Civil Society Fund offers grants for initiatives aimed at enhancing development outcomes

The Moldovan NGOs are invited to take part in the Civil Society Fund Grants Competition 2009 "Civic Engagement of Youth". The deadline for submissions is March 6, 2009. The program’s budget for 2009 is 40,000 USD. The grants vary between 2,000 and 6,000 USD, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from the World Bank Office in Moldova, the Civil Society Fund (CSF) seeds and supports activities that empower and enable citizens to take initiatives to enhance and influence development outcomes. The contest is open to organizations that have worked legally for at least one year and have experience and financial integrity. “The central or national NGOs are eligible only if they have a field partner NGO with which to implement activities in rural areas. The proposals submitted by commercial organizations, economic entities or lucrative organizations, public of state institutions, parties and political movements will not be financed. The NGOs that received CSF funding during the last 2 years are not eligible,” the communiqué says. A copy of the application form and the guidelines for the civil society organizations interested to apply could be accessed on the website of the World Bank Office. Applicants are requested to submit grant proposals in the Romanian language and accompanying required information to the World Bank Office in Chisinau. The NGOs in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia and in Taraclia district are encouraged to file the proposals in Romanian. Proposals in Russian will be accepted in separate cases. The CSF finances up to 50% of the budged proposed for the project. The Civil Society Fund earlier known as the Small Grants Program was launched worldwide by the World Bank in 1983. In 1998, the program was decentralized so that a series of World Bank Offices in client countries administer the CSF autonomously. Among these is the Office in Moldova, which has been implementing the program for 12 years in a row (1998-2009). The total amount allocated to Moldova during this period was about approximately 440,000 USD. The beneficiaries were 50 national NGOs and 55 local.