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Call for Concept Notes

To Advance Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Serbia

UNIFEM will through small grants initiatives, support efforts aimed to strengthen the monitoring role of civil society and contribute to a stronger collaboration between the government and civil society to protect the labour rights of women and ensure their equal access to employment

In 2010 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), launched the project “Advancing Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Serbia and Montenegro”, funded for the period 2010-2012 by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Guided by global frameworks and commitments, in particular, CEDAW, the Beijing platform for Action, the MDG agenda, as well as by national frameworks, the project’s overall objective isto mainstream gender in policy development, service delivery and budgetary processes to advance women’s economic and social rights in Serbia by strengthening the capacities of duty-bearers and rights-holders to implement and monitor relevant national and international commitments.

Advancing towards this goal, the project will focus on achieving the following three outcomes:

Relevant laws and bylaws, and national, provincial and local policies and budgets related to economic security and rights, especially employment, are passed or amended to be more in line with international and national commitments to gender equality and women's human rights.

Key policy institutions, service delivery institutions and complaint mechanisms in Serbia and in Montenegro have increased capacities and improved procedures and incentives to implement existing laws and policies that promote and protect women's economic security and rights, especially with regards to employment.

Gender Equality Mechanisms (GEMs), gender equality experts, advocates and their organizations and networks in Serbia and Montenegro enhance their capacity and influence to ensure that there are strong gender equality dimensions in laws and national, provincial and local policies, strategies and budgets that are relevant to women's economic security and rights.

The project aims to strengthen the capacities of key labour market institutions, employment services and complaint mechanisms (labour inspectorates, judges, the ombudsman’s office) in Serbia to mainstream gender in their policies, operations and budgets. It will also strengthen the capacities of gender equality mechanisms (GEMs) on all administrative levels (national, provincial and local levels) to advocate and to integrate gender equality into laws, strategies, policies and budgets.

The project aims to support provide CSOs to monitor the implementation of laws, strategies and action plans on all administrative levels, focusing specifically on commitments to women and gender equality in employment and the labour market.

I Background

Serbia has broad legal and policy framework that has been put in place for women’s rights and gender equality. Labour legislation is incrementally being approximated to the EU acquis, there are still pieces of important legislation remaining to be finalized or amended. There are institutional mechanisms for gender equality on the national level in Serbia. There is the Gender Equality Directorate within the Ministry for Labour and Social Policy, on the executive level, a special Deputy Ombudsman for Gender Equality (since 2008) and on the legislative level there is a Parliamentary Committee for Gender Equality. There are comparable structures within the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and on the local level there are over 40 gender focal points or similar mechanisms within municipalities.

The structure of complaint mechanisms that are in place in Serbia are: there are labour inspectorates, the Ombudsman’s office and the judiciary. The inspectorates and the judiciary are very rarely used by women to complain against discrimination in the work place while the Ombudsman’s office seems to be a more trusted institution.

Despite the fact that Serbia has in past years made noticeable economic progress, many challenges related to sustainable growth, employment, economic security and advancement of gender equality remain and have been aggravated by the recent global economic crisis. Women’s economic security might aggravate in coming years generally. It is reasonable to assume that if jobs became scarce, the prevailing gender stereotypes might cause women to be fired first, as they are generally not perceived as primary bread winners.

Already prior to the crisis, the CEDAW Committee members in their comments on Serbia were “concerned about systemic indirect discrimination against women in employment, which is pervasive in the public and private sectors and the informal sector, and is characterized by: horizontal and vertical job segregation, with women predominating in lower paid jobs in the public sector, a significant pay gap; higher unemployment rates for women, including older women, refugees, first time job seekers and minority women…” (para. 26).

II Scope of Proposal - Tasks and Responsibilities:

In line withOutcome 3.2 of the UNIFEM Project:Advancing Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Serbia and Montenegro

Gender equality advocates, experts and their organizations and networks have strengthened their capacities to advocate for gender-responsive laws, policies, strategies and budgets to advance women's economic security and rights at national, provincial and local levels

and Indicative Activity 3.2.1.of the UNIFEM Project: Advancing Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Serbia and Montenegro

To support through small grants CSO initiatives that strengthen the monitoring role of civil society and contribute to a stronger collaboration between the government and civil society to protect the labour rights of women and ensure their equal access to employment.

UNIFEM invites applicants to submit concept notes that focus on creative and comprehensive implementation of the project priority areas. Specifically, the proposals should focus on one, two or all of the following priority areas:

  1. Enhancing monitoring role of civil society in the area of women’s labour rights;
  1. Strengthening collaboration between the government and civil society to protect women’slabour rights;
  1. Increasing awarenessabout women’s labour rights and the principle ofequal access to employment.

All well-devised, innovative and realistic plans that strengthen implementation of existing commitments and that identify a strategic entry point for action will be considered.

III Application Process

  1. Application process

This Call for Concept Notesinvites eligible organizations or groups of organizations to submit Concept Notes in the abovethree priority areas.Following the initial selection of proposal(s), applicants will be expected to work closely and intensively with UNIFEM to shape the proposal further. UNIFEM also carries out an assessment of the organizational capacities of its implementing partners, thus the selected organization will be expected to provide detailed information on its internal organization, administration and finance procedures.

Phases of the selection process are following:

-Call for Concept Notes launched;

-UNIFEM Selection Panelshort-lists Concept Notes;

-Selected organizations (group of organizations) are invited to an explanatory session,

-Organizationsare given a certain period of time to develop theirConcept Notes into full fledge project proposals with UNIFEM support.

-UNIFEM evaluatesthe project proposals,

-Organizations are notified on the selection process,

-Organization assessment is performed by UNIFEM,

-Selected organizations are invited to sign acontract with UNIFEM.

  1. Where to submit concept notes:

Concept Notes should be submitted to e-mail: ,

Subject Line: Name of the Applicant Organisation_UNIFEM 2010 Call for Concept Notes

  1. Who can apply – Eligibility Criteria:

Proposals can be submitted by a single organization or jointly by two or more organizations with a legal status as non-governmental organizationsorassociations.

Priority will be given to proposals that involve collaboration between different stakeholder groups, including with government entities.

In cases where two or more organisations submit a proposal, clearly state which organisation represents the applicants and takes legal responsibility for administering and implementing the project.

Organizations with a current and open contract with UNIFEM may not serve as the lead agency.
UNIFEM will also not consider requests that are:

  • submitted by individuals or by organizations without a legal status,
  • submitted after the deadline for submission.
  1. Criteria that will be used for the selection ofConcept Notes for funding:

-Quality of the proposal, ensuring that there is a strong link between the issues to be addressed and the planned activities and results anticipated,

-Realistic and achievable results,

-Institutional capacity to implement the project,

-Strategic partnerships necessary for project success secured,

-Addresses key gender issue(s),

-Takes advantage of existing opportunities,

-Clearly defined focus,

-Justifiable budget

e. Submission deadline: 16th of April 2010.

  1. Duration of the project should be not longer than 6 months. All activities should be completed in the 6 months period and no later than 31st of December 2010.
  1. Project Value: the proposed project budget funded by UNIFEM should not exceed 560,000 RSD (Five Hundred Sixty Thousand Serbian Dinars)
  1. Language: Concept notes should be written in English

.

TEMPLATE FOR DEVELOPING CONCEPT NOTES FOR PROJECTS SUBMITTED TO UNIFEM BY NON-GOVERNEMNTAL PARTNERS

  1. 1. General information on the organization

Name of the organization:
Information on legal status:
Address:
Telephone number(s):
Fax number(s):
E-mail address if available:
Web siteif available:
Name and contact info of the responsible person:

2. General Project Data

Title of the project
Project reference number: (to be filled by UNIFEM)
Project period:
Amount requested from UNIFEM:

3. JustificationIssue/Problem to be addressed

(up to 1 1/5 pages)

What is the key opportunity or issue that the programme wishes to address? Why the project should be implemented?(up to 2 paragraphs)

What data or evidence supports the opportunity or the relevance of the issue you wish to address? What are relevant public policies related to this initiative? (up to 2 paragraphs)

Opportunity/advantage provided by the role of the organization to implement the project. Please provide a brief overview (up to 2 paragraphs)

What other major projects addressing the same issue are already being undertaken by other agencies/organizations (government or non-government) or by your organization, and what kinds of relationships, if any, do you have with each of them? (up to 2 paragraphs)

4. Results to be achieved

Indicate the long-term result that the project aims to achieve and the concrete short-term results that you expect to accomplished within the duration of the project. Make these statements measurable and concrete.

4a. Outcome/Long-term Result

Please describe in 1 paragraph to what long-term goal your project is intended to contribute?

4b. Output/Short term Results and Activities

Please describe each short term result which will contribute to the long term result specified above. Please also list key activities that would be undertaken under each short-term result.

Output/Short term result 1: (describe)

Activity 1.1 – short description, timeframe & responsibility

Activity 1.2 – short description, timeframe & responsibility

.

.

Output/Short term result 2: (describe)

Activity 2.1 – short description, timeframe & responsibility

Activity 2.2 – short description, timeframe & responsibility

And so on…..

4c. Work Plan - Activities

List the key project activities, and a timeframe for undertaking them, using the example of a timeline provided below

Activity / TimeFRAME / May / June / July / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec
Activity 1.1 Gender Equality Traning / May – Dec 2006 / X / X / X / X / X / X / X / X
Preparation of trainings / May-06 / X
Training 1 & 2 / Jun-06 / X
Training 3 / Jul-06 / X
. / .
. / .
. / .
. / .
Report Prepar. / Dec-06 / X
Activity 1.2
.
.

5. Partnerships

Who will be your main partners on this project? Governmental entities, non-governmental organizations or any other partner you plan to work with should express their willingness to support project activities, prior to project approval.Elaborate what would be their roles in the project (partner, recipient of support, partner that performs activities that are interlinked with project activities etc.)?(up to 1 paragraph total).

6. Project Budget

Amount of funding requested:

Here, please state the total project budget, and other sources already secured or potentially available (for example, commitments of other donors, local government funding, etc)

Please attach a separate MS Excel file with the indicative budget, following a template provided by UNIFEM – see below (form can be easily pasted into MS Excel)

Expenditure / # of units / Average unit rate (RSD) / Estimated budget (RSD)
A. ACTIVITIES
A.1 / Activity 1
Subtotal Activity 1 / 0.00
A.2 / Activity 2
Subtotal Activity 2 / 0.00
A.3 / Activity 3
Subtotal Activity 3 / 0.00
Total Activities / 0.00
B. PROJECT COORDINATION AND OVERHEAD/ ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
B.1 / Project Coordination / if applicable
Total Project coordination / 0.00
B.2 / Overhead/ administrative costs
Total Overhead/ administrative costs / 0.00
TOTAL PROJECT COSTS / 0.00