CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR FREE TO BE ME SOGIESC ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT

Grant number: F2BM2023/PH/SOGIESC (Economic Justice and Empowerment)

Period: December 2023 – July 2025

Scope: The Philippines

Submission Deadline: 25 November 2023

Contractual agreement with Yayasan Humanis dan Inovasi Sosial affiliated with Hivos (Humanis Foundation)

BACKGROUND TO FREE TO BE ME

Free to be Me is an ambitious, daring and innovative programme that aims at building vibrant LGBTIQ+ movements that are confident and able to lobby and advocate for human rights and economic rights. Free to be Me aims to bring together organisations and individuals that will contribute to advancing LGBTIQ+ leadership in advocating for social and economic rights and bring an alliance of organisations who are experienced and strongly committed to improving the lives of LGBTIQ+ people worldwide. The Free to be Me will be implemented in fourteen countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and East, Southern and West Africa through an alliance of committed and experienced organizations worldwide. The alliance comprises three consortium members: Hivos, ILGA World, and Positive Vibes; and three technical partners: SOGI Campaigns, the Global Interfaith Network (GIN), and Workplace Pride. Hivos is the leader of the alliance and as such is responsible for facilitating the development of the implementation process.

We aim to bring LGBTIQ+ people and organisations from all parts of the LGBTIQ+ rainbow together in inspiring Communities of Action (CoAs), and empower them to strengthen or build a movement. Within our overarching Theory of Change, LGBTIQ+ communities will decide about objectives, strategies and activities to engage key actors and convince duty-bearers to improve their human and economic rights.

Free to be Me is the first program of its kind to pave the way for targeted lobby and advocacy to get sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) issues mainstreamed in economic development programs. The CoAs focus on improving the economic inclusion of LGTBIQ+ people in their respective countries, while our trailblazer approach will map, connect and inspire key actors, help them develop a strategic global action plan, and initiate pilot research to find out what strategies work best. The SOGIESC Economic Justice and Empowerment Project under Free To Be Me is funded by Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

PURPOSE OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Free to be Me is seeking proposals that put forward approaches and activities that seek to socio-economic outcomes for LGBTIQ+ persons in the Philippines.

Grants will be provided to organizations/ institutions/ contractors proposing innovative ways to address the key challenges that LGBTIQ+ face in accessing socio-economic services and rights and those that promote opportunities that may exist to improve these. LGBTIQ+-led and oriented are preferred.

Applications from the following are also welcome:

Coalitions of organizations (supported by LGBTIQ+ organizations) wishing to carry out services related to the economic development pathway of Free to be Me.
Community-based organizations are encouraged to apply

Organizations currently receiving grants from F2BM will be less prioritized.

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS

Country applications or national responses that demonstrate the country relevance of LGBTIQ+ persons in the Philippines are required.

THE INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES OF THE SOGIESC ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

Outcome 1: Increase the collaboration among LGBTIQ+ community experts and economic development specialists through co-development of a framework for LGBTIQ+ inclusive and/or -focused pilot interventions in three countries.

Outcome 2: Generate an improved evidence base for future replication or scale-up of LGBTIQ+ inclusive and -focused economic development by implementing and evaluating pilot projects in three countries.

Outcome 3: Foster more effective advocacy by LGBTIQ+ activists for inclusive/dedicated economic development programs in three countries with evidence generated through the pilot projects and their evaluations.

FUNDING INFORMATION

Award amount of Project Grant: USD 10,000 – 35,000

The number of pilot project grants will be defined on the number of applications – their kind and scope of interventions that will be piloted, and their anticipated cost.

Funding amount for 2024 & 2025 will be subsequently announced.

Budget Notes:

Staff Cost: Budget for staff time that directly relate to project activities. All other staff costs should be planned under overheads. Staff costs should not exceed 20% of total proposed budget.
Direct Project costs: These consist of direct project activities, direct service delivery travel costs, among others
Indirect costs: overheads/ indirect costs may not exceed 7% of directs costs (direct staff costs + direct project costs)

The maximum length of a full proposal is 15 pages (the link to the concept note template is provided below). The proposal could build on existing activities or initiatives of applicants. The desired proposed intervention should not be less than 24 months and not more than 36 months. It should be sustaining.

The link to the budget template is provided below.

POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Issues like access to education required to improve the employability of queer people
Innovation incubation/ hub targeting queer-led businesses.
Existing LGBTIQ-oriented business ventures/ capital investment with a business plan. The link to the marketing plan template is provided below.
Capacity Development initiatives i.e., LGBTIQ+ socio-economic literacy, financial literacy
Other Programmatic work that clearly fits into Free to be Me outcomes.

Proposals should clearly demonstrate anticipated outcomes linked to the objectives of the proposal call. Applicants should be based or able to work in the Philippines. The proposal could build on existing activities or initiatives of applicants.

Funding is limited; therefore, preference will be given to:

Proposals that are well thought out and demonstrate a clear connection to the objectives of Free to be Me SOGIESC Economic Justice and Empowerment.

Proposals that adhere to the core values of Free to be Me
Proposals that answer the question “How can the project contribute to LGBTIQ+ advocacy socio-economic well-being?”
Proposals that demonstrate innovative approaches and utilize relevant Information and communications technology.
Proposals that have the potential to have the greatest impact in improving access to socio-economic rights and services for LGBTIQ+ people.
Proposals that aim to reach the hardest-to-reach or vulnerable LGBTIQ+ community and to increase their access to socio-economic rights and services, i.e urban poor, Lesbians, Bisexual Women, and Queers (LBQ), Persons with Disability (PWDs), Indigenous People, among others
Proposals that aim to break down barriers/challenge social and gender norms around LGBTIQ+.
Proposals that include elements of sustainability, improve capacity and/or confidence of LGBTIQ+ individuals, replicable, can be scaled up
Proposals that contribute to Anti-Discrimination Bill (Bill) / SOGIESC Equality Bill (SEB) advocacy
Proposals that forges partnership with Local Government Units (LGUs) and supports Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Proposals that endeavor participatory analysis and gender analysis and highlight LGBTIQ+ individuals’ involvement.