In November 2018, XOESE, launched its Grants Program for Francophone Women and Young Women’s Organizations. The launch of this Program marks a decisive turning point in the start of our activities.
The preparatory activities for the launch of the Program focused on developing the tools we will use to manage the entire grant process. Based on the grant model of the other Women’s Funds and the many tips we have received from several resource persons, we have developed our Grant Manual including the following appendices:
- Annex 1: Communication Guide
- Annex 2: Introductory Notes or General Guidelines
- Annex 3: Concept Note submission form
- Annex 4: Concept note evaluation form (funding team)
- Annex 5: Full Project Submission Form
- Annex 6: Full project evaluation form (by the funding team), including details on the evaluation and classification criteria of the projects received, as well as the summary sheet;
- Annex 7: Full Project Evaluation Form (by the Grants Committee), including its scoring grid;
- Annex 8: Checklist for in-depth checks
- Annex 9: Progress Report Form
- Annex 10: Completion Report Form
- Annex 11: Acknowledgment of receipt of a transfer form
- Annex 12: Quality Charter for XOESE’s Partners
- Annex 13: Model Grant Agreement.
With these tools and guidelines, we launched our first grant cycle on December 20, 2018 through a restricted call for projects. It took place in two (02) phases. During these two phases, a limited number of women’s and young women’s organizations (32 in total) were targeted. Deadlines for the receipt of applications have been set for 6 January 2019 for the first phase and 28 February 2019 for the second call launched on 19 February 2019.
We used information from the database of women’s and young women’s organizations that we started creating since August 2018 to identify organizations to target for invitations.
The selection criteria for the 32 targeted organizations among the 350 listed were:
- be legally registered;
- define as a women’s organization;
- Work in at least one of XOESE’s six priority areas;
- Be based in one of the 10 countries in which XOESE decided to start operations.
After the end of the first phase, after which we could only grant grants to seven (7) organizations, we decided to launch a second phase and to show a little flexibility as to the criteria. the one concerning the geographical area. The main reason for our decision is to try to start with organizations that are willing and available to submit and execute a project within eight (08) months. In addition, we also decided to review the ad hoc projects we received from some organizations. Two organizations, including one in Madagascar, received invitations to participate while they were not initially targeted.
For these two cycles, we received 17 files and awarded grants to 10 organizations based in 4 French-speaking African countries:
In Burundi:
- Association Des Femmes Rapatriées du Burundi (AFRABU), for the project « Prevention is better than cure » ;
- Collectif des Associations et ONGs féminines du Burundi (CAFOB), for the project « Strengthening women’s participation in the political process at grassroots level » ;
In Burkina Faso:
- Association Song-Taaba des Femmes Unies et Développement (ASFUD), for the « Project of promotion of girl leadership for effective and preventive protection of women’s rights in rural Tanghin-Dassouri » ;
- Groupement Féminin Pag-La-Naam (GFPN), Burkina Faso, for the project : « Training, mobilization of women’s organizations and awareness for social cohesion and socio-economic reconstruction of young women and girls affected by the socio-political conflict in the Northern Region of Burkina Faso » ;
- Action communautaire pour le Bien être de l’Enfant et de la Femme au Burkina (ABEFAB), for the « Project of mobilizing women for their participation and representation in political bodies in Burkina Faso » ;
In Madagascar :
- Association des Femmes Handicapées de Madagascar (AFHAM), for the project « Traveling show against disability-based violence » ;
In Togo:
- Coordination des Organisations Féminines du Togo (COFET), for the project « Strengthening the umbrella organization of women’s organizations in Togo: Sensitization, enrollment and affiliation seminar in the Maritime Region » ;
- Association Femme Plus Togo (AFPT), for the project « Access to economic rights for women living with HIV / AIDS in rural areas » ;
- Réseau des Associations et ONG de Femmes en Action pour le Développement (RAFAD), for the project « Women’s Leadership and Inclusive Local Governance in Kara Commune » ;
- ONG LA COLOMBE, for the project « Promotion of women’s rights in the Prefecture of Vo through the mobilization of “Fiosron” (chiefs’ wives) ».
The average amount of subsidies granted is 1,639,892 FCFA, or 2,500 euros or 3,278 USD.
