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Become our partner

We work alongside our network of over 300 partner organizations representing minority and indigenous communities in over 60 countries.

Here you can find information about our partnership process and what to expect every step of the way.

We start a new formal partnership in one of three ways:

We are approached

A minority and indigenous led or minority and indigenous rights focused organization facing discrimination, exclusion, persecution or climate injustice asks us to work with and support them. 

We are not a grant making organization on a large scale. Instead, if a potential partner approaches us and we decide to work together, we co-design an intervention that we mutually believe will make a difference in their community. We then seek funding for that work together. This means we are not in a ‘funder: grantee’ relationship but rather have a more equal partnership where we work closely together and report to a funding organization who is a third party.

We work with partners whose aims and values match ours. We seek to ensure we can add value to the partner’s work through our knowledge, contacts and experience, and where the partner’s work fits well with our strategy. Our support to partners is never solely financial.

If a potential new partner approaches us, we check whether the potential partnership duplicates existing work. If it does, we will not take it forward. We will also assess whether our  values, skillset and strategy are a good fit with those of the partner. If so, we will normally co-create potential interventions and then see if we can jointly apply for a suitable source of finance. Depending on how well we know the partner and how high their level of experience is, sometimes we submit the application in our name and then grant the funding to the partner. However, sometimes the partner applies, secures the funding, and then sub-contracts us to support them to do the work, where needed.

The need for support to those facing discrimination in the world today is sadly very high. As a relatively small organization, we unfortunately cannot help everyone who approaches us. However, we will consider any approaches and will reply even if we cannot help immediately or at all. 

Although we normally prefer to work with minority and indigenous-led organizations or those squarely focused on tackling minority and indigenous rights issues, we do sometimes involve a consortium of organizations which brings together not only minority and indigenous community involvement and viewpoints but also other important skills, influence, contacts or resources. As a condition of our work with wider-focused or majority-led organizations, we will expect such partners to be extremely sensitive to giving space and listening properly to the minority and indigenous led organizations in any consortium, and to offer opportunities to transfer control to them over time. 

We approach an organization

We become aware of serious minority or indigenous rights abuses in a country and we reach out to see whether we can find a suitable organization to work with to tackle this together.

In this case, the need for the work is identified by our own staff or contacts. We carefully approach the situation and assess partnership possibilities in a way that ensures any intervention is locally owned and as sustainable as possible. We also aim to ensure that such interventions address the real needs of minority and indigenous communities and will not make things worse. It is rare for us to begin work in this way and we do not respond to external calls to do so.

Through open calls

We publish an open call for proposals that allows organizations working in a particular country to apply for a piece of work that they have designed.

Occasionally, as part of large programmes we issue open calls for proposals from small minority and indigenous led organizations. These are normally small or micro grants. All calls are published on this page.

It is quite common for an open call to follow a training programme and may be designed to allow trainees to put into practice some of what they have learnt. Sometimes, we may build upon a small grant by working with a grantee to design a follow up or new piece of work together (as described above) and seeking funding for that.

If you ever have a concern or a complaint about the way anyone associated with Minority Rights Group has treated you, please contact us. Any feedback will be independently and, as far as possible, confidentially investigated. We want to hear from you if you are unhappy about anything in our relationship.

So we have now gone through all the steps and agreed to become formal partners… exciting! Now what? 

Some organizations sometimes ask us to sign a pre-teaming agreement and we are happy to do that. The last thing we want to do is to steal the ideas of people we want to work with! But we don’t expect our partners to routinely sign such agreements and we don’t have a template that we use. If this is important to you, you can tell us why and we can use a text you have used before or agree the text between us. 

During the design process, you should discuss with your Minority Rights Group contact, how any management and administration percentage will be split between organizations, how your essential staffing, office and governance costs can be met and whether there might be any expectation for you to contribute towards any match funding that the funder we are applying to might require. Regarding covering your administrative costs, we have prepared some useful information here. If you want to learn more about our approach to match funding, you can find more information here. However, the rules vary according to the funder so these are general guidelines. If your contact at Minority Rights Group gives you different advice, you will need to follow that. 

At some point in the early stages of working together (sometimes at the design stage, sometimes when funding is confirmed and for all but the smallest grants), we will ask you to complete a Partnership Agreement and Partner Assessment Template (PAT). The partnership agreement is a general document that describes how we will work together but it does not concern delivering any specific programme work or contractual obligations. It covers our mutual expectations of those we work with to treat every person equally and with respect, and to act both professionally and responsibly. If we receive a complaint from a member of your staff, from a trainee or from another partner organization, that you have acted in ways that don’t live up to human rights norms or to our standards, we will initiate a discussion with you. We will expect your organization to take appropriate and prompt action against any individual or individuals involved who are found to have behaved inappropriately. 

You will also need to complete a PAT which we use to identify both the strong and less developed elements of your organizational set up. This allows us to ensure that we do not overwhelm you with demanding new programmes or give you too much extra responsibility too early on. It also allows us to see where there might be opportunities for us to learn from you or vice versa. There are several sheets within the PAT excel document and depending on the programme work you are co-designing with us, you will complete the grants < £5k sheet, or the grants >£5k sheet. You also need to complete the information sheet. In some cases, for larger grants we may visit you to understand your organization better and to conduct a capacity assessment. In this case, we may fill out the PAT together during this visit.

Once funding is confirmed, we will ask you to sign a contract. This will set out the activities you will complete, the activities or non-financial support that MRG will provide, the results we hope to achieve, any financial support we will provide and the budget for how it will be spent. We need to vary the exact terms of the contract depending on the size of the grant as well as the expectations or requirements of the funder. However, to get a general idea, you can see one sample contract for grants under £5k here, one sample contract for a larger grant to an organization with a turnover under £60k a year here, and one sample contract for a grant over £60k here. 

The contract will explain when you need to report to us. You will need to submit both narrative and financial reports. There will normally be a kick-off meeting, especially for larger grants and for new partners, where we will talk through some ‘dos and don’ts’ and you will be able to ask questions and clarify anything that you don’t understand. If we don’t have that meeting, (or if we do but a query arises later and you are unsure about anything), please do reach out to your Minority Rights Group contact and ask. It is much better to clarify things at the beginning than to get to the end of your activities and to find that you have not recorded everything you need to report to us about. As with the contracts, our reporting formats do vary according to the size and type of programme and what funders need but a fairly standard example is here (financial) and here (narrative). 

MRG will almost always want to review and approve both narrative and financial reports on one phase of work before we send the next tranche of funding. But, at the same time, we know some organizations won’t have cash in the bank to continue working (also bearing in mind that sometimes banks can take a while to move the money). If this is going to hold up the work or make things very difficult for you, let us know and we will see what we can do to find a solution that works best for both of us. 

We love it when you send us photos of your work and sometimes we can use them in our media or social media work or on the website. However, to do this we need the people in the photo to give their signed permission. We won’t normally use photos of children so try not to take photos where individual children can be recognised. 

You should not use Minority Rights Group’s logo on the front cover of a report, film, website or other output unless we have had an opportunity to check and approve the content. We are often happy to co-publish with partners and we know that our reputation for authoritative and quality-controlled content can help gain an audience, but we first need to be sure that we know what is being said. When our logo is used on a front cover, we would normally have been involved in the data collection and will need to be sure that we are comfortable with and confident about methods and contents. However, to ensure transparency, you may, if you wish, include our logo inside any report that we have financially supported with a disclaimer that we contributed funding for it but are not responsible for the contents. Please discuss this with your Minority Rights Group contact, giving reasonable notice before the publication deadline in order to agree the wording, placement etc. 

MRG will ask you to subscribe to our newsletter. This is because opportunities for partners to carry out advocacy, submit evidence, attend training or apply for funding are regularly included, and it is an efficient way for us to contact you. The newsletter is currently only available in English, but we hope that you will be able to use online translators to access the contents regardless, and many of the links will take you to materials produced in other languages. It is also great – if it is safe for you to do so – if you can follow Minority Rights Group on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Consider whether it is appropriate and useful to tag us when you are posting on your own social media channels and we will share your content with a wider audience, if we can. 

MRG promises to do its utmost to keep your data confidential and safe and we will ask you to do likewise. For instance, if you attend a training event organized by us, we will ask you to understand that other participants may be facing a very severe security situation, similarly at times our staff may be at risk, and we ask that you do your utmost to keep data about their interactions with you password protected or on secure channels. There are many organizations who support NGOs who may come under threat, such as Frontline Defenders, Protect Defenders, or CSO Lifeline. You have the right to ask us to share with you the data that we hold about your organization, and we will always do so (after taking some time to collect and check it). If you want to do this, you can write to your Minority Rights Group contact, [email protected] or use the complaint button if you prefer. 

We really hope that all your security precautions will be effective and that you will never face threats or reprisals as a result of your work with us. But if this does ever  happen. If it is safe to do so, please reach out to us and we will see what we can do to help. We know that our partners take risks to try to advance the cause of equality and human rights and if you face difficulties as a result, we will do what is within our power to mitigate any negative effects. 

If you ever have a concern or a complaint about the way anyone associated with MRG has treated you, please contact us. Any feedback will be independently and, as far as possible, confidentially investigated. We want to hear from you if you are unhappy about anything in our relationship. We can’t always solve every problem, but we will investigate and learn for the future and try to do better for both you and others.

When our funded joint work comes to an end, that does not need to be the end of our relationship.

Firstly, we sometimes design a future phase of work and if we are successful in getting funding for that, our joint work will restart. We would like to be able to offer some continuity between funded work, in the form of continued strategy sharing, joint advocacy and mutual support without any direct grant support. This might depend on the staff time available to us. Sometimes we can, sometimes we cannot. It might also depend on the emergencies happening around the world and and the resulting calls for our help.

Sometimes though, we feel that we need to work less with one partner or community and so we don’t design a ‘next phase’ of our joint work or seek funding for it. This might be because a particular problem has been successfully resolved by a community. But other times it might be because your organization has the resources to work independently. We only really succeed when organizations we have supported can sustain the effort and continue progressing towards equality without our support. Even in these cases, we will want to stay in touch with you. We will aim to tell you about opportunities that could benefit you and involve you in global and collective efforts such as influencing UN-wide processes.

External opportunities

We publicize funding, learning and influencing opportunities that we believe might be interesting for our network.

This opportunity expires on 4 April 2025

The Foundation manages a variety of funding mechanisms available to organizations and initiatives that support Internet development in the Asia Pacific.

These are:

  • Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) (Currently open for applications until 4 April)
  • Foundation Community Assistance
  • Trust Discretionary Funding

ISIF Asia is the Foundation’s grant and awards fund. Applications for funding can be made by organizations legally registered in the Asia Pacific region, based on funding available from our funding partners.

Announcements of when applications periods are open are made on this page, as well as via our blog, social media (LinkedinFacebook) and mailing list. Assessments of applications and announcement of successful applicants are made based on timeframes published at the time the call for proposals is made public.

The 2025 ISIF Asia grants are open until 4 April! More information on the blog and see the Frequently Asked Questions for more detailed information. Pre-registration of organizations closes on 2 April, so don’t leave it until the last minute!

Foundation Community Assistance and Trust Discretionary funding are available by invitation only.

Foundation Community Assistance is structured to support community building through the development of IXPs, CERTs and Internet governance initiatives such as conferences and events, fellowships, and emerging research topics. The Trust Discretionary Fund provides targeted support to organizations identified by the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust as requiring timely assistance.

This opportunity expires on 20 April 2025

The Building Climate Resilience from Indigenous Perspectives (BCRIP) project builds on this essential role, aiming to develop climate resilience and support Indigenous-led transformative climate action in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples in Canada for knowledge sharing and relationship building. 

BCRIP is funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and is a partnership between the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN); the National Reconciliation Program at Save the Children Canada; Save the Children in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA SUR), through the Organización Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas Andinas y Amazónicas del Perú/the National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women in Peru (ONAMIAP). 

Calls for Proposal

The BCRIP project will fund Indigenous-led Nature-Based Solutions Partnership Projects in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala, which will be co-designed and co-implemented in partnership with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.  

Partnership projects will include knowledge sharing, relationship building, and joint advocacy opportunities. Projects should also focus on several cross-cutting themes, such as Indigenous-led climate action, Indigenous self-determination, rights, knowledge systems/science and gender equality.  

Interested Indigenous Nations and organizations in Canada and Indigenous communities and/or organizations in the four Latin American countries will be required to collaborate on the creation and submission of a proposal.  

Please fill out a Google Form (English Espanol) if you are interested in building new partnerships or leveraging existing partnerships with Indigenous Peoples in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala.

Proposals for Partnerships Projects will be due on April 20, 2025 and the projects are anticipated to start between July and August 2025.

This opportunity expires on 7 April 2025

We have established the first-of-its-kind Refugee Leadership Fund—a fund for refugees by refugees—housed within Asylum Access. The fund aggregates contributions and redistributes them to RLOs around the world. Our US-based legally registered fund puts philanthropic power in the hands of refugees and offers donors a way to safely and smoothly fund RLOs.

The purpose of the Refugee Leadership Fund is to catalyze the growth and sustainability of community-led responses to forced displacement situations within key designated countries. We believe that when community-driven efforts are well-resourced, community wellbeing will grow.

Furthermore, the Refugee Leadership Fund aims to facilitate greater involvement of RLOs and their leaders in strategizing and decision-making processes that impact community wellbeing, including those owned or facilitated by others, e.g. host community NGOs, INGOs, governments and donors. When RLOs are influencing and educating powerful institutions, we expect the resulting responses to displacement situations will be more impactful. In this way, our fund seeks broad systems change and challenges current power dynamics that exclude RLOs.

our types of grants

BOOST GRANTS

FUNDING: Up to $25,000 USD

PERIOD: One year with possibility of renewal

LOCATION: Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon & Uganda

AIMED AT: RLOs that are smaller and/or newer


Includes comprehensive support from the RRLI Coalition through the Strengthening RLOs Partnership Program.

ADVANCE GRANTS

FUNDING: $100,000 – $200,000 USD

PERIOD: One year with possibility of renewal

LOCATION: Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon & Uganda

AIMED AT: RLOs that have an established structure and programming, as well as the ability to manage major funding, are encouraged to apply to this grant.

Includes comprehensive support from the RRLI Coalition through the Strengthening RLOs Partnership Program.

qualification

REFUGEE LED

Identify as a refugee-led organization (RLO), or “any formal or informal initiative/organization that is founded and run by people of forced displacement background and/or any formal or informal initiative/organization where people of forced displacement are in major leadership positions and able to influence the work of the organization.”

LOCATION

Be located in Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon & Uganda

PRESENCE

Have a clear presence in their community, including having carried out services or programs in the past.

for BOOST GRANTS an organization or it’s leader(s) must also:

  • Demonstrate consideration of financial guidelines or policies for managing money

  • Demonstrate consideration of ethics when implementing programs and delivering services

  • Show interest in participating in the refugee leadership movement and working to increase the inclusion of refugees at all levels of response

  • Show interest in participating in the Strengthening RLOs Partnership Program, including some understanding of where support would be beneficial

for ADVANCE GRANTS an organization or it’s leader(s) must also:

  • Have financial guidelines, controls and systems in place

  • Have ethical guidelines in place specific to the workplace and programmatic implementation

  • Show interest in participating in the refugee leadership movement and working to increase the inclusion of refugees at all levels of response, including specific actions they would carry out to advance this mission

selection

Organizations that qualify will be selected on the following criteria:

BOOST GRANTS

  • Project design and feasibility: is the proposal clear, organized, and achievable?

  • Justification and significance of impact for communities: will the proposal bring important, on-the-ground change in lives?

  • Demonstrates the distinct role RLOs can play in refugee response, through showing potential to achieve one or more of the following:

    • “At scale” community reach in at least one program

    • Usage of a holistic lens that addresses multiple needs of the community in an intersectional way

    • Unlocking long-term, sustainable solutions

  • Readiness of organizational leaders: are organizational leaders prepared to take on the management of a large institution?

  • Interest and feasibility of organizational growth: do leaders have a plan for growth?

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion competency

  • Gender considerations integrated into the proposal and the organization’s approach

ADVANCE GRANTS

  • Project design and feasibility: is the proposal clear, organized, and achievable?

  • Justification and significance of impact for communities: will the proposal bring important, on-the-ground change in lives?

  • Demonstrates the distinct role RLOs can play in refugee response, through achieving one or more of the following:

    • “At scale” community reach in at least one program

    • Usage of a holistic lens that addresses multiple needs of the community in an intersectional way

    • Unlocking long-term, sustainable solutions

  • Quality of proposal budget: is the budget clear, understandable, detailed, and does it reflect the priorities and needs of the project and organization?

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion competency

  • Gender considerations integrated into the proposal and the organization’s approach

This opportunity expires on 31 March 2025

Greater possibilities exist for people with Internet access.

The Connecting the Unconnected funding program supports communities and local organizations working to build and expand Internet infrastructure to connect people living in rural, remote, and low-income areas. This includes initiatives such as community networks, municipal networks, cooperatives, and other forms of complementary access solutions.

If you’d like to learn more about building and maintaining Internet infrastructure, you can find everything you need to know in the Community Network Do-It-Yourself Toolkit.

Program Objectives

  • Strengthen communities and local initiatives that are connecting the unconnected
  • Develop new, innovative solutions to grow the Internet to reach rural, isolated, and low-income areas in all regions of the world

Focus Areas

  • Building new complementary access solutions: projects that focus on providing Internet connectivity to underserved or unconnected communities. This could be done through building community networks, municipal networks, cooperatives, and other forms of complementary access solutions.
  • Expanding existing complementary access solutions: projects that focus on expanding the connectivity of existing complementary access solutions to connect more people, improve existing connectivity, or enable access to new communities.

Eligibility

Funding to build and expand complementary access solutions to connect the unconnected is available to communities and organizations who are directly involved in the planning and building of local Internet infrastructure.

Communities and organizations that apply must have:

  • A clearly identified person or organization responsible for carrying out the project through its completion and reporting
  • Support from the local community that will benefit from the new or expanded Internet infrastructure
  • A sustainability plan to ensure that the infrastructure built can stay operational in the long term
  • The goal of connecting the local infrastructure to the Internet

In addition, in order to receive funding, organizations must have an official bank account in their name (based on their legal registration).

Application Review Process

There are 2 windows during which applications will be accepted: from 4 February to 31 March 2025, at 21:00 UTC and from 15 July to 27 August, 2025 at 21:00 UTC. Applications are reviewed by the Internet Society, the Internet Society Foundation, and external experts to determine if they meet the eligibility requirements and are aligned with the focus areas. Please note that this process could take up to ten (10) weeks.

Selection Criteria

  • A clear and visible need for the suggested Internet infrastructure deployment in the proposed community—underserved or unconnected.
  • A clearly identified person or organization responsible for carrying out the project through its completion and report on its results.
  • Proven support from the local community that will benefit from the suggested new or expanded Internet infrastructure
  • A sustainability plan to ensure that the infrastructure built can stay operational in the long term
  • The goal of connecting the local infrastructure to the Internet
  • A project plan that lasts up to 24 months

Additionally, meeting the following criteria helps build a successful application:

  • Availability of local technology partners
  • General business management skills within the project’s team
  • Technical skills within the community
  • Availability of local social infrastructure (schools, libraries, hospitals, government facilities)

Funding

Communities and local organizations can apply to either build a new complementary access solution to connect the unconnected, or to expand an existing one. The funding requested for each application is expected within, but not limited to, the following ranges:

  • $15,000-$40,000 USD to build new complementary access solutions to connect the unconnected
  • $5,000-$20,000 USD to expand or improve existing complementary access solutions to connect the unconnected

How To Apply

Applicants are strongly encouraged to register their organization in the Foundation’s grants management system, Fluxx, prior to the application window opening. Only applications submitted in the Foundation’s grants management system, Fluxx, by the deadline will be considered for funding. We encourage you to submit your application early.

Applications may be submitted in English, French, or Spanish. Incomplete submissions that do not meet eligibility requirements will not be considered (see “Eligibility” section above).

For reference, the documents required to apply are: Application form and Budget, Workplan, Equipment Support Request template.

This opportunity expires on 12 June 2025

The Bodossaki Foundation, as co-funder and coordinator, in consortium with the NGO Support Centre, is announcing two open calls for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Greece and Cyprus to submit project proposals for funding under the “Protecting democracy, human rights and the rule of law through an open civic space” (PLATO) programme.

The programme “Protecting democracy, human rights and the rule of law through an open civic space” (PLATO) aims is to protect, promote and raise awareness of EU rights & values by financially supporting Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Greece and the Republic of Cyprus and by improving their knowledge, capacity and sustainability.  PLATO is co-funded by the European Union through the Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) programme, and by the Bodossaki Foundation and NGO Support Centre, with the total grant amount of €3.1 million.

The two (2) Open Calls for Project Proposals are the following:

  • 1st Open Call: ‘Empower civil society to promote the rule of law, participative democracy and good governance, and to defend civic space and media freedom’
  • 2nd Open Call: ‘Protect and promote human rights, democracy and equality through empowering vulnerable groups’

Each organization can submit only one (1) application for only one (1) out of the two (2) calls, choosing one (1) out of the three (3) priority areas, either as a lead applicant or as a partner (in the case of large grants).

The total amount allocated through the calls is €2.256.200 (€1.847.000 allocated for Greece and €409.200 for the Republic of Cyprus).

Applications must be submitted online, via the Bodossaki Foundation’s Programme Portal, by the application submission deadline of 17.00 local time on 12th June 2025.

For the full text of the two open calls please go through the downloads section on the right side of the page. For more information about the application process, evaluation criteria, and scoring and selection process, consult the file ‘Application Guidelines‘.

Subscribe to our newsletter here, to learn more about PLATO projects and funding opportunities.

This opportunity expires on 6 April 2025

Omega is pleased to launch our call for proposals for projects to reduce the unlawful use of force by police or state officials and advance human rights-based police reform.

We are offering small grants of between EUR 5,000 and EUR 10,000 to CSOs to support civil society organisations to develop and implement research, campaign, advocacy, capacity-building, and awareness raising activities that contribute to this aim.

This call is open to a wide range of projects that support the development or strengthening of national, regional and international  measures to advance human rights-based police reform and reduce the unlawful and excessive use of force by state officials. Applicants are encouraged to include survivor voices in both the design and delivery of their project.

This funding is offered under the United Against Torture consortium project, supported by the European Union.

For more information and information on how to apply visit this page.

Please note that this call is open to civil society organisations operating outside of both the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) and European Union. Organisations based in WEOG countries or EU Member States are not eligible for funding on this occasion.

This opportunity expires on 31 March 2025

The Mama Cash 2025 Grantmaking Window will open on 3 March 2025.

We will be open to receiving Letters of Interest from applicants who are not current grantee-partners from 3 to 31 March 2025, 11:59 pm CET. Please note that we are only accepting funding applications from the following regions this year: the Americas and Caribbean, Europe, Central Asia and North Asia. We will not be reviewing applications from other regions. You can apply here.

Applicants will be informed by 30 August 2025 whether their application has been accepted by the Community Commitee (COM COM) – Mama Cash’s participatory grantmaking body – to the final round of its decision-making process.  

Mama Cash supports ambitious self-led feminist organisations and initiatives that defend and advance the rights of women, girls and trans and intersex people. The Resilience Fund provides core, flexible, long-term support. This enables grantee-partners to strategise, plan and carry out the work they want to do, in the way that they want to do it – over the long term – so that they can grow, strengthen and sustain their feminist movements. 

During the 2025 Resilience Fund LOI window, Mama Cash is inviting applications from self-led feminist organisations and initiatives based in the following regions: the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, Central Asia and North Asia. Applicants for new Resilience Fund grants that are not based in the above-listed regions will not be considered this year. We advise groups wishing to apply for a Resilience Fund grant to closely consider the Mama Cash’s selection criteria. 

Geographical restrictions

In 2024, Mama Cash invited new applicants to the Resilience Fund from the other regions we work in, that is Africa, West Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania. This year, we are opening for applications from the regions that were closed in 2024. This is to ensure that the bulk of our funding in 2025 continues to be weighted towards our core, long term, flexible funding in regions that we were not able to fund in 2024. 

Mama Cash’s other funds – i.e., the Solidarity Fund, Spark Fund, Revolution Fund and Radical Love Fund – will remain open for new applications from all regions, as relevant to each fund. In addition, renewal grants for existing Resilience Fund grantee-partners are also unaffected by this year’s regional restriction. 

Decision-making

Consistent with our commitment to sharing power and ceding decision-making to activists, Mama Cash remains a fully participatory grant-maker. All decisions about all our new grants are made by the communities with whom we work. Our participatory grantmaking process for the Resilience Fund is as follows:  

  • All applicants provide input and guidance on thematic issues they believe should be prioritised for funding,  
  • Mama Cash staff screen all applications for eligibility against the selection criteria and priorities, 
  • The COM COM reviews a longlist of the top applications to discuss, deliberate and make the final decisions on who our new grantee-partners will be.  

You can read more about the Resilience Fund’s participatory grant-making process here. 

The application window is not relevant for current Resilience Fund grantee-partners whose grants are to be renewed during the course of 2025.Please also note that Mama Cash is not affiliated with a loan app called CashMama. Mama Cash will never ask you for money and we will only email you from email addresses ending in @mamacash.org. Please disregard emails sent from other email providers. 

This opportunity expires on 28 November 2025

What is the language revitalization fellowship?

Each year, individuals can apply to Wikitongues for financial support, technical training, and strategic guidance to start or grow a community language project. If your project is selected, you will get:

  • $2,000 USD, to use wherever it is needed most
  • One year of dedicated strategic and technical support
  • Access to a global network of language activists

What is the application timeline?

Applications typically open at the end of the year. Follow us on social media or join our newsletter for updates!

Who can apply?

You can apply if your community’s language (or dialect) is endangered, dormant, or under-resourced in a specific space. For example, perhaps your language is widely spoken in your community, but it has no digital support. If you’re an outside researcher, you must apply with a member of the community whose language you hope to support.

Do I need to be fluent in my language?

No! If your ancestors spoke the language that you want to revitalize, you are welcome to apply.

What if my country is under sanctions?

If your country is on the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC Sanctions List, you can still apply, but we may not be able to give you a grant. If you have questions about this, please write to [email protected].

Any other questions?

Please write to [email protected].

This opportunity expires on 28 March 2025
Purpose: The Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples invites contributions to inform his report to be presented at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, in September 2025, where he intends to examine ways and means of overcoming obstacles and promoting best practices related to the recognition by States of Indigenous Peoples.
Background

The international human rights regime aims to redress social wrongs that affect certain individuals or groups of persons in society. States are the duty-bearers of human rights and must respect, promote and protect them. However, to fulfil such obligations, States must necessarily identify and recognise the beneficiaries of the concerned rights (rights-holders).

Whenever a State identifies or recognises, within its national territory, the existence of individuals or groups of individuals that have suffered or are suffering from specific prejudice or discrimination, it can either adhere to a relevant human rights instrument, adopt a specific domestic protective legislation or do both.

As far as Indigenous Peoples are concerned, they are sections of numerous national populations that have historically suffered, or continue to suffer, from prejudiced views that considered, or still consider, them and their cultures as inferior and not good enough to be equally protected by laws as peoples. They are traditional groups for whom the international legal regime on Indigenous Peoples’ rights was devised as a corrective mechanism. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) affirms that “all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating superiority of peoples or individuals based on national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust” (Preamble).

Indigenous Peoples’ international legal regime seeks no more than equality; it aims at uplifting particularly marginalised sections of national populations so that they can enjoy all rights on an equal footing as the rest of their fellow citizens. The UNDRIP recognises “that indigenous peoples have suffered from historic injustices as a result of, inter alia, their colonization and dispossession… thus preventing them from exercising, … their rights…” (Preamble).

Neither the UNDRIP nor ILO Convention No. 169 define ‘Indigenous Peoples’. Instead, these two international instruments enshrine the principle of self-identification and provide characteristics of Indigenous Peoples that can help States and anyone to recognise them.

Almost twenty years after the adoption of the UNDRIP, in 2007, several States in all regions of the world have made advances to identify and recognise Indigenous Peoples using criteria for identification. Constitutions, laws, policies and programmes have explicitly recognised Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders under international law. Domestic and regional courts have equally recognised Indigenous Peoples.

However, despite such valuable efforts, there are disparities in regional trends of recognition of Indigenous Peoples; and some States, particularly in Africa and Asia, are still reluctant to use the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’. In some cases, the human rights concept ‘Indigenous Peoples’ has been misunderstood as seeking to provide a privileged status to those who inhabited first a given land or territory in exclusion of or to the expense of others. This misunderstanding ignores the remedial nature of UNDRIP as a means to achieve equality.

The term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ has also been confused with, interchangeably used or conflated with ‘local communities’, ‘minorities’, ‘vulnerable groups’ and many others. This confuses the specific human rights framework pertaining to Indigenous Peoples with those developed to address the specificities of other groups; and it undermines the effectiveness of human rights-based strategies to ensure equality for Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights are inherent rights, and they derive from the mere existence of Indigenous Peoples as peoples and victims of historical injustice, as specified by the UNDRIP. It is therefore not the recognition by States that creates Indigenous Peoples’ rights. However, for States to effectively assume their obligations as duty-bearers for these rights, it is necessary that they recognise the unique Indigenous Peoples living within their territories.

The Special Rapporteur is concerned that misunderstandings regarding the recognition of Indigenous Peoples continue to hamper the implementation of UNDRIP and other international instruments on Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In his report to be presented at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in September 2025, he therefore intends to examine ways and means of overcoming obstacles and promote best practices related to the recognition by States of Indigenous Peoples.

Objectives

The Special Rapporteur wishes to receive inputs to inform his report by way of responses to the questions below. The Special Rapporteur requests submissions from Member States and inter-governmental entities, UN agencies, funds and programs, Indigenous Peoples and organizations, civil society actors, humanitarian and development organizations, national human rights institutions, business representatives and other relevant stakeholders. Please email your written submissions to [email protected] by 28 March 2025 in English, French or Spanish preferably in WORD (.docx) accessible format. Kindly indicate in the subject of your email “Submission for 60th Session Human Rights Council Report”. Respondents are requested to limit their inputs to a maximum of 4000 words. Supporting resources, such as reports, academic studies, and background materials may be annexed.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought
  1. What are the distinguishing characteristics of those recognised as Indigenous Peoples in your country, jurisdiction or sector of work?
  2. What are the constitutional and legal provisions regulating the recognition of Indigenous Peoples in your country, jurisdictions or sector of work?
  3. What are the practices and processes followed by Indigenous Peoples and/or State authorities to identify Indigenous Peoples in your country, jurisdiction or area of work?
  4. Are there Indigenous Peoples in your country that are negatively viewed as culturally backwards and whose way of life is considered by the majority society as inappropriate in current times?
  5. What are the main challenges facing Indigenous Peoples to achieve recognition from State authorities in your country, jurisdiction or sector of work?
  6. Does the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ cause any fears or concerns by State authorities in your country? If yes, please provide examples.
  7. What are the positive and/or negative results and practices associated with the current framework for recognition of Indigenous Peoples in your country, jurisdiction or sector of work?
  8. What initiatives have been undertaken to raise awareness about the recognition of Indigenous Peoples within society and governmental institutions?
  9. What initiatives and mechanisms are needed for Indigenous Peoples to further promote adequate recognition? Please provide examples of good practices if available.
  10. Are there examples from your country, jurisdiction or area of work, of conflation of Indigenous Peoples and other groups, such as minorities, local communities, vulnerable groups, among other? If yes, what are the lessons learned in that regard.
  11. Are there examples from your country, jurisdiction or area or work of alliances between Indigenous Peoples and other groups, such as minorities, local communities, vulnerable groups, among other? If yes, what are the lessons learned in that regard.
How inputs will be used?

Submissions will be published as received on the OHCHR mandate webpage, unless requested otherwise. Please, kindly indicate in your email if you DO NOT wish your submission to be made public.

Next Steps

Input/comments may be sent by e-mail. They must be received by 28 March 2025 .

Email address: 
[email protected]

Email subject line:
Submission for 60th Session Human Rights Council Report

Word/Page limit:
4000 words / 8 pages

Accepted file formats:
Word, PDF

Accepted Languages:
English, French, Spanish

This opportunity expires on 28 March 2025

If you are (or know) a land and environment defender and/or climate activist who is active online, we want to hear from you 📣

🌍 What: We are running the first ever global survey into the experiences of land and environmental defenders and/or climate activists online, including hate and harassment. It takes 10-15 minutes to complete.

❓ Why: The results of this survey will be used to better understand the issues facing defenders and activists, fight for stronger protections, help create safer spaces online, and hold tech companies to account.

🙋 Who: We define defenders and activists as anyone who actively protects their home, the environment and/or the climate. It is a broad definition, and participation in the survey is self-selecting.

🦺 How: We recognise the heightened risks defenders and activists face, so we have taken steps to keep this survey and its results anonymous and secure. Our privacy policy describes how and why we may use personal information and how we protect privacy and rights regarding this information. Survation, who hosts the survey, will not be using the data collected for any other purposes, and has agreed to delete all collected data after providing it to our investigators. We appreciate participants may find some topics sensitive or distressing and there are ‘Prefer not to say’ options where appropriate throughout the survey.

💻 Where: Online. We have developed different links to the survey for different regions. Please pick the one that is best for you!

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You can read our Privacy Policy here: https://lnkd.in/eHKpAUK8

Learn more about Survation: https://lnkd.in/eyQHdfpV

This opportunity expires on 13 February 2027

Rainforest Trust supports non-profit organizations, Indigenous Peoples, and communities to protect ecosystems in the tropics and subtropics critical to endangered species and climate mitigation. We do this by providing funding and other support to create or expand protected and conserved areas that benefit Species, Climate, and People. Since 1988, we have awarded over $302M to approximately 277 partners toward the creation and management of over 400 new and expanded areas. Over 52.2M acres have been protected thus far, and our partners are now working on securing an additional 64M acres. Rainforest Trust always welcomes new applications for protected and conserved area creation or expansion, with the following criteria and guidance designed to help streamline the process.

Types of Awards

Broadly speaking, Rainforest Trust offers two types of funding support grants: Feasibility Awards and Protected or Conserved Area Creation Awards.

Feasibility Awards

Rainforest Trust provides Feasibility Awards to assess the potential for creating or expanding protected or conserved areas. These awards are intended to address specific information gaps in conservation projects, as precursors to applying for a Protected or Conserved Area Creation Award. For instance, Feasibility Awards can support developing a legal pathway to protect a proposed site, or field surveys to determine the presence and abundance of Critically Endangered or Endangered species. The average size of Feasibility Awards is $10,000; in exceptional situations, amounts of greater than $20,000 may be considered.

Protected or Conserved Area Creation Awards

Rainforest Trust’s primary awards support the creation and expansion of protected or conserved areas, on land or sea, be it through designation, land titling, purchase or any other recognized methodology (e.g. Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)). The goal is to empower Project Implementers to facilitate new, lasting and sustainable protected or conserved areas that are in line with community and government needs and desires. There is no set maximum grant amount for these Awards, with applications assessed and awarded on an individual basis.

This opportunity expires on 1 July 2025

Digital Defenders provides civil society organizations with grants of up to €10,000 to be used to cover costs which will directly reduce the risk or impact of a digital attack. The funding covers activities for a maximum of four months.

This opportunity expires on 1 July 2025

The Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund provides emergency financial assistance to civil society organizations (CSOs) under threat or attack and rapid response advocacy and resiliency grants to support CSOs in responding to broader threats against civic space.

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