Forwarded by: odhiambo okecth

From: Sarah Nkuchia

Dear Sir/Madam,

Akiba Uhaki Foundation – the Human Rights and Social Justice Fund (AUF), is a regional grant-making organization dedicated to supporting and accompanying human rights and social justice related organizations in East Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) and in particular, works to support processes, forums, movements and work that initiates radical ways of looking at and addressing root causes of poverty, human insecurity and structural violence.The Fund envisions a just world in which all people enjoy human rights and live in dignity.

Its mission is to be a proactive and innovative grant-making institution working to promote and strengthen human rights inclusive of social justice. Akiba Uhaki espouses and at all times aspires to be guided by, advocate for and adhere to the human rights principles of accountability, empowerment, non-discrimination, participation and express application of the international legal (human rights) framework.

AUF is funding projects aimed at stimulating capacities of communities across East Africa to claim their rights in development. Through a Swedish International Development Agency funded initiative , Akiba Uhaki seeks to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with organizations whose innovative projects seek to advance economic, social and cultural rights of communities and to address the root causes of social injustice in the region. For details please visit our website at www.akibauhaki.org.

The second main aim of this development support is to stimulate Capacities for Communities within East Africa to claim their rights in development through the application of existing knowledge, advocacy and local participation. This will be realized through creative and meaningful partnerships with knowledge institutions and community based organizations.

This development support has the following four principal components;

1. Enhancing the capacity of people to demand their rights through the repackaging of existing knowledge
2. Strengthening linkages between research and advocacy
3. Making the law work to serve the people’s needs and claims
4. Support access to Information Communication Technology(ICT) by rural, peri-urban and urban poor

In this regard, we are pleased to send you this information for your consideration. Should you find it in line with your work, feel free to contact us for discussion on this information. Alternatively, you can send us a Project Proposal or concept Paper for funding consideration. We also encourage you to pass this information to organizations within your network whose work is relevant to this Call for Proposal for funding consideration. Attached is our Call For Proposal document for your attention.

Regards,
Sarah Nkuchia
AUF Programs Intern

Sarah Nkuchia

Akiba Uhaki Foundation – The Human Rights & Social Justice Fund
K-Rep Center, Wood Avenue, Kilimani
Box 27611-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (254) 20 2441204/2441196
Fax: (254) 20 3861576
Mobile; (254) 0722 659 364
Email: sarah@akibauhaki.org
Website: www.akibauhaki.org
…………………………………………….
“For a Just and Egalitarian East Africa where all persons enjoy their
Rights and live in Dignity”

– – – – – – – – – – –
AUF CFP .doc
STIMULATING CHANGE FROM BELOW : CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Background:

About Akiba Uhaki Foundation

Akiba Uhaki, the Human Rights and Social Justice Fund, is a proactive and innovative grant-making organization dedicated to supporting and accompanying Human Rights and Social Justice related organizations in East Africa i.e. Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Stimulating Change From Below Project

Akiba Uhaki Foundation in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) is implementing a Project focusing on “ Stimulating Change from Below”. The objective of the project, which will run from 2009 to 2012, is to stimulate capacities of communities within East Africa to claim their rights in development. It recognizes that in order for citizens to be able to assert their rights, and lift themselves out of poverty, they need access to information.

The Project is a response to the need to strengthen the capacity of the citizenry to claim their rights from the state and other duty bearers towards improvement of their social and economic welfare including poverty alleviation through intermediation of knowledge. It is based on the belief that for the state to provide services effectively including those aimed at poverty alleviation and addressing other forms of social inequality, the citizenry must have the capacity to demand these rights and to hold the state accountable.

The project recognizes that the extent to which governments will be effective and responsive to the people’s needs in delivering services and facilitating development greatly depends on the capacity of the citizenry to not only hold the government to account but also to actively assert and claim their rights. In addition, we recognize the fact that for the citizenry to be able to effectively assert its rights and to improve their social and economic conditions, their access to information is critical, hence the need to provide accessible, affordable, rights-focused alternative media, ICT and enabling infrastructure. This project will benefit communities in both urban and rural areas with a particular emphasis to disadvantaged communities/those who are most affected by social injustices.

Call for Proposals(CFP)

This call for proposals/concept papers invites applications from organizations in East Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda ), both registered and unregistered (provided the unregistered organizations are fiscally hosted by registered organizations). Applications are restricted to initiatives that aim to achieve any/all of the following;

1. Intermediation of Knowledge i.e.

* make knowledge from research institutions and other knowledge generating institutions easily accessible and usable by local communities e.g through dissemination of research findings and/or translation into simplified versions and/or local language versions

* link research to advocacy for positive change
* Strengthen the competence of the human rights and social justice sector to produce popular versions of documents.

2. Promoting evidence based advocacy and planning initiatives e.g.

* Bringing to the fore realistic indicators of poverty and other social inequalities
* research on how policy makers use local knowledge while making laws relating to human rights and social justice
* policy and legislative campaigns aimed at enhancing the capacities of people to own and participate in grassroots based development and poverty reduction initiatives

3. Strengthen Existing Community Media (Urban and Rural Community Radios and Community ISPs/Telecos) through

* Support to acquire equipment for quality community media services
* Internal capacity building of community media to push for realization of Social justice at the grassroots level
* Development of human rights and social justice content for community media
* Solidifying links between Community Based Organizations and community media
* Raising awareness of national issues at the grassroots level and linking of grassroots issues with national policy level discourse through utilization of community media

Application Requirements

Interested organizations should submit either project proposals (not exceeding 5 pages), or concept papers (not exceeding 3 pages). The proposals/ concept papers should be in English or French, and guidelines for Akiba Uhaki concept papers and proposals are available on the website: www.akibauhaki.org. Each proposal/ concept paper must be accompanied by the following additional information:

* Two (2) letters from endorsers (human rights and social justice experts, credible organizations, previous funders, government officials, etc)
* bank account details;
* confirmation from host organization (where applicable) that it accepts hosting responsibilities; and
* a budget not exceeding US $10,000.

Any application that is incomplete or fails to meet the above requirements will be disqualified automatically.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

Proposals/concept papers will be reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel of staff at Akiba Uhaki and the following will be the key considerations:

* Quality of proposed idea
* Relevance and responsiveness to the CFP
* Clarity in analysis of the problem and the root causes the proposed project seeks to address
* Clarity and viability of strategy and tactics proposed to address the root causes of the problem
* Innovativeness and creativity i.e. Pursuit of new ways to reach audiences, engage citizens and explore new platforms
* Organizational capacity

Upon notification, applicants with good concept papers will be required to develop them into full proposals.

Suitable proposals/concept papers proposal should be sent electronically, mailed or hand delivered to the undersigned by August 15th, 2010. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

The Program Coordinator,
Akiba Uhaki Foundation
Wing 3C, K-Rep Centre, Kilimani
P.O Box 27161100100, Nairobi, Kenya.
Fax: +254 (020) 3861576
Tel: +254 (020) 2441204/2441196
Cell: +254 (0) 722 659 364/731 465 660
Email: info@akibauhaki.org

Proposals/concept papers submitted under this Call for Proposals must contain this reference: REF. NO. 001/AUF/CFP/2010/EAST AFRICA: