Results of the first Capacity project call
On March 31, 2021, the Board of the Active Citizens Fund (ACF) approved the results of the first Capacity call for proposal: of 269 competing projects, 57 were awarded a grant, the total grant sum amounting to 1,050,969.27 Euro. 7 projects envisage a partnership with entities of the EEA/Norway Financial Mechanism donor countries.
The supported projects were submitted both by small community organizations in all regions of Latvia and by experienced Latvian and networking organizations so that their areas of activity are highly diverse, spanning human rights, community development, youth, education, and social services, environmental protection, a. o. The 57 supported organizations operate in 21 municipalities; 269 organizations from 74 municipalities participated altogether.
The ACF provided associations and foundations all over Latvia with broad support facilities both in the form of educative workshops and individual tutorials. Regional coordinators provided 600 tutorials altogether for 259 CSOs in 70 municipalities.
“It was our target to provide the opportunity for developing the capacity of associations and foundations of different fields and expertise all over Latvia, so that we were very pleased to see organizations of such a variety of fields from almost 3/4 of Latvian municipalities. The feedback received from project applicants shows that this call for proposal made many organizations look at their own operations with a fresh view, analyse their weaknesses, and spot new chances for growth at the same time. We truly hope that participation in the project call has been valuable also for those organizations that received no grant because of tough competition. We call on these entities to enrol for individual tutorials in order to understand any imperfections of their project as well as its chances for improvement and participation in the next Capacity call for proposal, which is scheduled for this autumn,” says Inese Siliņa, director of the ACF.
In order to achieve the objective of the ACF, which is civil society and active citizenship strengthened and vulnerable groups empowered, specific conditions were built into the capacity project call to encourage Latvian associations and foundations to think and act more purposefully in order to develop those aspects of their organizations that strengthen them in the long term: attraction of funding independent of projects, building their image and informing the public about their work, as well as developing their management process quality and the professionalism of the persons involved. In parallel to these activities, other actions in line with the entities’ capacity strengthening needs could be planned within the capacity projects.
The majority of grant-winning projects have chosen to make use of the opportunities offered by the specific conditions. Thus, a total of 70 different activities were involved in 43 projects with a view of diversification of the organization’ sources of finance and promotion of their financial independence. Most often, the organizations have decided to develop their core activities and to work on the attraction of donations by organizing wide campaigns and by developing purposeful communications that aim at attracting donations.
The majority – 50 of 57 supported organizations – plan to strengthen their recognition purposefully – they will implement activities for regular public information on their activities and results, including communications strategies, improved homepages, and intend to expand into new communication channels.
Moreover, 39 projects plan to improve the proficiency of the organization's staff and volunteers for work within the organization, training an entire number of 831 people. It is important that the projects pay special attention also to organizational management issues for more effective achievement of goals and greater influence. What is more, strategies for the attraction of funding and operational development as well as practical strategies for structuring work and achieving targets shall be elaborated for 66 civic society organizations (both those financed and those connected with the first).
Within the framework of 11 projects, new CSO networks and co-operation platforms shall be built or existing ones strengthened, which among others will encourage more coordinated and balanced performance in terms of interest representation in the long term, will exchange good practice and support the creation of meaningful synergies. Another 9 organizations plan to develop their operations within network organizations, becoming members and joining the activities of network organizations both in Latvia and on an international level.
Wrapping up the course of the project call, Kristīne Zonberga, chair of the Board of the ACF and director of the Civic Alliance Latvia, concludes: “We are gratified that so many organizations are motivated to operate on the next level of their abilities, that they are aware of having “grown” out of their previous format and want to use these projects as a strategic instrument for attaining new capacity for their performance. The more such organizations are able to develop, the stronger the entire civil society sector in Latvia will be”.
All project applicants will be informed about the decisions adopted via the ACF project system by April 1st.
The second ACF Capacity call for proposal is scheduled for autumn this year. It involves a total grant sum of 660,000 Euro, and about 35 entities shall be supported.
The Active Citizens Fund is a grant programme of the EEA/Norway Financial Mechanism, which is implemented in Latvia from 2020 till 2024 with the purpose of strengthening civil society and civic participation, and enhancing the capability of vulnerable groups. The programme is administered by the Civic Alliance Latvia and the Dienvidlatgale NGO support centre, the Kurzeme NGO centre, the Latvian Rural Forum, the Valmiera Region Community Foundation, and the Zemgale NGO centre. For more information see: www.activecitizensfund.lv
