Institutional Capacity Building Grants for Trainings in the MENA region
Apply by
6 Jul 2025
Title
Institutional Capacity Building Grants for Trainings in the MENA region
Minority Rights Group is seeking applications from civil society organizations to conduct an institutional capacity-building training program over three-day period. The training will cover areas including project design and proposal writing, financial reporting and bookkeeping, donor reporting, leadership, organization building, and monitoring and evaluation.
The training will target the recipient human rights organizations of Core Grants as part of the Minorities, Accountability and Civic Space (MACS) programme. MRG is accepting application from nonprofit civil society organizations working in the field of human rights and based in one of these countries: Lebanon, Tunis, Morocco or Palestine and have experience in delivering capacity building trainings.
As part of MACS, these training programmes aim to enable grassroots civil society organizations to improve their organizational infrastructure, to allow them to operate efficiently and advance their work in democracy and human rights.
How to apply
Organizations wishing to apply to these grants should submit an application form and budget in Arabic, English or French using the submission portal below.
Applications will be accepted until 06/07/2025
Budget available and timeframe
There are four grants available. Only one grant will be awarded per country. The amount available for each grant is 5,500 euros. Please submit a proposal that does not exceed or go below 5,500 euros. The training is expected to take place within 2 months of acceptance.
The selected organization will
- Be responsible for the planning and implementing the logistics of the trainings, with the support of MRG team.
- Work with MRG to design the training programme and agree on potential trainers and/or speakers. The program will be guided by the results of a needs assessment conducted by MRG prior to the training.
- Be responsible for running and facilitating the training program over a three-day period. The 10 beneficiaries of the training will be selected by MRG from its cohort of civil society organizations.
- Make sure that the training will address the needs of the organizations identified in the organizational assessment questionnaire that organizations fill as a pre-requisite to receiving MRG’s Core Grants. The training areas include project design and proposal writing, financial reporting and bookkeeping, donor reporting, leadership, organization building, and monitoring and evaluation.
- Be responsible for combining both theory and practice in the training and including interactive and participatory elements, such as audio-visual materials to facilitate the absorption of ideas and information or group work to develop strategies and ideas.
- Be responsible for ensuring accessibility to persons with disabilities, and mainstreaming gender and minority rights in the different phases of the training.
- Be responsible for planning the participants’ travel and accommodation and venue logistics.
- Conduct the evaluation of the training program.
- Report on the conducted program.
MRG will provide
- The conditions and outline of the design and the scope of the programme.
- Support in planning and running the training.
- The list of participants.
- Detailed information on the needs of the participant organizations.
- In-person supervision and support during the training.
- Provisions for additional security, if necessary (such as providing guidelines on secure data handling, using secure messaging apps for communication or establishing a confidential reporting mechanism for any security concerns that may arise during the event).
Eligibility
- Applicants must be a not-for-profit organization committed to the protection and/or promotion of human rights.
- Applicants must have excellent experience in delivering capacity building training to human rights organizations.
- The organization must be operating in one or more of the target countries: Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco or Tunisia.
- The organization must have experience in working with disadvantaged ethnic, religious or cultural minorities or marginalized groups such migrants, refugees, LGBTQI or persons with disabilities, and be committed to involving various minorities and other marginalized communities in their broader activities.
- The organization can provide expertise in project design and management, risk management and financial management. Skills in bookkeeping, donor reporting, leadership, organization building, and monitoring and evaluation are desired.
- The organization must have no public debt, comply with anti-corruption measures and prove absence of conflict of interest
- Have the ability to receive funding, either through their own organization or an agreed upon alternative arrangement.
Selection criteria
- A history of successfully conducting training and capacity-building initiatives, especially in the areas mentioned above.
- The extent to which the organization’s training proposal aligns with the call, training needs of the beneficiaries described above, and with the objectives of the MACS project.
- How realistic the targets set to deliver the planned training activities are with respect to the allocated resources and the organization’s capacity.
- Clearly justifying a budget that represents value for money and efficiency.
- The organization’s ability to ensure that the training programme is accessible to individuals with disabilities and incorporates a gender-sensitive and minority rights-based approach.
- A comprehensive evaluation plan of the training, its activities, results, and impact.
Eligible costs include
- Trainers’ and facilitators’ costs.
- Renting of training venue.
- Breaks and lunch for trainees.
- Training material and stationery.
- Renting needed equipment for training.
- Costs of trainees’ travel within the country and/or hotel accommodation.
- Salaries for the officers designing and managing the training.
Submission Process
Please submit the completed application (form and budget form) in Arabic, English or French using the submission form below. All applications, whether successful or not, will receive a response.
For any questions, please email us using the button below.
Anticipated Timeline
02/06/2025: Call for proposals
06/07/2025: Application deadline
21/07/2025: Shortlisted applicants finalized and notified
05/08/2025: Contracts and welcome package sent
The week of 01/10/2025: Start of Activities
2 weeks after end of activities: Final Narrative and Financial Reports Due
Submission portal
MACS generic
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Treatment of Information
The data will be treated confidentially in line with GDPR policies. Only MRG and its implementing partners will have access to the information provided in order to facilitate the selection process. These include The Civic Forum Institute in Palestine and Attalaki in Tunisia.
Background
Minority Rights Group is an international human rights organization working to ensure that disadvantaged minorities and indigenous peoples can make their voices heard.
Attalaki is the leading organization in Tunisia working on freedom of religion and belief and a key player in defending the rights of religious minorities and making their voices heard.
Civic Forum Institute (CFI) is a Palestinian non-governmental focused on building democracy and developing democratic institutions in Palestine.
This content was published in the context of the Minorities, Accountability and Civic Space (MACS) programme. Learn more
MACS is funded by the European Union.
Featured image: members of the Amazigh community take part in a peaceful protest against the Imider silver mine in Morocco. Credit: Linda Fouad.
