The Bulgarian Fund for Women announces a call for financing projects that develop activities to prevent and overcome violence against women and girls and other vulnerable groups in Bulgaria.
The current call is being held in fulfilment of the vision of the BFW for all women and girls to live in a fair and equal world, in which their voices are heard and their choices are counted. The initiative is part of the strategic activities of the BFW to achieve gender equality and a society free of gender-based violence, discrimination and inequalities by supporting civil organizations and collectives that challenge the status quo and work for systemic change for women, girls and all vulnerable and marginalized communities (disabled people, ethnic communities, LGBTI+ people, refugees, migrants, people living below the poverty line, etc.) in Bulgaria.
Focus Areas
The focus of the competition is projects that develop one or more of the following priority areas:
Advocacy to change legislation / (local) policies aimed at achieving gender equality, combating domestic violence, gender-based violence and discrimination, and access to justice for vulnerable groups;
Protection and support of women and girls who have experienced domestic, sexual or other types of gender-based violence, as well as strategies for social integration and prevention of their secondary victimization;
Increasing knowledge and prevention of gender-based violence and stereotypes among young people and other vulnerable groups such as people with different opportunities, ethnic communities, LGBTI+ people, refugees, migrants, etc.;
Raising public awareness and activity on the topics of overcoming social inequalities, gender inequality, gender-based discrimination and violence;
Feminist knowledge production which addresses the structural inequalities associated with discourses of “gender-based violence” and/or “gender-based discrimination.”
Funding Information
The total budget of the call is BGN 160,000. The maximum funding a project can receive is up to BGN 20,000.
The time for the implementation of the projects is 18 months (from November 2022 to April 2024).
Eligible Activity
Eligible for funding are a wide range of activities such as service delivery/development and consultation, support circles, conferences, round tables and workshops, petitions, marches, campaigns, training, research, opinions, analyses, reports, podcasts, educational videos, volunteering, artivism, etc. (the list is not exhaustive).
The aims and activities of each project have to demonstrate a feminist approach, a clear understanding and addressing of the discourses of ‘violence against women’, ‘gender-based violence’ and/or ‘gender-based discrimination’, and aim to achieve sustainable social change. The guiding principles should be equality, non-discrimination and the empowerment of girls and women, especially representatives of vulnerable and/or marginalized groups.
They encourage candidates to embrace the intersectionality of feminist issues. They promote projects with an inclusive approach that relies on the real empowerment of the target groups – it is necessary that they are not treated as passive beneficiaries of the project activities, but as active drivers and participants in the desired change.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicant organizations and their partners must be:
With a clear feminist profile and applying an intersectional approach;
Working in the field of women’s rights and human rights, the empowerment of women and girls and the fight against gender-based violence;
Working to prevent and overcome the multiple discrimination and/or marginalization of women, girls and other vulnerable groups (LGBTI+, Roma, organizations of people with different opportunities, etc.);
Managed by women or whose leadership has more than 70% of women in decision-making positions.
In judging, preference will be given to:
Organizations and collectives whose activities are carried out outside Sofia;
Newly created women’s organizations and those whose activity has been carried out for less than 3 years;
Organizations whose annual budget is less than BGN 50,000.
Partnerships
Participation in partnership with other NGOs for public benefit and/or unregistered groups/collectives is encouraged. Partners – legal entities may have an independent budget, described in the budget form of this Competition. Upon approval of the application, they will expect the conclusion of partnership agreements between the lead organization (applicant) and the partner(s). The lead organization will be responsible for reporting to all project partners.
The participation of unregistered groups/collectives is admissible only if it is in partnership with non-profit legal entities, registered for public benefit, with which the financing contract will be concluded. Collectives will be reported on behalf of the organization that submitted the project proposal.
