Afghanistan NGO/CSO Capacity Support Project

closed

The proposed Project Development Objective is to enhance the capacities of registered national and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and select civil society organizations (CSOs) to improve their performance and effectiveness. The desired outcome is to build the capacities of select NGOs and CSOs, ultimately contributing to sustain the provision of basic services and to provide life-saving support to the most vulnerable populations, in the short to medium term.The project aims to target NGOs and CSOs that improve basic service delivery and promote socio-economic empowerment of women and girls. Special focus will be placed on women-led NGOs and CSOs, as well as those which programs and activities focus on the socio-economic empowerment of the most vulnerable populations (girls and women; youth; persons with disabilities; etc.). Although non-governmental community platforms are well established (e.g., Community Development Councils, CDCs) and unregistered shuras (community-based councils) and jirgas (tribal assemblies of elders) are also active and are key civil society actors in Afghanistan, these community structures would not fall within the scope of the proposed project. The project consists of 4 components which all are relevant to ESF. Component 1 (mapping and capacity strengthening of select NGOs and CSOs) will enhance knowledge of the current civil society landscape, including capacity gaps of the NGO and CSO sectors and strengthen capacity of select NGOs/CSOs to implement local service delivery & community mobilization- it will also support on-the-job-training; Component 2 (operational support grants to select NGOs/CSOs) will extend operational ability of targeted national and local NGOs/CSOs to implement on the ground; Component 3 (Development and coordination of NGO platform) the project will support improving coordination structure and increased service delivery effectiveness of the NGO sector [via networking; peer-to-peer learning; technical support]; and Component 4 (Project Management) reinforce project implementation capacity.The selection criteria are based on two sets of (i) eligibility criteria and (ii) priority criteria and will entail human resource capacity to design, deliver and monitor services: Eligibility criteria: (i)registered national and local NGOs and CSOs; (ii) active operations for past 24 months; (iii) presence in geographically targeted locations. Priority criteria: NGOs with track record in health-, education-, agriculture-, livelihoods-related arenas; CSOs led by women and/or working on women socio-economic empowerment and/or vulnerable groups (including youth and people with disabilities).