised in Brussels in early March. Travel costs will be covered by ILGA-Europe.

Applicants are expected to confirm to ILGA-Europe their intention to submit an initiative proposal by 14 February 2014, 18.00 CET. For that purpose, they are expected to provide as much detail as possible on the initiative they wish to develop, on the basis of the application form. The finalisation of the proposals will be completed on the basis of subsequent exchanges with ILGA-Europe and ENAR. Final decisions on grants awarded will be communicated in the second half of February.

You can submit your application to ILGA-Europe’s Policy and Programmes Officer Joël Le Déroff: joel@ilga-europe.org.

Find the application form here

ILGA-Europe and ENAR look forward to your applications and wish you luck!