Human Rights and Democracy Fund

The British Embassy is inviting bids for the Human Rights and Democracy Fund run by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The deadline for submission of concept bids is 15 March 2011.
 
About Human Rights and Democracy Fund
 The Human Rights and Democracy Fund (HRD Fund) replaces the FCO Strategic Programme Fund which has been active in Vietnam since 2005. The HRD Fund aims to support projects around the world that help to progress the UK’s priorities in the areas of rule of law, human rights and democracy.
 
Funding priorities within Vietnam
- Freedom of expression: legislation on freedom of information developed and implemented in line with international standards; improved media environment, and more assertive and effective media.
- Civil society: creating an enabling environment for civil society to operate; promoting their ability to influence, monitor and hold accountable state institutions.

Funding criteria
- Projects must support activity linked to the thematic priorities outlined above, as detailed in the HRD Fund strategy.
- Projects must be completed by the end of February 2012. Projects that demonstrate sustainability have a greater chance of being supported. 
- While there is no cap on how much or how little funding we can provide for each project, please bear in mind this is a £5m global fund.

They welcome projects jointly funded with other donors as a way of increasing impact and enhancing co-ordination.  All projects must demonstrate how they complement the efforts of other donors and bring added value.   They strongly encourage projects that seek to secure future funding from other bodies (e.g. EU, UN) for follow-on work. 

Further information is available on the Human Rights and Democracy Fund’s Strategy [attached]

Application for funding
If you have project proposals that correspond with our priority areas of support in Vietnam and the aims of the HRD Fund strategy, you are invited to submit your project concept to the British Embassy in Hanoi.
The Embassy will undertake an initial assessment on whether the project concept fits our objectives and can be taken forward. If that is the case, we will work with you to develop a full project bid and submit it to the Programme Team in London for consideration.

The project concept should follow the FCO’s standard form [attached] (Section A) and submitted to the British Embassy by 15 March 2011.

Contacts
Nguyen Phuong Chi
Projects Officer
British Embassy
31 Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +84 (0)4 39360500 / 39360525 (direct)
Fax: +84 (0)4 39360506