PRESS RELEASE
Disability Rights Fund Releases First 2015 Request for Proposals
Disability Right Fund
BOSTON, MA – The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) – a grantmaking collaborative between donors and the global disability community which supports the human rights of persons with disabilities – today announced its first 2015 grants round, “Advancing Rights and Development – Beyond 2015.” Grantmaking in this round will be targeted to disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) in Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Malawi, and Myanmar. The deadline for applications is March 10, 2015. The broad objective of the Fund is to empower DPOs in the developing world to participate in ratification, implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD).
In the first round of 2015 grantmaking, applicant organizations from Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Malawi, and Myanmar may apply for grants through an open Request for Proposals process.
Organizations may apply as: a) Single organizations or partnerships for one-year Small grants; b) State (in federal systems), regional, or district-level DPO-led coalitions for up to two-year Mid-Level Coalition grants; and/or c) National DPO-led coalitions for up to two-year National Coalition grants.
Small grants will range from USD 5,000 to 20,000 and will support efforts to increase DPO participation in decision-making and to implement projects on specific articles of the CPRD. Mid-level Coalition grants will range between USD 30,000 – 40,000 per year (60,000 – 80,000 over two years) and will support passage of specific legislation or policy to accord with the CRPD at sub-national levels (including state, provincial, regional or district levels), and advocacy for governmental budgetary measures at these levels to implement the CRPD. National Coalition grants will range from USD 30,000 to 50,000 per year (60,000 – 100,000 over two years) and will support advocacy toward ratification of the CRPD/Optional Protocol, passage of specific national legislation to accord with the CRPD, the production of or follow up to civil society reports to UN human rights monitoring mechanisms (including the CRPD Committee, other treaty bodies, and the Human Rights Council), advocacy to national or international agencies responsible for development planning to ensure that the CRPD is taken into consideration in strategy and goal development & assessment, and advocacy to ensure formal inclusion of DPO representatives in national governmental implementation and/or monitoring of the CRPD.
Interested organizations are urged to review the full eligibility criteria and application details posted at the Fund’s website, http://www.disabilityrightsfund.org/grantmaking. Any questions on the proposal process should be directed to info@disabilityrightsfund.org.
Since 2008, with its sister fund, the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund - which supports advocacy for ratification and legislative change in DRF’s target countries - over $13 million has been granted to organizations in 28 countries (Bangladesh, Cook Islands, Ecuador, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Ghana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Lebanon, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Namibia, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Rwanda, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vanuatu).
Fund supporters include: the American Jewish World Service, the Ansara Family Fund of the Boston Foundation, the Leir Charitable Foundations, The Foundation to Promote Open Society, part of the Open Society Foundations, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).