REQUEST FOR APPLICATION(RFA)

RFA: TAF-WVL-DEC-2019-007
The Asia Foundation Afghanistan

The Grant Application Form for Fast Responsive Funding

WOMEN’S VOICE AND LEADERSHIP PROJECT- AFGHANISTAN

Submitted to:
The Asia Foundation, Afghanistan

Submitted by:

Youth Intellectual Tribune Association (YITA)

GRANT APPLICATION FORM FOR FAST RESPONSIVE FUNDING

Women's Voice and Leadership-Afghanistan

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 SECTION I. Introduction to Women’s Voice and Leadership Project

The Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) project is a five-year (March 2019 - March 2024)
initiative to strengthen women’s voice and leadership in Afghanistan. WVL seeks to support the
capacity and activities of Afghan women’s organizations and movements seeking to empower
women and girls, advance the protection of women’s and girls’ rights and achieve gender
equality. Through increased funding to local and regional women’s rights organizations and
movements, the WVL project assists local Afghan organizations and movements in their efforts
to eliminate discrimination and rights violations in policy and legislation (including
implementation) and the provision of services, as well as harmful social beliefs and practices.

The goal of the WVL project is to contribute to strengthening women’s empowerment and
movement in Afghanistan. Furthermore, through WVL, the Foundation aims to achieve the
following three outcomes:
1. Improved management and sustainability of local women’s rights organizations.
2. Enhanced performance of women’ rights organization’s programming and
advocacy to advance gender equality and empower women and girls.
3. Increased effectiveness of national and sub-national women’s rights platforms,
networks and alliances to affect policy, legal and social change in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, the WVL project is characterized by the following four types of support to
Afghan women’s rights organizations: (1) Multi-year funding; (2) Fast, responsive funding for
discrete activities and short projects to allow for flexible, timely and strategic responses to
identified needs, and to pilot innovative ideas; (3) Institutional capacity-building support; and (4)
Network and alliance building for movement building to amplify the voices of local women’s
rights organizations and to foster an enabling environment in which broader collective action can
coalesce.

 The Foundation will provide multi-year funding to Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs)
to ensure that they have the financial security to implement longer-term projects that will
increase the opportunities for sustained women’s empowerment. This will allow the WROs
to implement and focus on project outcomes instead of fundraising.
 The Foundation will further build the capacity of WROs in areas that they have identified as
necessary to build capacity and increase their sustainability. Project interventions will be
designed based on WROs’ own understanding and analysis of their needs, the needs of their
constituents, and what needs to take place to lead to greater women’s empowerment and
gender equality.

SECTION II: Introduction to Fast Responsive Fund

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The Foundation will provide Fast-Responsive funding to women rights organizations (WROs),
networks, alliances, groups and individual(s) for short projects and events, to pilot innovative
solutions promoting women’s empowerment at the community, district, provincial or national
level or in response to immediate advocacy needs or action requiring timely and strategic
responses to unforeseen events. WROs, women’s networks, groups, alliances and individuals are
eligible for this fund throughout Afghanistan. Recipients of this fund do not necessarily need to
be registered with the Government of Afghanistan nor do they need to provide financial audits of
previous funding for programming.

Eligibility Criteria
Fast responsive funding will be awarded to WROs, women networks, alliances, groups and
individuals which may not be presently registered with the Government of Afghanistan to pilot
innovative solutions to gender equality, women’s empowerment or women’s rights or short-term
advocacy campaigns in response to an immediate advocacy requirement. The following
eligibility criteria will apply:
 Having a primary focus on advancing gender equality, women’s empowerment and
human rights, reflected in past activities;
 Be governed, directed and led by women i-e women serving in senior leadership roles;
 Conducting programming/activities/advocacy representing the interests of vulnerable and
marginalized women and girls, reflecting the country’s regional and ethnic diversity.

Selection Criteria
The fast responsive funding will support interventions of direct and immediate relevance to
gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights and contribute towards addressing
critical gender gaps or violation of women’s rights.

The Foundation will additionally seek to fund:

 Applications that include a gender equality component (e.g., including men and boys in
programming); and proven ability to design unique projects to enhance women’s rights
and empowerment in Afghanistan.
 Applications containing advancement of women’s cultural or social status in such areas
as art, sport, technology as gender enablers for vulnerable and marginalized groups.
 Applications which support initiatives for women’s voice and leadership beyond Kabul,
covering provinces with feasible environments for the implementation of this project.
 Applications addressing women’s empowerment issues and gender gaps in rural areas.
 Applications benefiting a wide-ranging reach of beneficiaries, including men, women,
girls, boys, persons with disabilities.

Preliminary Considerations

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  Requests for fast responsive funding are considered when applicants can show that an
intervention by the Foundation will help in piloting innovative solutions to gender
equality, women’s empowerment or women’s rights or short-term advocacy campaigns in
response to an immediate advocacy requirement.
 The amount of funding requested may not exceed USD 14,000.
 The Foundation reserves the right to ask for any other explanation/documentation to the
candidates if needed and to decide on whether it will provide full or partial support.

SECTION III: Background Information about the Applicant

Designation of the applicant Seemagul Zaland (Co-founder and CEO)

Name of the organization/network/alliance Youth Intellectual Tribune Association

(YITA)
Contact details Phone: +93 74 749 2863, +93 79 893
4832
Email: intellectual.tribune@gmail.com

SECTION IV: Grant Application Form

1. Title of the project/initiative:

Empowering Local Women and Girls in Nengarhar Province
2. Time duration of the project/initiative:
1 Months
3. State the goal of the project/initiative (in not more than 50 words):
Tips: Project/initiative goal: Please explain what the proposed project/initiative will do to
achieve its stated outcomes.

The main purpose of the project is to raise awareness and empower rural girls and women to speak
up for ending violence and discrimination against women and girls in their communities and bring
conversation about the significance of ending all kinds of violence against girls and women using
education, trainings and innovative methods and tools in two districts of Nengarhar (Behsoud and
Kama) Province, with a special focus on the rural and hard to reach areas of the districts.

4. State the project/initiative context and rationale: (not more than 200 words):
Tips: Describe in detail the women rights/gender equality/women’s empowerment related
problem/issue/s that your project/initiative intends to address, including why it is important to
address them and how these problems/issues were identified.
Years of war and insecurity have deepened the culture of violence against women and girls in
Afghanistan. Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most prevalent and destructive problems that

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 women and girls face in Afghanistan, constraining their full participation in social, economic, and
political life. Domestic violence has increased through the pandemic and the level of violence against
Women and girls in rural areas are even higher. Thus, this project addresses these problems and
challenges.

The main purpose of the project is to raise awareness and empower rural girls and women to speak
up for ending violence and discrimination against women and girls in their communities and bring
conversation about the significance of ending all kinds of violence against girls and women using
education, trainings and innovative methods.

To this purpose, we are aiming to launch local-level information and communications-campaigns to

disseminate key-messages on ending violence against women and girls, public- messaging regarding
the importance of gender-equality and prevention of violence, and distribution of brochures and
leaflets with key messages related to ending violence against women and girls as well as gender
equality printed on them.
Furthermore, Part of the project, we will launch events and workshops for women and girls to
promote active participation and discussions on gender equality. The events will be launched in local
schools to involve all segments of local community. Furthermore, multimedia campaigns using social
media platforms will also be launched on social media and local radio programs.

5. State the expected results of this project/initiative:

The main target group of this project are women and girls; thus, the impacted group will be girls and
women on those two districts. The initiative will have the following expected results.
 Women / girls will be inspired
 Voices of women and girls will be raised
 Violence against women will be decreased on the targeted communities
 A network of women entrepreneur will be built
 Increased local awareness on women’s rights and gender equality
 A new thought will be established and women can take part in community-level actions
 Reduced domestic violence and gender-based violence
 Contribution to goal 3 of Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations

6. Explain how the proposed project/initiative aligns with the WVL-Afghanistan project: (not
more than 200 words)

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 Since the Woman’s’ Voice and Leadership (WVL) project goal is to strengthen women’s voice
and leadership in Afghanistan, our projects seek to support women and girls in hard-to-reach
and rural areas and empower them.
Afghanistan offers the biggest challenges in terms of women’s rights and gender equality,
particularly during this time of pandemic. Women and girls in rural areas have even lower
access to advocacy. Disrupted livelihoods and reduced income, coupled with chronic
underlying poverty, further challenge their capacity to take part in the community activities.
Thus, the crisis has had an impact on women’s health and safety.
As health resources are diverted to address the pandemic, women also face additional
challenges to accessing sexual and reproductive health services, especially in the rural areas.
Therefore, the proposed project aligns with the WVL-Afghanistan in many ways. The initiative
supports women and girls in rural areas and helps them to raise their voices and improve
their leadership. The project also supports them in many ways including involves them in the
civil rights processes, human rights trainings and workshops. The project has a vital and
important role in women empowerment in community-level.

7. Number and nature of the Project target group/s (Direct and Indirect):

Direct beneficiaries Women 250 Girls 500

Indirect beneficiaries Male 500 Boys 500

8. Geographic Coverage of the intended project/initiative:

Province District Village

Nangarhar Province Behsoud, Kama Behsoud (5), Kama (5)

9. List the key planned activities:

Considering that we have already implemented GBV and gender equality projects in rural areas of the
country, this concept is actually applicable. The initiative has several activities that should be
implemented in partnership with local community leaders, Chieftains and local Mullahs. The activities
of the initiative are:
The initiative has several activities that should be implemented in partnership with local community
leaders, tribal chiefs and local Mullahs. The activities of the initiative are:
1. Information and communication campaign for dissemination of key messages on women’s’
rights, gender equality and women’s’ role in their communities

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 2. Distribution of leaflets with messages on ending violence against girls and women in rural
areas. We are planning to cover 2 different rural districts in Nengarhar province with specific
focus on 10 villages of the districts.
3. Preparing and printing campaign materials (banners and brushers) in two national languages
(Pashtu & Dari)
4. Coordination with local civil society organizations and activists as well as local tribal leaders
and Mullahs
5. Conducting workshop for the targeted women and girls in the district and identifying inspired
women leaders
6. Raising their voices through local radios and TVs, and
The trainings and workshops will promote their active participation and discussions on gender
equality and violence against women and girls, the events will be launched in local schools to involve
all segments of local community. Furthermore, multimedia campaigns using social media platforms
will also be launched on social media and local radio programs.

10. Implementation Methodology (not more than 150 words):

Tips: Describe how you plan to implement/execute your project/initiative.

For executing of the project, we will coordinate with local-community leaders. We will involve women
and girl by working with community leaders, traditional and religious leaders, and tribal chiefs to
promote women’s rights awareness and gender equality.
There are several planned steps for the implementation of the project which will be completed with
the following methodology:
 The first step towards our purpose is to conduct local-level information and communications
campaign.
 The team will design and develop campaign materials (banners and brushers) in two local
languages (Dari and Pashtu) and distribute to 1000 women and girls in the villages.
 The team will coordinate will local civil society organizations and activist, local tribal leaders
and chieftains to include them in the process because they are the most influential factors in
the local communities
 The team will partner and work with local community leaders, tribal chieftains and local
Mullahs in the areas.
 Conducting trainings and workshops on women’s rights, gender equality, women’s role in the
communities, and ending violence against women and girls. The trainings will be delivered to
them

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  Raising the status of inspired women and women leaders
 Coordination with local radio stations and delivering local radio programs
Partnership has a significant role in implementing this very initiative. We will partner with local
community leaders, traditional and religious leaders and tribal chiefs because they are most
influential people in rural areas. Therefore, they have an important role in dissemination of
information and messages for prevention of Covit19 and maternal health messages to women and
girls.

11. Explain how your project/initiative will advance gender equality and empower women and
girls (not more than 150 words):

The initiative supports women and girls in rural areas and helps them to raise their voices and
improve their leadership. The project also supports them in many ways including involves them in the
civil rights processes, human rights trainings and workshops. The project has a vital and important
role in women empowerment in community-level.

The project will advance gender equality by reducing domestic violence and gender-based violence
and it thus contributes to goal 3 of Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

The main beneficiary of the initiative are women and girls in those rural districts, because they are the
most deprived and marginalized groups in rural areas. We will disseminate the messages through
these people to women and girls of the communities. Apart from that, we will contact gender equality
and gender-based violence training and workshops in various sessions for those women and girls to
empower them.

12. Explain how the intended project/initiative will build the capacity of your organization or any
other women’s organization or women’s network/s? (not more than 150 words):

For a women-led organization like ours, this very project and partnership with Asia Foundation will be
a great experience, because it provides the opportunity to our team to get involved more with
villagers and help them, particularly girls and women in those rural areas which are the most deprived
part of our communities. Thus, it adds more knowledge and value to our organization and to our
employees. Furthermore, it improves management and sustainability of our organization and
increases the effectiveness and efficiency of our organization in working in the areas of gender
equality and women’s rights.
Tapping local community traditional leaders will work fine to fight myths and violence against women
and girls. In rural areas, public announcements and group trainings, meeting traditional leaders, tribal
chiefs, and approaching family heads help to reach women and girls and shift behaviors.

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13. Include a description of the potential risks and mitigation strategies in completing the project:

Risks Mitigation Plan

Low participation rate In order to mitigate this very risk, we will involve
girls and women in the process by working and
coordinating with local civil activists, tribal
leaders, chieftains, and local Mullahs in villages.
Time Constraint: Considering that the allocated We will Start the plan as early as possible in
timeline doesn’t match the real time because of accordance with the comprehensive plan. In
the workload. This could have a serious impact. addition to that, extra time allocations will be
included in the project.

14. A description of how the you plan to cover project/initiative costs / secure the continuation of
the project’s activities after the end of the requested grant:

The aim of this pilot process is to bring about the conservation about women’s’ rights and gender
equality in local villages on Nengarhar province to raise the status of women and girls in local
communities.
This is a long-term approach for knowledge sharing and prevention of violence against women at the
community level. Training women and girl in local-level makes them agents of change in their
community.
All the activities of the project are set up according to the proposed budget. In the next step of the
program, which is finding women entrepreneurs and helping them to sustain their local businesses, we
will surely need the partnership of Asia Foundation as a separate project.

15. Have you submitted funding requests to other possible donors for this project/initiative, and
if so, please provide a list of donors and amount requested:

N/A

16. References: Please provide at least two references/partners to be contacted to support or

endorse your application and request for funding:

TilBal Contultancy
Abdullah Frotan, +93 70 616 8594, abdullah.frotan@auaf.edu.af
Ahmadyar Tower, Kabul, AF

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 Afghan Youth Thinkers (AYT)
Tamim Isazadah, +93 79 893 4832, Tamim.isazadah@city.ac.uk
House No #46, 1st Street, Wazir Akbar Khan

17. Please provide an estimated total budget, with breakdown of main activities, for the intended
project/initiative:

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For the implementation of this very initiative various resources are needed. For information
dissemination and delivering key messages on ending violence against women and girls we need to
print some key message in two languages, thus we need print services as well as human capital (two
or three is enough). A huge percentage of money will be spent on dissemination of key messages on
ending violence against women and girls and fostering awareness of prevention of violence against
women and girls. In addition to that, a part of the money will be spent for launching workshops and
trainings for them to make them aware of their civil rights and the importance of gender equality and
prevention of violence against women and girls. Furthermore, a part of the money will be spend for
partnership with local radio stations to raise the awareness about the program and women’s’ rights.
We will do partnership with the local community leaders and religious leaders in those rural areas.
The following table outlines the cost estimation of each phase as well as the overall cost of the
project:
Phases Description of Work Estimated Cost
Phase One 1. Preparing and printing Campaign $5,000 USD
materials in two languages (Pashtu and
Dari)
2. Purchasing materials for the trainings
and workshops

Phase Two 3. Coordinating with civil society activists, $4,000 USD

local tribal leaders, chieftains and
Conducting workshops in the targeted
local villages

Phase Three 4. Dissemination of information and $15,00 USD

messages, distributing of brochures
and printed materials

Phase Four 5. Coordination with local radio stations $15,00 USD

and raising the status of women and
women leaders

Marginal 6. Extra cost incurred during the project $2,500 USD

execution and project management
Total $ 13,500 USD

Total Required Financial Budget

Project period Two Months

Project Budget $10,500 USD

SECTION V: Selection Process

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The following process will be conducted by the Foundation to review, evaluate, and shortlist
applications for fast responsive funding:

 Call for fast responsive funding is open throughout the life of the WVL project.
 Applications in English, Dari and Pashto are accepted.
 Applications submitted by applicants for fast responsive fund will be assessed by the
Foundation’s WVL project team against the published Fast Responsive selection criteria
described above to evaluate the fast responsive funding proposals.
 Based on the application and proposed budget submitted by the applicant, the Foundation
will determine the type of funding assistance, i.e. fixed price, deliverable-based, and/or
cost reimbursement grants to be issued to selected applicants.
 Before releasing any funds to selected sub-recipients, the Foundation will enter into a
comprehensive grant agreement, which will incorporate complete details of the scope of
work, detailed activities plan and a comprehensive budget under the agreement. The
arrangements will also include the details of funds flow, e.g., the number of instalments
and the due date for payment of each instalment.
 The WVL project team will notify and thank all applicants whose applications are not
selected for funding.

Please submit your proposal to the following address or via email:

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their applications for the above-mentioned Grant
in soft copy (PDF) via Email to the below mentioned email Id.
Email: AWEF.WVL@asiafoundation.org
Afghan Women’s Empowerment Fund (AWEF)

In case you are not able to send via email you are welcome to submit your applications in printed
hard copy to the address mentioned below.

ADDRESS:
THE PROCUREMENT UNIT
The Asia Foundation
House # 861, Street # 1
Shirpour, District-10, (Sub Street of Shirpour Project)
Kabul, Afghanistan.

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