An integral part of the ongoing restructuring of the Swedish Development assistance for a new era – freedom, empowerment and sustainable growth is to find ways to make Swedish aid more transparent, accessible, and effective, as well as synergetic with Swedish interests in broader foreign policy areas, such as democratic development, peace, and security.
Sida have been tasked to find a new model for its support to civil society organisations and an Invitation to civil society organisations for partnership with Sida was published on the 7th of May as part of this process. The call is open to civil society organisations conducting long-term development cooperation relevant to the objectives in the current Swedish strategy for development cooperation with civil society.
The following categories of CSOs are eligible:
- Organisations based and operating directly in countries eligible for official development assistance (ODA countries).
- Organisations forwarding funds to civil society actors in ODA countries.
- Organisations not based in an ODA country who are focusing on the strategy objective "an enabling environment for civil society in developing countries".
Deadline for submission of interest is 27th May 2024. Successful applicants will be invited to submit full applications by 15th October 2024, or by 31st January 2025 for organisations which are new partners to Sida including Swedish Embassies.
Organisations outside ODA countries must be able to contribute with own funding corresponding to at least 15 per cent of Sida's contribution, with a minimum of USD 500 000.
Most partners of Act CoS would be eligible to submit interest for partnership directly with Sida. You can do this as an independent organisation or as part of a consortium. If approved, you can submit an individual application for funding, but cannot in such cases remain as part of the Act CoS application. We would be grateful if partners interested in submitting their own application would inform us as soon as possible, as this will help us move forward.
Sida’s civil society strategy makes up approximately ¼ of Act CoS’s income. Whilst the announced changes in how Sida allocates funding under this strategy could potentially have a significant impact on our ability to continue at current levels of funding of partners, we would like to underline that Act CoS has a strong and diverse funding base. We also have the full backing of the wider Church of Sweden.
Our local partnerships are key to our work, and we look forward to continue working together with you.