Democracy Comission Small Grants Program
The U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan is now accepting applications under the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program.
Program purpose:
The purpose of this program is to award small grants to the Kazakhstani non-governmental, non-commercial organizations for specific projects that support the development of democratic institutions in Kazakhstan. Proposals are evaluated according to the topic of the project, clearly formulated goals and target groups, and the ability of the applying organization to carry out the project aims.
In Kazakhstan the Commission is interested in projects relating to the following:
• building democratic institutions (support for creation of NGO resource centers in areas such as civic education, transparency in government, volunteer training, etc.);
• fostering a strong and independent media (grants for creation and development of independent electronic and print media);
• support of civic education (promotion of civil society development, as well as training of future leaders);
• respect for the rule of law (support for advocacy groups, law clinics, legal services, etc.);
• human rights (rights and freedoms of Kazakhstani citizens, rights of ethnic minorities, including monitoring of human rights violations, etc.)
• women’s political rights (non-partisan voter education for women, etc.)
• support for market reforms (pension reform, fiscal reform, etc.);
Projects not eligible for funding:
• projects requested by non-Kazakhstani organizations and individuals;
• projects relating to partisan political activity, charitable activity and humanitarian aid, fund-raising campaigns;
• commercial projects;
• individuals not affiliated with an organization that can provide long-term sustainability to the project;
• and those that duplicate existing projects.
Amount:
Although the maximum funding available for a single grant is $24,000, the average amount of awarded grants is between $5,000 and $15,000.
Application Form:
The application form can be downloaded here.
Deadlines:
The U.S. Embassy accepts applications for the Democracy Commission grants in Russian and English from October 1 through October 31, 2009. Applications can be downloaded from our website http://kazakhstan.usembassy.gov, or you can send your requests to the following e-mail addresses: LimarevaO@state.gov in Astana or DauletbayevaT@state.gov in Almaty.
Application includes:
• Grant Summary Form in English (1 page);
• Application Form (maximum 5 pages), which includes project budget. The project budget must be submitted in MS Excel;
• A copy of the registration papers of the organization;
• Copies of resumes for key project participants;
• Price lists for equipment or services to be purchased for the project.
Procedural information:
Proposed projects that meet the basic criteria outlined above will be considered at a meeting of the U.S. Embassy Astana Democracy Commission, which is planned for January 2010. If your preliminary application meets the criteria of the Democracy Commission and is under consideration, you may be asked to submit additional information. You will be notified within three days after the meeting of the Democracy Commission as to the status of your application. Please note that if your project proposal is approved, funds from the Democracy Commission may not be available until several weeks after the date of approval.
If you receive funding from the Democracy Commission, you will be required to submit a detailed program and financial report on the outcomes of the project.
The next U.S. Embassy Democracy Commission application period will be March 1 through March 31, 2010.
