BACKGROUND

The SMALL PROJECT AND SUPPORT FUND (SPSF) aims to empower communities to act and participate in their own development through actions that are designed, implemented and owned by the communities themselves. This is a call for applications for funding for activities that provide an immediate response to Human Rights violations (Component 2) through, for example, legal support and/or mobilisation. The activities will have the overall aim of empowering the vulnerable communities through the process and will be focussed on one or more of the following:

The calls seeks to support 8 organisations under component 2, the maximum grant amount is 75.000 ZAR per funded activity under 2021/22 financial year. There are no geographical focus areas. The funded organisation needs to be able to demonstrate experience and capacity in working in the human rights space with proven track record. The maximum period for the implementation of the emergency activities is 1 month.

OBJECTIVES

The grant aims to provide support in response to social services and emergency situations, which will be mainly focused with the protection measures for vulnerable, marginalised and indigent individuals and communities. The response to emergency demands will be through direct financial support, which may include, among others, logistics, food, physical and psychological health care, assistance with engagement of legal advice/services and strengthening safety networks. Applications may be made by non-governmental organizations, groups and collectives.

EXCLUSIONS

Any organisations that:

• Are currently being supported and funded by AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) will not be eligible to apply for funds from the Ukusekela-SPSF.
• Are already being funded by Bread for the World (BfdW) cannot be supported through the Ukusekela-SPSF.
• Are part of government structures or are in any way linked to government cannot be funded.
• Have an annual budget of more than R1.5m will not be eligible to apply.
• Any project that requires a ‘top up’ to an existing project will not be eligible for funding.
• The grant cannot be used to support any HIV/AIDS related work.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS:

• All sections of the application form provided in the link have been completed in full.
• All required supporting documentation is submitted with the application form.

RESPONSE TO APPLICATIONS:

As this grant component is intended to enable an urgent response to human rights violations, applications will be acknowledged within 48 hours of application being received with the fully completed application form and supporting documentation being provided.

APPLICATION FORM:

Please follow this link in order to be directed to the online application form 

ENQUIRIES

Please submit any queries regarding this call to: snegugu@aids.org.za

DOCUMENTS:

Download the full Call for Applications

Download the Budget Template

Are you a civic space defender interested in the impact of digital technology on your work? If so, we invite eligible civil society colleagues to apply to the Tech Camp for Civic Space Defenders organized by Stanford’s Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPi) and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL).
The Tech Camp will take place virtually each Tuesday and Thursday from July 13 to August 5, 2021. At the Tech Camp, 25 participants from OECD-DAC eligible countries will address issues including:

• The effects of artificial intelligence on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly, and expression (“civic space”);
• The growth of digital authoritarianism and its influence beyond state borders;
• Disinformation and threats to free expression online; and
• The rise of digital and biometric surveillance.
• Participants will have the opportunity to interact with leading experts on digital technology as well as civic space defenders around the world.

Program Costs

There is no charge for participation in the Tech Camp. Participants are expected to cover their time and any incidental costs they incur in connection with their Tech Camp participation.
Eligibility
Applicants must live and work in an OECD-DAC eligible country. In addition, they must work on civic space issues for a civil society organization.

Click here to read full call for applications.

SAFCEI, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, is a faith-based environmental organisation comprised of people of many faiths who are united in diversity through a common commitment to cherish living earth and to tackle issues of environmental injustice across the Southern and East African region. Through collaboration, networking, research and action, SAFCEI seeks to raise environmental awareness, engage in formulating policy and ethical guidelines and encourage environmental responsibility and action.

1. Invitation: Faith Leaders Training Programme (FLEAT)

SAFCEI is calling on people of faith in Zambia, particularly those in a position of leadership, who want to be actively involved in environmental advocacy within their own community and beyond.  SAFCEI believes that people of faith have a moral imperative to speak against the socio-ecological injustices that face Africa’s peoples and our surrounding environment. In witnessing for the Earth, SAFCEI believes that faith leadership at local level can share our local experiences, network with each other, and learn from each other how best to advocate for the change we want to see. We are coordinating a faith leadership advocacy programme that provides a platform for common action across the region (see https://safcei.org/project/fleat/  for more information about the previous FLEAT.

Please note that this introduction meeting will be held online on the Zoom App on 19-21 May 2021. If selected to be part of this programme, participants have to make sure that they have a secure Wi-Fi/ Data connection. Data will be provided by SAFCEI. The due date for applications is Monday 10 May 2021. Please contact Zainab Adams on zainab@safcei.org.za for more information.

2. Invitation: Faith and Energy Eco-Justice Project

SAFCEI, a multi faith organisation engaged in eco advocacy, is looking for leaders of all faiths who are keen to join a national peer-learning and capacity-building eco-advocacy project.

We have an opportunity to explore practical aspects of faith based Earthkeeping and facilitate behavioural transformation through education, advocacy and engagement.  Over the next 3 years, we will be working with faith leaders from the Western Cape (greater Cape Town area), Northern Cape, The Karoo and Eastern Cape (particularly around Gqeberha), on energy issues which will impact policy at both community and national levels.

Participation is free, and will include both online and in-person meetings approximately 3 times per year. Travel and data costs will be covered. Please complete the attached form and submit to revberry@safcei.org.za by Tuesday 11 May.

Following a public nomination process, we are happy to introduce the new Board of ACT Ubumbano. At its inaugural meeting in Johannesburg and online on 25 March 2021, Dudu Radebe, the Director of CREATE-CBR, was chosen as the Chair. Ashmeer Joseph is the Acting General Secretary of ELCSA and was selected as Deputy Chair. Janet Zhou, the Director of ZIMCODD, completes the Exco as Secretary. Other members are Laurel Oettle (Director of AFRA), Jessie Turton (Lecturer at University of Johannesburg), Barbara Kalima-Phiri (Executive Director of IMAGINE Global Initiative, EI), Roger Domingo (CEO of SPP), and Helga Jansen-Djaugberg (Independent Consultant). Uta Hergenröther from BfdW is an ex-officio member representing the European partners.

The founding Board spent some time handing over the reins to the new Board. They have played a crucial role in recent years of holding ACT Ubumbano throughout the process of becoming a legal being. We will always be grateful for the time commitment and hard work of Sonto Magwaza (ESSET), Moses Cloete (BMF), Ashmeer Joseph (ELCSA), Graham Philpott (CLP), Francesca de Gasparis (SAFCEI), Daniela Gennrich (WWSOSA), Uta Hergenröther (BfdW), Paul Tyler (Ziyo), Miriam Machaya (CA), and Jacqueline Ernerot (formerly of ACT COS).

What is your core business?

The Church Land Programme (CLP) is an independent non-profit organisation that was initiated in 1996 in response to the land reform process taking place in South Africa. It works to affirm, learn from and journey with those who are systematically excluded and impoverished in their struggles related to land and justice. CLP connects with movements and groups to learn from and affirm their struggles as a key intervention in giving power to ordinary people. Working with grassroots formations is rooted in an animation approach which is about an emancipatory practice that ensures that those who do not count make themselves count. It is based on democratic values where egalitarianism is an underlying principle.

What have you been doing during COVID, and have you learnt any new insights about your practice?

The corona crisis and the ‘lockdown’ restrictions on activity, movement and physical distancing dramatically affected the work of CLP. We talk about our work in terms of proximity to the life and struggles of the people and formations we work with and learn from in terms like ‘being present’, ‘walking with’, or a ‘living solidarity’. When we literally cannot be in the places, or listen to the voices, or be present in the meetings, or participate in the actions of the people, there is no ‘business-as-usual’ for us!

We embraced experiments in new forms of sustaining connection and mutual learning. We anticipate that what we discovered during this time of disruption and experimentation might turn out to be helpful as we “tool up” for whatever a “new normal” may turn out to be! We had to re-think and experiment and mostly focused on (a) sustaining &/or maintaining contact; (b) providing encouragement and support for people and their efforts to live, to organise and to resist; and (c) hearing and learning how the people that we’re in touch with are experiencing life and activism during the corona crisis period.

We made time to reflect on the reality of Corona in South Africa and the challenges it poses for emancipatory praxis. We shared these reflections through our Padkos, and also published them with Daraja Press in their Thinking Freedom series, in a booklet entitled In, Against, Beyond Corona. It seems to us that kindness, social solidarity, and an appropriate scale of time are some important ways of being / relating that need to be sustained to move away from the “normality of death”.

What are your dreams / visions / plans for the work you do post-lockdown?

Throughout the lockdown period and the Covid-19 surge, CLP staff continued to seek ways to hold on to good praxis and also embrace the new reality of physical distancing, limitations on travels, limitations on gatherings, etc.  We developed short and medium term plans that will help us focus and hold us accountable for the time and resources we deploy. Two key priority processes will form part of our plans: (1)broadening participation and (2) UnSilencing the silenced by breaking patterns of domination.

How do you see solidarity and social justice?

Building and sustaining movements is in the hands of the people. CLP works to support them. Its practice of listening has created a strong relationship of trust with local groups. This relationship is the foundation of CLP’s accountability to the people it works with. Through the connection between CLP and movements, solidarity actions have been sustained through on-the-ground organizing and action, allowing movements to lead and shape their struggle. People’s movements, organised groups of the marginalised, and those acting in solidarity from within institutional spaces are the key groups with whom CLP interacts.

Click here to visit the Church Land Programme website.

ACT Ubumbano invites proposals from community activists, organisations, churches and organisations of faith for support for solidarity action that targets injustices faced by their communities. These actions may be responses to the impact of COVID, climate change or economic injustice on communities, or they may be campaigns to change particular situations that communities are struggling with.

ACT Ubumbano is a network of organisations working for social justice in different fields. We believe that there is strength in collaboration, and by sharing knowledge and experience – and by linking up for joint action where possible – communities can more effectively defend their dignity and bring change.

The Ubumbano Solidarity Action initiative is a platform where we can facilitate connection of people and organisations, and provide limited financial support (max. ZAR30.000) to enable those connections and actions to take place.

The proposals for support should not be longer than 2 pages, and can be submitted via email to ashley@actubumbano.org, and should respond to the following questions:

• What are the challenges you are facing in your community or in your area of work?
• How is the action being proposed respond to the challenge?
• How does the proposed action involve those who are most affected by the issue to be addressed?
• Is the action something that you have done before? And has that action been effective?
• Is there anything new or innovative in how you plan to undertake the action?
• What support do you need to do the work? This could be practical skills such as media work, or support on how to organise a campaign, or partnership with another organisation.
• If you require funds, what will the money be used for? Provide a simple budget against which you will need to report on use of the funds.
• Do you plan to work with any other organisations, churches, or faith institutions?

The opportunity is open to any organisation or association that is part of the ACT Ubumbano network, or willing to work with ACT Ubumbano partner organisations in Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Any funding support that may be provided in this initiative is intended to help with taking action for change or in solidarity with those who are under stress. It is not intended for general or core support for organisations, although some of the funds will need to be used for organisational costs.

It is expected that proposals will need to be discussed in order to make the most of the opportunity for collaboration. Contact any of the ACT Ubumbano team, Ashley, Zanele or Thabo, for these to conversations to happen, and to find out more about the ACT Ubumbano Solidarity Action initiative.