The UN Trust Fund will only accept applications from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), with specialized knowledge, expertise, and a track record of working on defending and advocating for women’s rights and elimination of violence against women and girls.   Applications from women’s rights organization, women-led organizations, constituent-led organizations and small organizations will be prioritized. Please refer to Annex 1 - Eligibility Checklist and Mandatory Requirements.

The following are NOT eligible to apply for a grant:

• Organizations proposing interventions in a country not listed in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 
• Assistance Committee’s (OECD DAC) list of official development assistance (ODA) recipients2
• Organizations whose work and mission/vision statement do not focus on nor explicitly mention gender equality and the elimination of violence against women and/or girls
• Organizations that do not have a legal status in the country or territory of implementation, and neither do any of implementing partners 
• Government agencies or institutions
• UN agencies or UN Country Teams
• Private individuals
• Private sector entities
• Current UN Trust Fund grantees (Cycle 24, Cycle 25 and Cycle 26 UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women grantees).
• Current UN Trust Fund grantee co-implementing partners (those who are receiving a portion of funds as part of a UN Trust Fund grant) under a partner agreement until 30 November 2024

Sanction lists: Candidates must not appear on the United Nations Security Council Consolidated List or on the United Nations Global Marketplace vendor ineligibility list and any other donor sanction list that may be available for use, as applicable, as doing so precludes UN Women from entering in to an agreement with such partner.

• Women’s rights organizations (WRO). To be considered a “women’s rights organization”, the applicant must demonstrate its core work is in the field of women’s rights, gender equality, the elimination of violence against women and/or girls, or sexual and gender-based violence. The organization’s official mission and vision statements must reflect its commitment to pursuing gender equality and empowering women and girls.  
• Women-led organizations. To be considered a “women-led organization”, the applicant must demonstrate it is governed and led by women. This requires evidence that a minimum of 61 per cent of leadership positions across various decision-making levels, including in management, senior management and board levels are held by women.  
• Organizations led by and for marginalized women and girls (constituent-led) who represent marginalized groups of women and girls. To be considered a “constituent-led organization” the organization must demonstrate that it is led by members of the group it represents and/or sets priorities driven by its constituents’ lived experiences and based on a strong understanding of their needs. Organizations of people with disabilities, organizations of indigenous women, associations for lesbian, bisexual and trans women (LBT)3, survivors-led organizations, refugee-led and refugee/ internally displaced persons focused organizations, girl-led and girl-centered organizations are particularly encouraged to apply.  
• Small organizations: To be considered a “small organization”, the organization’s annual operational budget must have been lower than US$ 200,000, on average, over the last three years. 

We require supporting documents (constitutions, official mission and vision statement, by-laws, organigrammes, certified financial statements) as part of the application to help determine whether an organization is a women’s rights, a women-led, a constituent-led organization and/or a small organization. 

• International NGOs that have ending violence against women and girls (EVAW/G) experience may apply on the condition that they demonstrate the added value of their organization and explain how they will engage with and strengthen the capacities of local civil society organizations/women’s rights organizations partners on programming and/or coordination in a mutually enabling manner. 

NO 

• Only one office may apply per funding cycle. That office must be legally registered (or present its co-implementing partner’s legal registration) in an eligible country and/or territory of implementation. 
• This is extended to include national affiliates/chapters of INGOs (i.e. only one national affiliate or country office is eligible per funding cycle).  
• Further, an INGO can only apply once under this Call for Proposals, either in the capacity of the lead applicant or of a co-implementing partner, across all countries under this Call. 

YES 

• Organizations may work with relevant co-implementing partners to complement their expertise, outreach capacity and build the capacities of women’s grassroots organizations. 
• The lead applicant can partner with up to four co-implementing partners who can receive a portion of the funding. In these cases, the proposal must clearly indicate which organization will take lead responsibility for project management and contractual obligations. 

• The lead applicant may use co-implementing partners to partially implement the project. Their roles and responsibilities must be clearly described in the proposal and the value-add of each partnership should be evident.  
• However, as per the terms of the contract that will be signed between a successful grantee and the UN Trust Fund, the lead applicant (whose contact details are provided in the proposal) is accountable for the management of the grant in its entirety – for the entrusted funds, programmatic and financial delivery, monitoring, progress reporting, associated risks and results of the overall project. That also means the lead applicant will be responsible and liable for its co-implementing partner’s performance and results delivery. 
• It is the responsibility of each lead applicant to make sure that it/its co-implementing partner(s) understand and comply with the requirements and obligations of their UN Trust Fund grant and that this information is shared with them in a timely and comprehensive manner.  
• The lead applicant must ensure that each co-implementing partner agrees in writing, to be bound by the terms and conditions of the UN Women partner agreement, relevant to the portion of the work or services to be performed by each co-implementing partner.  
• For the reasons stated above, the UN Trust Fund highly recommends that lead applicants sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)/contract with all of their co-implementing partners, setting out specific roles, responsibilities, deliverables and lines of accountability (Internal Control Framework) as relevant to the project and for the duration of the grant. 

NO 

• Organizations that are not legally registered or do not have a legal basis/mandate as an organization are not eligible to apply. 

• The lead applicant must be officially registered or have a legal basis/mandate as an organization. However, if the lead applicant is not legally registered in the country of implementation, it must submit a legal registration document of at least one of its co-implementing partner(s) that is registered in the country of implementation (in addition to its own legal status/registration document). 
• For multi-country applications, applicants also need to provide the legal registration documents of co-implementing partners in the countries of operation. 
• Applications without clear proof of legal status will be considered incomplete and removed from the review process. Note that articles of incorporation are not proof of legal status. 
• Applicants need to have been legally registered for at least 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, three (3) years of history registration may be accepted and it must be fully justified.  

NO 

• An organization cannot submit more than one application either in the capacity of the applicant organization or of a co-implementing partner, across all countries under this Call. 
• International NGOs may submit only one application across their country offices and chapters.  

• A UN Trust Fund grantee whose grant has been programmatically closed before 10 Decemeber 2023 can re-apply for a grant.
• A co-implementing partner of a UN Trust Fund grantee can apply if the partnership agreement between the UN Trust Fund and the lead organization has ended.
• If the new proposal builds on the past work funded by the UN Trust Fund, the organization is encouraged to showcase how the proposed project intends to accelerate successes achieved, responds to lessons learnt and take efforts forward to end violence against women and girls.

However, you are ineligible to apply if you fall under the following categories:

• You are a current UN Trust Fund grantee
• You are the co-implementing partner (receiving a portion of funds as part of a UN Trust Fund grant) of a current UN Trust Fund grantee.

YES 

• Eligible organizations are encouraged to submit their proposals to additional funding sources, as the UN Trust Fund Call for Proposals process is extremely competitive and the UN Trust Fund receives many more proposals than it is able to fund. In the case of two or more funding sources approving the same proposal, organizations would be expected to communicate in the narrative section of the proposal:
  • Whether funding from the UN Trust Fund and additional sources covers the entire cost of the proposed project; 
  • Whether there is still a funding gap, and the organization’s proposed strategies to bridge that gap.