UN Women Afghanistan is pleased to announce a call for proposals to support the multiple, diverse ways that Afghan women are mobilizing and organizing together to work on improving women’s rights, the status of women and girls, and access to services.
The objective of this Call for Proposals is to support Afghan women-owned and women-led spaces for coalition building and other ways that Afghan women are coming together – in any way, online or otherwise – to hold spaces for women’s rights and to address women’s needs. Given the increasingly restrictive environment for Afghan women inside the country, supporting Afghan women to work together – formally and informally – is needed for joint advocacy.
Focus Areas
Area 1: Establish and facilitate platforms, and/or strengthen platforms/community groups/self-help gatherings/alliances or any other configuration of women coming together (virtual or otherwise) by:
Elevating and amplifying the priorities and demands of diverse Afghan women/networks/civil society organizations inside the country to advance the women’s rights at the national and international forums.
Holding space for women’s rights and creating spaces for women to safely come together.
Connecting women across the country to discuss shared challenges and solutions to improve status of women and girls.
Facilitating the participation (virtual and/or in-person) of diverse Afghan women leaders, organizations and/or networks in fora discussing Afghanistan’s future.
Other activities that have a clear link to the objectives of Area 1.
Area 2: Create mechanisms to monitor the status/trends of women and girls at the country level, to document and improve understanding of gender equality dynamics within Afghanistan by:
Analysing trends at local/national level and produce brief reports/policy recommendations/studies on issues facing Afghanistan.
Undertaking consultations with diverse women across the country to understand the root causes of gender inequality and its impact on Afghanistan’s future.
Other activities that have a clear link to the objectives of Area 2.
Area 3: Connect Afghan women, networks and organizations inside the country with women rights organizations and leaders in similar contexts to enable cross learning on how to navigate contexts with severely restricted spaces and engage with de facto authorities:
Hosting virtual and/or in-person meetings/workshops/seminars to facilitate learnings and discuss strategies for navigating restricted spaces with women leaders, organizations from similar contexts.
Creating mentorship and accompaniment initiatives to pair Afghan women with women from other conflict affected contexts.
Other activities that have a clear link to the objectives of Area 3.
Area 4: Support Afghan women’s organizations, networks, and leaders in developing strategies to navigate the current dynamics and gender-specific restrictions within Afghanistan to improve women’s rights and/or run appropriate services by:
Running problem-solving workshops to support leaders, organizations, and/or networks to move from problem identification to developing practical solutions and policy options to address identified challenges.
Training and/or mentorship for women and girls on coalition-building, organizing and advocacy, including in safe use of virtual campaigning and in-person convenings.
Other activities that have a clear link to the objectives of Area 4.
Area 5: Build the capacity of Afghan women’s organizations to strengthen their institutional capacity and ability to address problems facing women and girls in their communities.
Providing training and/or mentorship to improve capacity of women leaders and organizations based on their self-identified needs.
Supporting Afghan women and organizations in improving negotiations tactics and strategies to improve status of women and girls.
Other activities that have a clear link to the objectives of Area 5.
Funding Information
The total budget per proposal should not exceed USD 350,000.
Timeframe: Start date and end date for completion of required services/results
UN Women is seeking one or multiple partner(s) to implement projects of up to 17 months (January 2024 till June 2025)
Required Services
Proposals should be needs-based, ethical, safe, and contextually appropriate and clearly dedicated to advancing women’s rights and gender equality in Afghanistan.
Applications must clearly articulate the approach to safety and security given the restrictive environment facing Afghan women across the country.
Organizations may apply in a consortium with one lead organization, and one or more sub-partners (which maybe local or international). If applying in a coalition, the lead organization will be the signatory to the Partner Agreement and the recipient of funds. The lead organization is responsible and liable for the work performed by a Sub-Partner and is responsible for achieving the results as per the terms of the Partner Agreement.
Lead organization is expected to have a legal status in Afghanistan. This does not apply to sub-partners (if applying in a consortium).
Each organization can submit only one proposal.
Expected Initiatives
Establish, facilitate, and/or strengthen platforms/community groups/self-help gatherings/ alliances or any other configuration of women coming together (virtual or otherwise).
Create mechanisms to monitor the status/trends of women and girls at the country level, to document and improve understanding of gender equality dynamics within Afghanistan through policy briefs/studies.
Connect Afghan women, networks and organizations inside the country with women rights organizations in similar contexts to enable cross learnings on how to engage with de facto authorities and navigate restricted civic space.
Support Afghan women’s organizations, networks, and leaders in developing strategies to navigate the current dynamics and gender-specific restrictions within Afghanistan to find ways to pathways to improve women’s rights and/or run services to improve the lives of women and girls.
Build the capacity of Afghan women’s organizations to strengthen their institutional capacity and ability to address problems facing women and girls in their communities.
All applications must demonstrate how the project(s) will:
Ensure that women and girls from hard-to-reach populations and provinces are included and that an intersectional approach is undertaken (women with different backgrounds, religious beliefs, women with disabilities, women from diverse geographies, and various age groups).
Embed conflict sensitivity in the design, implementation, and monitoring of the project, taking into account the safety and security of project personnel and beneficiaries; and ensuring risk are not exacerbated through project activities.
Adjust to contextual challenges related to working on the Afghanistan context, including ability to delivery and operate in-country.
Undertake monitoring, including collection of baseline and end line data to measure intended project outputs.
Have a robust risk management approach to mitigate risks in a rapidly changing context.
Eligibility Criteria
Technical/functional competencies required.
Demonstrated expertise in women’s rights and gender equality in Afghanistan.
Demonstrated experience bringing women together in restrictive contexts for women’s rights.
Experienced in implementing adaptive programming that embeds conflict sensitivity.
Strong understanding of convening safe spaces for women from a safety and security perspective – online and offline.
Ability to work across Afghanistan’s diversity, including women from diverse backgrounds, religious beliefs, ages, geographies, abilities.
Capacity to deliver expected results in current context (governance and management competencies, and financial and administrative competency).
Relevance of the mandate and the role of the organization to implement expected results and to contribute to the sustainability of said results.
Other characteristics, which will be an asset for the performance of services.
Submitted by women-led and/or gender-focused organizations.
(women-led and/or gender-focused organizations are those that are able to demonstrate that they are governed and led by women, where a minimum of 51 per cent of leadership positions in various decision-making levels, including in management, senior management and board levels are held by women and their work is focused on promoting gender equality in Afghanistan)
Submitted by Afghan organizations with proven expertise and experience in advancing women’s rights and promoting gender equality in Afghanistan.
Ineligibility Criteria
The lead applicant does not have legal status in Afghanistan (sub-partners, if applying in a consortium, do not have to be legally registered. Only the Lead Applicant is expected to have the legal status in Afghanistan).
The applicant is on the Consolidated UN Security Council Sanctions list.
The applicant is being investigated for fraud, corruption, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or other wrongdoing.
The applicant is a government agency or institution, UN agency, private sector company, or private individuals.
