IFES Announces Grant Competition

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an independent, non-governmental organization providing professional support to electoral democracy. Through field work, applied research and advocacy, IFES strives to promote citizen participation, transparency, and accountability in political life and civil society. IFES is currently working in support of the May 30 municipal elections in Georgia under a contract from USAID. IFES will conduct technical assistance, training, and educational projects with a variety of election stakeholders. Its contract runs through July 2010. As a part of its current project, IFES is announcing a request for applications (RFA) for a grant competition in support of civil society, educational and media participation projects, to be conducted prior to the upcoming local elections of 2010 in Georgia. Invitation for grant competition: IFES is inviting all local (Tbilisi based and regional) non-governmental/not-for-profit organizations and media outlets (TV or radio stations, newspapers, radio, new media) to submit applications for the program aiming at improving the overall quality of upcoming local elections scheduled for May 30, 2010. This competition highly welcomes innovative proposals that would offer original ideas and approaches and cover a broad range of the population as well as targeted groups. Competition goal and objectives: The goal of the grant competition is to improve the overall quality of elections by increasing the level of productive engagement of civil society and media during the pre-election period. The grants will be issued in one of three areas: 1) Qualitative media monitoring; 2) Promoting issue-based discussions and debates among candidates/parties and improved media coverage of these; and 3) Improved voter education. This RFA has no geographic limits and priorities, and all applications/proposals will be equally assessed and be awarded for all regions/areas of Georgia based on the merit and the quality of the application. Organizations can apply for more than one area, but in this case they should clearly articulate that they are able to implement and manage multiple projects simultaneously. Primary objectives of the competition are to: ** support qualitative media monitoring of the pre-election period, including public discussion of the media monitoring results. ** support local debates and/or issue based discussions, and improved media monitoring of these debates. During the pre-election period the grantee may conduct a series of candidate debates with a focus on getting candidates or parties to articulate their policy positions. ** improve voter's awareness of election processes, privacy of the vote and importance of civic responsibility, and motivate voters on a non-partisan basis to participate in the elections. Grantees may undertake messaging, marketing and voter education initiatives in the form of print and electronic media messages, as well as through direct contact via workshops and/or town hall meetings or through publication. A special focus will be reaching out to women, young voters, and traditionally underrepresented and disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities. Pre-election activities will be conducted starting from April, 2010 but not extend past June 30, 2010 (submission of final report). Awards will be made not more than $30,000 but are likely to be funded at lower level. Selection criteria: The following criteria will be used in assessing project proposals according to the relevant areas: ** Proven experience in citizen participation, elections, or voter education activities; ** Project's innovation and demonstrated ability of organization to get beyond traditional channels of communication; ** Ability to incorporate new, participatory forms of media to reach a diverse voting population; ** Ability to develop effective methods of media coverage, information dissemination, and constituent mobilization in a limited amount of time; ** A realistic and achievable plan for engaging electoral stakeholders, candidates, constituents, and experts in the field to generate public discussion; ** Degree of compliance with the goals and objectives of the competition; ** Achievable goals and objectives within allocated timeframe, with interim and final results measured through professional monitoring and evaluation mechanisms using standard indicators; ** Organization's capacity to implement the project in a timely and effective manner, and comply with the management requirements of the grant. Decision making: To ensure an objective and non-discriminatory selection process, proposals will be reviewed by a board comprised of independent experts. During the review process, additional information may be requested. The applicant will be asked to present the requested information within five working days of the request. Eligibility: Non-governmental organizations and media outlets legally registered in Georgia are eligible to submit proposals for this competition. Only organizations unaffiliated with any political party are eligible. Only non-partisan projects will be supported. Proposals submitted to the competition must be the original and sole work of the applicant organizations. Duration: The project under this competition must start no earlier than April 1 and finish no later than June 30. All activities, including reporting and project close out should be finished by June 30, 2010. Application submission procedures and deadlines: Applicants must submit: ** Four hard copies of a proposal in Georgian or English, submitted via fax or standard post ** One electronic copy in Georgian or English, submitted via e-mail or CD-Rom ** Hard copy of a 1-page executive summary that must be in English ** Attached CVs of project participants (project director, expert, group members) ** A detailed itemized budget ** A copy of registration certificate ** Two letters of reference ** Any other supporting document that will strengthen the application ** If applicable, applicant should submit additional information about other projects (project summary and budget) on similar topics, submitted or already funded by other donors. ** Applicant commitment to cost sharing by the applicant's organization, or other donor funding will be considered an asset. Due to limited time for submission, bidders are advised to confirm that their applications were received by IFES. All the materials and documents submitted as part of this competition become the property of IFES and will not be returned to the applicant. IFES guarantees the confidentiality of applications. Application form and the budget sample is available for download from:

http://www.media.ge/sites/www.media.ge/files/proposal_budget_form.xls http://www.media.ge/sites/www.media.ge/files/application_form.doc

If a proposal is approved for funding, the applicant should be ready to provide any other required documents at the request of IFES within a one-week period. Applications must be submitted no later than: 6:00 PM, March 4, 2010. Award announcement: March 21, 2010. Contact information: The International Foundation for Electoral Systems is located at 11 Bakradze St., Tbilisi, 0179. Tel: 93-15-00 The contact person for this competition is Lela Ksovreli, Sub-Awards Coordinator, who can be reached at: lela.ksovreli@gmail.com. This is also the e-mail address to which electronic proposals should be submitted. Competition schedule: Competition announcement: February 16, 2009 Deadline for submission of applications: March 4, 1020 6 p.m. Award announcement: March 21, 2010