Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program 

Are you worried about how to get a grant to fund your regional or international workshop in 2023? Worry No More! Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program 2023 is here to give you all you want.

Currently, Commonwealth Foundation is organizing a Grant program for civil Society Organisations who are planning a regional or international workshop or an exchange visit to another NGO or project, but you are in need of grant support.

These Civil Society Responsive Grants are worth up to £200,000. Note this sum is over four years in support of innovative project ideas and approaches that seek to strengthen the ability of civic voices to engage with governments and that have the potential to improve governance and development outcomes through their active participation.

This article gives you insight into what you need to know about the Grant, including the deadline to enable you to apply before then because any application submitted after the due date will not be considered.

About Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is an inter-governmental organization supported by Commonwealth governments to provide support towards strengthening civil society for sustainable development, democracy, and intercultural learning within the commonwealth countries.

Further, It has a grant-making program for NGOs specifically for supporting activities that involve intercultural exchange: such as short training courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, cultural festivals, exchanges, and study visits in other Commonwealth countries.

Note the Foundation’s Civil Society Responsive Grant program is specifically for NGOs in Commonwealth developing countries.

Are you a Pakistani student, and do you need a scholarship? HEC Commonwealth Scholarships for Pakistani Masters & Ph.D. Students are available.

What is Commonwealth Foundation Grant about?

The Foundation offers grants of up to £200,000 over four years in support of innovative project ideas and approaches that seek to strengthen the ability of civic voices to engage with governments and that have the potential to improve governance and development outcomes through their active participation.

The Foundation believes in the power of stories and storytelling for social change and will award grants for creative approaches that have the potential to influence public discourse.

The selection process is highly competitive, and selected projects will have been designed to undertake work that has the potential to lead to one or more of the outcomes in the Foundation’s strategic logic model.

The Foundation’s program teams are all involved in shaping the focus of the call for proposals.

An internal review process, including long-listing by the Grants team followed by a shortlisting process involving all program teams, prepares a final list of applications that is then submitted to the Grants Committee.

The member states represented on the Foundation’s Grants Committee make final decisions on which projects to support.

How much is this Grant Program worth?

The Commonwealth Foundation awards Grants of up to £200,000 to the winners.

Eligibility for the Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program

To be eligible for this Foundation Grant program, the applicant or partner must meet up with the following:

  • Register not-for-profit civil society organizations (CSOs).
  • Be registered in a Commonwealth Foundation member country, and the project should take place in an eligible Commonwealth Foundation member country.
  • Also, the application is for funding for a maximum of £50,000 per annum. The applicant is applying for funding for a maximum of four years.
  • The applicant and partner organizations do not have an existing grant from the Commonwealth Foundation at the time the application window is open.
  • The average of the applicant’s total income over the last two years is less than £3m. The project must address one or both of the Commonwealth Foundation’s outcomes.

Commonwealth Foundation Grant focuses on the following areas to support projects that strengthen civic voice it:

  • It is more effective in holding governance institutions to account.
  • Enhances involvement in policy processes
  • Shapes public discourse

Your project should address one or both of the following outcomes and may include the use of creative expression to achieve project aims:

1. Stronger civic voices engaging in policy processes to hold the government to account:

Your project will strengthen the capacity of civic voices to contribute to the following:

  • Monitoring government commitments and action
  • Supporting the implementation of sustainable development goals or other international agreements, and related local and national policy agendas
  • Advocating policy priorities to the government that address gender and other power imbalances, disparities, and discrimination
  • Strengthening participatory methods of engaging in regional, national and local governance processes
  • Raising awareness and advocating for specific policy issues

2. Public discourse more reflective of less-heard voices

  • Your project will support less-heard voices to contribute to public discourse on development issues.
  • Your project will support less-heard voices to access policy spaces and/or platforms with the potential to amplify voices and influence public discourse.

This grant program is hosted by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Below are the eligible countries that can apply for this Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program:

  • Antigua
  • Barbuda
  • Australia
  • Bahamas
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Cyprus
  • Eswatini
  • Guyana
  • India
  • Jamaica
  • Kenya
  • Lesotho
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Seychelles
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • St Lucia
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad
  • Tobago
  • United Kingdom
  • Vanuatu
  • Zambia.

Interestingly, you can check out the Full Commonwealth Scholarships

Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program 2023 Application Procedures

To start your registration, click on the button below to download the Grant Guidelines. Download the grant guidelines.

Grant Guideline

Note, you can send any question in regards to this grant through the website link

Furthermore, the applicant will provide the following documents as part of the application:

  • A completed logic model using the Commonwealth Foundation template.
  • Copy of the organization’s registration certificate (the social registration document provided by the relevant authorities in the country concerned).
  • A copy of the organization’s most recent audited accounts (it must include both the accounts and the opinion of the external auditor who has certified them; it should not be older than December).
  • Copy of the registration certificate for all partner organizations.

Now, in case you are having issues with downloading from the link above, you can download each file individually with the link below.

Download Here

Commonwealth Foundation Grant Program 2023 Application Deadline

01 JAN

The deadline for applications is 18th September 2023 at 5 pm GMT.

Please note that the Foundation will be closed the week of 23 December 2023 and will reopen on 3 January 2023. During that time, we will be unable to respond to any queries.

And also, all questions will, therefore, need to be sent by the close of business on 20 December 2023.

Commonwealth Foundation Grant 2023 FAQs

What is Commonwealth Grant?

Commonwealth Grant is a grant for civil Society Organisations who are planning a regional or international workshop or an exchange visit to another NGO or project, but you need grant support.

What is the application deadline for Commonwealth Grant?

The due date is 18th September 2023

How can I get more information about the Commonwealth Grants?

You can Download grant guidelines and criteria using this link

Sources

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