In the early 2015, Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW), with the support of OAK Foundation, started working towards the development of the women’s movement and individual charity in Bulgaria. The organization is going to work on the following thematic priorities between 2015 – 2016:
- Political and economic empowerment of women and girls
- Fight to end violence against women
- Work with children and youths in order to fight gender stereotypes
- Empowerment of groups of women who are victims of multiple discrimination
In order to achieve its mission for creating a world with no violence and discrimination, in which girls and women are able to embrace their full potential, and achieve its goals for development of the women’s movement and social philanthropy in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Fund for Women has initiated a contest for recruiting projects in the areas of women’s rights and gender equality.
Why?
Although we observe a good development of legislature that guarantees equality between men and women after our affiliation with the EU, deep-rooted gender stereotypes and patriarchal society still persist in Bulgaria. Beliefs such as “the woman has to be a wife (only), mother and housewife”, “the woman has to listen to her husband”, “women are not good at mathematics”, “women are too emotional to hold leadership positions”, “women are bad drivers” etc., lead to a disturbing statistics and holds down gender equality which otherwise in itself is inevitably going to improve many economic indicators for out country.
If we want to achieve good progress in women’s rights, we need to work towards improving legislation and thinking about gender politics and mainstreaming, as well as changing society’s attitude and fighting gender stereotypes. “Every 1 in 4 women are victims of violence”, “women in Bulgaria earn 13% less than men in the same job”, “women in the National Assembly are 22%”, “women in companies’ boards are only 11%” etc. – these are statistics that can only be changed if we start viewing women and girls as active and full-bodied participants in political, economic and social life.
What?
Bulgarian Fund for Women is going to finance projects related to women’s rights, gender equality, the fight against gender stereotypes, and development of the women’s movement in Bulgaria.
The budget in round one of the contest is 10,000 BGN and it will finance 10 small projects of 10 organizations (each organization will receive financing of 1,000 BGN). The budget in round one is 8,000 BNG and it will finance only 4 of the first 10 organizations, whose projects have been the most successfully completed.
The projects may be campaigns, organizing an event, training, exhibition, art performance, competition etc., that are targeted at fighting discrimination, popularizing the need to achieve gender equality, change of attitudes, development of women’s movement and philanthropy in Bulgaria, social change.
When?
7-31 May 2015 – accepting project offers in round one
8 June 2015 – announcement of approved organizations
8-15 June 2015 – signing contracts and financing
15 June – 15 November 2015 – executing the projects
16 November – 27 November 2015 – assessing the projects
30 November – commencement of round two
Eligibility Criteria
Only organizations registered under the Law for Non-Profit Organizations (LNPO) for the public benefit can take part in the contest.
The following will take priority:
- Organizations working in the area of women’s rights
- Organizations working towards fighting multiple discrimination (LGBT+, Roma organizations, etc.)
- Youth organizations working towards and/or having completed a project in the area of women’s rights and gender equality
- Organizations whose activity takes place outside Sofia
- Organizations created less than a year ago
- Organizations whose annual budget is less than 50,000 BGN
All the projects of the applying organizations must match the subject of the contest as well as one of the four thematic priorities set by Bulgarian Fund for Women for 2015-2016.
All projects must popularize Bulgarian Fund for Women’s activity and any planned communication materials have to bear the BFW’s logo.
Assessment criteria
- Project’s relevance with the contest subject and priorities of BFW for 2015-2016:
-Realistic projects and goals
-Realistic budget
-Capacity and potential of executing the project
The projects will be assessed by the BFW’s board and team.
Application documents:
–Application – download in doc
-Copy of the court registration of the organization
-Copy of organization’s Certificate of Good Standing issued in the last 6 months
-Autobiography of the project’s director
Additional information:
All of the approved organizations sign a contract with Bulgarian Fund for Women and after the execution of the projects in round one in the period until 27 November 2015, the organizations provide a narrative and finance report (copies of accounting documents).
If the applying organizations or the approved projects’ number is not met, BFW reserves its right to redistribute the financing budget as well as to change contest’s deadlines.
The deadline to send all the documents to bgfund.women@gmail.com is 31 May 2015, before 5 pm.
