Aid on Spreadsheets

Forum Syd Civil Society Strengthening

The contribution is a support to Forum Syd for the implementation of the project Sustainable ownership: empwering communities and civil society in Liberia. The project has an objective to build capacity of civil society organizations in Liberia to strengthen local CSOs presence in rural counties in Liberia through increased capacity of rights-holders living under marginalised conditions to claim their rights and participate in locally owned initiatives and local development processes. The project will reach 26 local organizations (14 as receipients of sub-grants and 12 as receipients of seed grants) in seven of Liberia's 15 counties. The project has three years implementation cycle mid 2018-2021. A simplified environment assessment was done by Forum Syd, in additional an environment and climate review by Sida Helpdesk on environment and climate made recommendations that will informed continuous environment improvement in the project. Resources in budget and project work plan for environment and climate has been made. For gender, resources in the budget and plan has been allocated to integrate the gender perspective and Forum Syd has described in their theory of change an attention to mainstream gender. For this reason both environment and climate and gender marker are significant for the project.

The main objective of the proposed intervention is 'Civil society organizations have developed and strengthened their presence in rural counties in Liberia through increased capacity of rights-holders living under marginalized conditions to claim their rights and participate in locally owned initiatives and local development processes.' Three main outcomes are expected to be achieved by the project: 1. Partner organizations and communities have developed their capacities to participate in decision-making processes; 2. Partner organizations have developed their advocacy and monitoring skills of government institutions, public service providers and/or private sector actors' performance in relations to the three thematic areas of the programme; 3. Partner organizations and existing CSO networks have the capacity and resources to develop, fund-raise and implement projects of their own choice that are clearly linked to the needs and priorities identified by involved rights-holder groups and communities. The proposed intervention will reach a total of 26 local CSOs in rural Liberia in two categories - 14 local CSOs as sub-grants and  12 grassroots organizations will receive seed grants. The overall focus of the project is civil society strengthening within three areas: governance and accountability, gender equality and environment and climate change resilience and sustainable use of natural resources. All partners are expected to actively promote gender equality, and some of the organizations will focus on improving environment through sustainable agriculture methods, sustainable energy alternatives, awareness raising on environment and climate change. All partner organizations are expected to mainstream their work through an environment lens, using environmentally sustainable working methods and increase their awareness and knowledge on environment and climate change, natural resource management and rights. The overall goal of the project is to respond to the limited rights and opportunities in rural communities, and the limited presence of participatory and locally based development initiatives.  In addition to support to already existing CSOs in the rural areas, the proposed intervention will support non-registered right-holders strengthen their organizations. This is important and relevant for small scale local initiatives that face disadvantage due to high registration cost  and lengthy bureaucratic processes that deny them formal registration. Where formal registration is used as criteria to receive donor assistance, rural based organizations representing people living in poverty are often left out. Forum Syd's expressed commitment to reach non-registered right-holders to strengthen their organizations is addressing this important gap. Forum Syd in its proposed intervention intends to achieve its goal to strengthen the capacity of CSOs in rural Liberia through four key methods: a) Build capacities of local CSOs to develop their own sustainability plans and project ideas, as well as to deepen their discussions on their mission and vision, and engage in long-term strategic planning; implement and monitor participatory and inclusive local sustainable development initiatives; be better equipped to raise awareness and mobilize rights-holders through a human rights-based approach and support rights-holders to organize themselves and engage in collective action. b) Strengthen a rights-based and gender aware development of local CSO, supporting increased internal accountability, transparency and member-based decision-making processes; c) Build capacity of local authorities/duty bearers, service providers, community structures and traditional authorities, in their understanding of their duties and obligations, the role of civil society, and how to engage in transparent, accountable, participatory, inclusive, gender sensitive and environmentally sustainable processes with rights-holders and communities d) Promote dialogue and inclusive

Project ID

SE-0-SE-6-5124004301-LBR-15150

Activity status

2 - Implementation

Aid type

C01 - Project-type interventions

% to Liberia

100.00

Organisations

Funding

Sweden

Extending

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Implementing

Donor country-based NGO

Accountable

FORUM SYD

CRS code	%
Democratic participation and civil society (15150)	100.0