Deadline: 21-Jun-23

La Francophonie is calling for projects for the 4th edition of the “La Francophonie avec Elles” Fund, which aims to strengthen the economic empowerment of women, in particular those in situations of poverty and vulnerability, is still ongoing.

This solidarity mechanism is intended to finance field actions implemented by French-speaking civil society organizations.

Its specific objectives are to:

• facilitate women’s access to productive and viable economic opportunities
• limit barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including discriminatory practices and norms in access to resources
• improve women’s access to vocational training.

Goals

• The “La Francophonie avec Elles” Fund is a solidarity mechanism aimed at strengthening the means of subsistence of women, in particular those in situations of poverty and vulnerability.
• The general objective of the Fund is to strengthen the economic empowerment of women in a perspective of sustainable development.
• The specific objectives of the Fund are to
  • facilitate women’s access to productive and viable economic opportunities;
  • limit barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including discriminatory practices and norms in access to resources;
  • improve women’s access to vocational training.
• Priority themes have been defined by region. These themes are guidelines for civil society organizations and not eligibility criteria.
  • West Africa: formalization of income-generating activities;
  • Central and East Africa: access to economic opportunities in agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries, especially for displaced women;
  • North Africa and the Middle East: strengthening the participation of women, especially migrant and refugee women, in the labor market;
  • Indian Ocean and Caribbean: access to economic opportunities adapted to climate change, fight against poverty and food insecurity;
  • Central and Eastern Europe: access to vocational training;
  • Asia Pacific: access to vocational training.
• The “La Francophonie avec Elles” Fund supports, financially and technically, and through calls for projects, field actions carried out by French-speaking civil society organizations aimed at women, in particular those in situations of poverty and vulnerability.

Funding Information

• The grant requested must be expressed in euros and be between 15,000 and 100,000 euros.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant Organization Eligibility Criteria
  • To be eligible, the applicant organization must meet the following conditions:
    • Be a civil society organization (CSO). The following are considered CSOs: non-governmental organizations, foundations, humanitarian associations, economic interest groups, cooperatives, private research institutes as well as social partners. Individuals, public universities and companies are not considered CSOs;
    • Be registered and officially recognized by the authorities of one of the 54 States and governments that are full members of the OIF for more than two years;
    • Demonstrate functional, transparent and democratic governance;
    • Implement activities related to the “La Francophonie avec Elles” Fund on the territory of one or more of the 54 States and governments that are full members of the OIF;
    • Have annual financial capacities greater than or equal to the amount of the grant requested;
• Project Eligibility Criteria
  • To be eligible, the project must cumulatively meet the following conditions:
    • Respond to the main theme of the call for projects, namely the economic empowerment of women from a sustainable development perspective;
    • Respond to at least two of the three sub-themes:
      • facilitating women’s access to productive and viable economic opportunities;
      • limit barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including discriminatory practices and norms in access to resources;
      • improve women’s access to vocational training.
    • Be consistent with the strategic and geographical orientations of the OIF, in particular axis 3 of the Strategy of La Francophonie for the promotion of equality between women and men, the rights and the empowerment of women and girls on economic empowerment;
    • Mainly and directly benefit women. Men can, however, be beneficiaries of awareness-raising actions aimed at making them agents of change in favor of equality between women and men;
    • Integrate issues relating to equality between women and men in all stages of the project, from the inventory of needs to the implementation of activities;
    • Be implemented in the territory of one or more of the 54 States and governments that are full members of the OIF;
    • Constitute something new for the candidate structure. No grant will be awarded to a project under implementation;
    • Have an implementation period of a maximum of 36 months made up of 18 months of implementation and 18 months of monitoring and evaluation. Start no earlier than August 1, 2023;
    • Apply for a grant expressed in euros and between 15,000 and 100,000 euros representing a maximum of 80% of the total cost of the project. For example, if the overall budget of the project is 100,000 euros, it is not possible to request a grant higher than 80,000 euros (100,000 euros x 80%).
    • Project activities must not serve religious or political propaganda purposes.
    • Each organization may submit a maximum of 2 applications.

Selection Criteria

• Eligible applications will be decided based on the following criteria:
  • The lead organization is locally based and is of modest size and resources;
  • The leading organization has expertise, experience and added value with regard to the themes of the call for projects;
  • The lead organization relies on partner civil society organizations to implement its project;
  • The lead organization specifies in its application the involvement of local public authorities in the implementation of the project;
  • The project responds to one or more needs identified jointly with the beneficiaries and is relevant and adapted to the local context;
  • The project is aimed primarily at women in situations of poverty and vulnerability;
  • The project is implemented with respect for multilingualism and the use of local languages ​​is encouraged;
  • The project takes into account the fight against climate change in a transversal way;
  • The project proposes clear short and medium term objectives as well as outcome and impact indicators that are both quantitative and measurable;
  • The project describes a sustainability strategy ensuring the sustainability of the project and its results after financial support from the OIF ends;
  • Project activities must be carried out in French and local languages.
  • The scoring of eligible projects will be carried out by a Technical Committee, made up of the OIF Gender Equality Unit as well as the External Representations of the OIF on the basis of a scoring grid established on the basis of the criteria. The Fund Management Committee, composed of qualified personalities and chaired by the Administrator of the OIF, will select the projects that will benefit from the support of the OIF.

For more information, visit La Francophonie.