Advocacy and Public Engagement Grants for Civil Society Organizations in the MENA Region (closes 4 May)
Minority Rights Group
Posted on Apr 2, 2025
Minority Rights Group is accepting applications from human rights and minority rights/ minority groups led nonprofit organizations based in Lebanon, Tunisia, and Palestine for advocacy grants. These grants are available for Human Rights Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) aim to maximize the attention toward the situation of minorities and marginalized communities in the target countries.
As part of our project Minorities, Accountability and Civic Space (MACS), the grants seek to enhance engagement and advocacy for the rights of minority groups and marginalized communities by funding project-based activities including monitoring and robust evidence production, advocacy activities, and engaging with the public discourse.
Essential information
Budget available: Each grant awarded will be 33,000 euros, and all selected projects are required to operate within this fixed budget.
Timeline: The duration of the grant may last up to 18 months. The budget must include a line for communication, and an option line for an advocacy mission, when relevant.
How to apply: Organizations wishing to apply for these grants should submit an application form and a budget using the form on this webpage. You can apply in English, Arabic or French. For any enquiries, please click here to email the MACS team.
Deadline: 4/5/2025
Eligibility
For your application to be considered, applicants must:
- Be a human rights or minority rights/minority-led organization. Organizations focused on policy research, legislative reform, democratic development with a human/minority rights component in their work are also welcome to apply.
- Be a non-for-profit civil society organization (official registration is not necessary).
- Be based in one of the project countries: Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia.
- Be a community-based organization and/or an NGO that has a track record of working with disadvantaged ethnic, religious, or cultural minorities or marginalized groups such as migrants, refugees, LGBTI, or persons with disabilities, and is rooted in these marginalized communities.
- Be committed to involving various minorities and other marginalized communities in their broader activities.
- Must have skills in project management, risk management, and financial management.
- Be an organization that has no public debt, complies with anti-corruption measures, and proves absence of conflict of interest.
- Have the ability to receive funding, either through their own organization or an agreed upon alternative arrangement which aligns with approved protocol.
- Have an established track record of similar work in one of the project countries.
- Must have noticeable experience in financial and narrative reports development and M&E.
Examples of activities this grant will cover
The grants will cover one or a combination of activities that aims to advocate and engage the public on issues and challenges faced by minorities and marginalized groups. This can include (but is not limited to):
- Advocacy activities aimed at the local, national and/ or international level.
- Activities targeting the wider public through media and public awareness activities.
- Research activities and robust evidence production.
- Documentation, monitoring and reporting activities.
- Litigation and legal assistance including the provision of legal support to marginalized communities.
Selection Criteria
- The proposal must be relevant for the call, the aim of which must be to advocate for the rights of minorities and marginalized groups in at least one of the four countries mentioned.
- The project should have a clear logic explained through: stated objectives, outcomes, activities, and implementation strategy.
- The proposal should have been designed in a participatory manner with the minorities and marginalized communities that the intervention aims to focus on.
- The proposal should have realistic target(s) set and capacity to deliver planned activities should be in line with the resources, capacities, and previous experiences of the applicant.
- The proposal must have clearly identified target beneficiaries and a plan to reach those beneficiaries and advocacy targets effectively.
- Clearly justifying a budget that represents value for money and efficiency.
- The proposal should show how the proposal will ensure the sustainability of the project even after the intervention is over.
- The proposal should highlight how the organization ensures gender and minority rights mainstreaming in its work.
- Intersectional aspects of the organization’s target groups should be considered.
- The granted organizations must commit to the following if accepted for this grant:
- Completing the online training course on building technical capacity to increase their technical skills in advocacy and public engagement.
- Potentially attending advocacy meetings in Brussels.
- Attending the in-country workshops and meetings for subgrantees that MRG and partners CFI and Attalaki will organize in Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
Anticipated Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
| 1 April 2025 | Calls for proposals |
| 4 May 2025 | Application deadline |
| 26 May 2025 | Shortlisted applicants finalized and notified |
| 9 June 2025 | Contracts and welcome package sent |
| 20 June 2025 | Transfer first tranche of funds |
| 18 months | Distribution of funds |
| 2 Weeks after Grant Ends | Final narrative and financial reports due |
Apply here
We look forward to reviewing your application.
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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.
Minority Rights Group (MRG) is the leading human rights organization working with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and indigenous peoples worldwide.
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 programme is funded by the European Union.
Featured image: Women displaced by war in Lebanon cook food for other displaced people at a drop-in centre run by NGO Mouvement Social in Bourj Hammoud, Beirut. 21 November 2024. Credit: Sally Hayden / SOPA Images / ZUMA Press Wire.