Support for Developing Bilateral Partnerships – Call for Sectoral Innovations

Within all calls for project proposals of the Active Citizenship Fund Croatia, including the current Call for Sectoral Innovations, aimed at strengthening the sustainability of CSOs in Croatia, there is an opportunity to engage in bilateral cooperation with organizations from donor countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) that share common values ​​of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Bilateral cooperation refers to networking, exchange, strengthening cooperation, exchange and transfer of knowledge, technology, experience and good practices, all of which can be valuable for a “fresh look at the chronic problem” within the Call for Sectoral Innovations. This Call aims at supporting Croatian civil society organizations to engage in partnerships and address structural challenges of the sector itself that limit civic activism, in a way that will produce some new, sustainable solutions that benefit a wide range of organizations. Although bilateral cooperation is assessed only in the second step of the evaluation, after submitting a full project application (indicative deadline is January 18, 2021), applicants are encouraged to look for bilateral partners already in the phase of formulating a project idea and preparing a project summary. Bilateral partnerships should be planned in line with identified needs for additional knowledge, inspiration and experience that can increase the quality of the proposed innovative solutions.

The Active Citizens Fund in Croatia, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Icelandic Human Rights Centre shall facilitate contacts and cooperation initiatives between Croatian NGOs and entities from the Donor States. A partnership database has also been established by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in order to facilitate the search for potential partners and we recommend that you review it.

If you are an organisation from donor countries (Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein) an would like to contribute to sectoral innovation projects in Croatia, please  read the Guidelines for Applicants for this Call and send us an email in English to partnerships@acfcroatia.hr with (1) a brief description of your organisation,  (2) a brief description of your competences  in respect to the focus and the priorities of the Call and (3) your contact information. We will do our best to connect you with interested civil society organisations in Croatia.