Addressing deep-rooted problems that COVID-19 has exacerbated

• Announcement issuance date: 8th February 2022
• Proposal submission deadline: 28th February 2022 
• Expected program start date: 1st April 2022
• Duration of Funding: 1 April 2022 – July 31 2024 (28 months)
• Funding Limit: Up to a maximum of ZAR210,000 (USD14 000) per funding year, per sub-grantee. A total of 10 sub-grants will be made available, renewable over a three- year period (total of R630,000 (USD 42 000) per sub-grantee).
• Eligibility: Only CSOs, CBOs, alliances, coalitions or movements led by black women and people with disabilities, based in and operating within the social justice sector in South Africa, Malawi and Zambia, are eligible to apply.

Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) works to promote gender equality, prevent violence, advance children’s rights, and reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. We are widely recognized for the impact of our work, including our expertise in engaging men and boys for gender equality, and experience in institutional capacity strengthening.

Sonke is inviting community based organisations to apply for funding to address some of the deep-rooted problems that COVID-19 has exacerbated for the social justice sector, negatively affecting the resilience of especially black-led, women-led, and disability-led (BWD) organizations. A total of 10 grantees will be selected through this RFP process – four from South Africa, three from Zambia and three from Malawi.

The funding is expected to lead to the following medium-term outcomes:

1. BWD-led CSOs and networks have strengthened capacities to coordinate, implement, enhance and scale up their work. Successful applicants will be provided with funding through grants in addition to structured organisational capacity strengthening.
2. The BWD-led movement in the Southern African region has strong leadership, coordination and influence. This funding will provide an opportunity for social justice leaders to come together for exchanges, learning and collaboration as a critical requirement for building strong movements and alliances.

Eligibility Requirements

All interested applicants must meet the following minimum criteria to be short-listed as potential grantees:

• Applications will only be accepted from legally registered organizations in South Africa, Malawi or Zambia. Applications from individuals or from organizations outside of these three countries will not be accepted.Community-based groups, networks, coalitions and/or alliances who are not legally registered must provide proof of their mandate, vision, mission and governance structure as well as proof of a past working relationship. This can be in the form of meeting minutes, activity reports, a memorandum of understanding or other type of contract.
• Applicants must be led by black women and/or people with disabilities rooted in communities.
• Applicants must be CBOs or Community-based groups, networks, coalitions and/or alliances who work in the social justice space on issues of women’s rights and gender based violence prevention and response as well as disability rights.
• Applicants must have some form of board or other governance and accountability structure in place and that meets regularly;
• Applicants must have demonstrated technical expertise and management capacity, including at least 2 years’ experience working together if applying on behalf of a network, coalition or alliance;
• Applicants’ annual budget must not exceed ZAR 5million (USD333 333).

Application and Submission

To be considered for funding, applicants must submit a complete application package, including:

• Proposal Narrative, using the provided template.
• Copies of your organization’s Registration Documents. Community-based groups, networks, coalitions and/or alliances who are not legally registered must provide proof of their mandate, vision, mission and governance structure. This can be in the form of meeting minutes, activity reports, amemorandum of understanding or other type of contract.
• If legally registered, a copy of your organization’s audited financial statements for the previous three years. Community-based groups, networks, coalitions and/or alliances who are not legally registered may submit financialreports to donors, or other
• Proof that your organization, network, coalition or alliance is BWD-led.

Key Dates

The deadline for the submission of a fully completed submission to grants@genderjustice.org.za is 28th February 2022. Any requests for assistance can be submitted to grants@genderjustice.org.za by latest 21 February 2022.