Deadline: 15 November 2019

Are you a national or local civil society organisation based in the Global South and working in fragile contexts, where extractive industries have an impact on Security and Human Rights?

Are you striving to promote human rights, while acknowledging that security is a fundamental need, shared by individuals, communities, businesses and governments alike?

Are you specialized or experienced in working with gender and/or human rights defenders and/or media in support of social and economic development?

Are you ready to promote constructive dialogue and engage with actors coming from the private and the public sector to promote human rights compliant security practices around extractive operations? If yes, then apply for the Security and Human Rights Grant!

The Security and Human Rights Implementation Mechanism (SHRIM) has announced the second edition of its Security and Human Rights Grant, in acknowledgement of the important role that local organisations play in the dialogue on business and security sector reform and governance, as well as in the implementation of security and human rights in their country.

The SHRIM is a multi-donor trust fund set up by Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) in 2016, to promote the on-the-ground implementation of better security and human rights good practices, in a cost-effective way that minimizes bureaucracy and fosters local ownership. Since 2016 six projects have been implemented, which have made a positive impact in over 23 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

An important objective of the SHRIM is to foster greater public-private cooperation; the SHRIM promotes partnerships with local, regional and international stakeholders. This objective is shared by other actors in the security and human rights field, including the Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI) and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC). Whilst the SHRIM is not formally linked to these initiatives, where objectives overlap, projects that contribute to the implementation of these multi-stakeholder initiatives are supported. The SHRIM also aims to promote wider work on the role of business in complex environments, including by building bridges between business and human rights, security sector reform as well as the wider security and development communities of practice.

The SHRIM is strongly committed to promoting local ownership and capacity building and therefore prioritises partnerships that reinforce local actors and processes in contexts of fragility. The participation of local organisations is crucial to the sustainability of initiatives promoting dialogue as well as security and human rights implementation. These actors often lack resources and access to funding, which undermine their participation in such processes.

To support local organisations promoting security and human rights good practices on the ground, the SHRIM supports local CSOs through the Security and Human Rights Grant.

Focus Areas

For this year, the proposals awarded by the Security and Human Rights Grant must focus on at least one of the following focus areas:

• Gender, Security and Human Rights; and/or
  • The Security and Human Rights Grant seeks to support projects that analyse and address different security needs and risks of women, men, boys and girls, as well as other marginalized groups, to ultimately promote sustainable and good security and human rights practices.
• Human Rights Defenders and Security; and/or
  • The Security and Human Rights Grant acknowledges that their participation is key to a sustainable dialogue on security and human rights. It seeks to support projects that build Human Rights Defenders capacities or resources and reinforce their networks to enhance participation in decisionmaking processes and ultimately strengthen the implementation of good security and human rights practices on the ground
• Media as a tool to promote dialogue towards better security and human rights implementation.

Funding Information

• A total of CHF 60’000 will be allocated for innovative projects that reinforce human rights, while establishing dialogue with public and private stakeholders.
• A maximum of CHF 30’000 will be allocated per project.

Eligibility Criteria

This call for proposals seeks to support national and local civil society organisations based in the Global South. Applications from International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO) will be considered only in partnership with national and local civil society organisations, with a strong capacity building component. Applications from commercial entities, or individuals will not be considered.

Kind of Projects

The SHRIM supports projects that focus on strengthening security and human rights good practices in fragile contexts. Projects should focus in contexts where security practices of extractive operations have a potential impact on human rights. Moreover, projects should focus on a thematic area related to at least one of the following topics:

• Gender, Security and Human Rights; and/or
• Human Rights Defenders and Security; and/or
• Media as a tool to promote dialogue toward better security and human rights implementation

Cross-sectional projects are also strongly encouraged, but do not necessarily have greater chance to be selected (proposals will be assessed based on criteria). For this call for proposals, the projects proposed should be linked to operations of private security providers and/or the extractive industry. With the Security and Human Rights Grant, the SHRIM aims at strengthening local organisations in line with the following SHRIM priorities:

• Support the participation of local communities in the dialogue on security and human rights at the regional and national level through awareness raising, media campaign or other activities that could potentially have a national outreach;
• Develop tools (baseline studies, policy briefs, etc.) to facilitate dialogue on security and human rights;
• Contribute to a constructive environment for dialogue in the country;
• Develop linkages between local and national level action with relevant international initiatives (e.g. OECD Due Diligence Guidelines, International Code of Conduct Association, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights);
• Focus specifically on relations between businesses, public and private security providers and on encouraging businesses to adopt human rights compliant security practices;
• Encouraging knowledge sharing and lesson learning;
• Show due consideration for concerns of local ownership and sustainability;
• Build capacity of national and local CSOs

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2pHxmdw