The Strong Cities Network (SCN) is pleased to announce an opportunity for the award of local innovation grants for civil society organizations (CSOs) to implement projects and activities aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) at the local level in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Through this grant, the SCN aims to help enhance partnerships between CSOs and local government to develop inclusive and collaborative projects and activities to strengthen community resilience and social cohesion against violent extremism. The innovation grants aim to support specific prevention initiatives driven by local civil society actors (such as local youth, women, religious and community leaders and NGOs), as well as to support the broader capacity of those stakeholders to undertake such work.

• Title: Strong Cities Network South-East Asia Innovation Grants (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines)
• Deadline: 7 May 2021
• Organisation(s): Strong Cities Network; Global Center on Cooperative Security (Global Center); Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD)
• Reporting to: Global Center
• Eligible locations: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (with preference to specific cities – see below)
• Eligible applicants: Organizations with valid not-for-profit registration status or the equivalent in the country of operation. Government bodies are not eligible for this grant.
• Project duration: 4-6 months
• Preferred Start Date: June-July 2021
• Contract type: Grant
• Grant Amount (per award): $10,000 – $15,000 USD

Requirements and funding criteria

Essential: Proposals must meet all of the following criteria to be considered. Proposals should:

• Seek to partner and/or collaborate with local government or city representatives in Indonesia, Malaysia or the Philippines on the development and/or implementation of the P/CVE project;
• Be submitted by a non-profit entity or organization formally registered in one or more of the following countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines;
• Include a budget of between $10,000 – $15,000 USD;
• Have a specified timeline of 4-6 months and must be completed by December 2021;
• Include monitoring and evaluation measures to assess proposed activities and results;
• Be submitted in English only (progress and final reports must also be in English).

Desirable: Projects that focus on the following locations are preferred: Surabaya, Surakarta, Bima, and Poso in Indonesia; Zamboanga, Cotabato City, Maluso, Cagayan de Oro City, Marawi, and Patikul in the Philippines; and Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Georgetown, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Proposals focusing on other cities will also be considered.

Application Process

All applications must be submitted electronically in English and include the following documents.

• Application in the provided application form 
• Proposed budget in the provided template 
• A copy of your organisation’s registration documents.

There is no need to submit any other documents, supplementary attachments will not be reviewed by the evaluation team. Hand-written applications will not be accepted.

Applications must be submitted by 23:00 GMT on 7 May 2021 to Mr. David Dews at [email protected].

We aim to notify successful applicants by end of May 2021.

About the Strong Cities Network (SCN)

Led by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and launched at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, the Strong Cities Network (SCN) is the first ever global network of mayors, governors and local practitioners united in tackling extremism, violence and polarisation in local communities in every major global region.

We help cities and local authorities design polices, practices and partnerships to enable locally-designed responses to these challenges that meet the needs of each local context. We provide our members with leading subject-matter expertise, practitioner training, and policy/leadership support.

SCN membership currently comprises 140 cities, municipalities and local governments across more than 40 countries worldwide. We operate with a set of fundamental principles, agreed by all members, that protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in all aspects of our work to prevent violent extremism in all its forms.

Global Center and ISD Involvement

This grant will be awarded by Global Center on behalf of the Strong Cities Network. Global Center and ISD will formulate the final award conditions with each successful applicant, including any specific reporting requirements and when and how often funding will be transferred. The Global Center will oversee the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the successful projects.

By submitting an application, the applicant acknowledges ISD and the Global Center’s substantial involvement in the design and implementation of their projects, including compliance with any monitoring and reporting activities deemed necessary. ISD and the Global Center reserves the right to request changes to project concepts or to work with successful applicants to better align budgets with project activities, if necessary. Applicants may also be requested to provide any recently completed financial audits and will be informed of any such requests well in advance. The final selection of grantees will be at the discretion of Global Center, ISD and the program donor.