Present your project and receive funding toward its implementation
The British Council is again calling on the active citizenry of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts to pitch their best social action projects for community development in the region.
Both individual and cooperative projects are eligible to pitch projects of a variety of applications which focus on innovation and development:
- Youth projects for the support of children, encouraging their active involvement and creative contribution;
- Sports projects featuring events and activities promoting a healthy lifestyle in the community;
- Cultural and artistic events that are targeted to benefit the cultural education and interests of the community;
- Creative space projects that introduce innovative elements into the cities’ public spaces and streets, and public-oriented arrangement of courtyards and public institutions and venues;
- Educational projects that employ available IT applications that promote community life;
- Ecological projects that bring community into harmony with nature, benefit the local environment and boost ecological awareness among local residents;
- Inclusion projects aimed at providing access to facilities for persons living with disabilities in both urban and rural settings;
- Social cohesion projects aimed at building dialogue and community solidarity;
- Support projects for internally displaced institutions of higher education (universities and technical institutes) ensuring institutional stability and quality of education.
The pitching process will proceed as follows: interested parties submit an application describing their project. A preliminary selection process will identify those projects with greatest relevance for their community and which adheres to project priorities. Next, the authors of the pre-selected projects will be trained in all aspects of project management, including project budget planning, attracting financial support, working with volunteers, public relations and more. Finally, our pitching ‘finalists’ will present their projects before a professional commission that will identify the winning pitches, awarding them with financial support for the implementation of their pitch.
The final pitching session will be held on 4 February 2019.
Instruction in Project Design is scheduled in two- and three-day formats:
- 1-3 February — in-depth, project design training will cover the topics of understanding the concept of "social action"; defining a target audience; developing project goals and objectives; developing project performance criteria by defining short and long-term results; project promotion in the media; budget planning; and art presentations.
- 2-3 February — basic project design training covering the topics of building project performance criteria and defining short- and long-term results; project promotion in the media; budget plannin; and art presentations.
Each project team may nominate up to two persons to serve as project representatives at the training sessions.
Project application requirements:
- The project should be implemented by 30 June 2019 in territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under the control of Ukrainian government forces.
- The maximum grant amount for each project is 50,000 UAH.
- We encourage project creators to solicit co-financing for their project from additional organizations or sources in amounts up to 30% of the project budget. Securing co-financing from local government administrations will reflect positively in project evaluation.
- Financial accounting is required of all social project grant allotments.
- Social action project grants may underwrite: accommodation, meals, local travel, professional services, reasonable administrative costs, necessary project-related equipment costs, promotion and all other costs directly related to project implementation.
- Social action project grants are prohibited to be applied to the following: the project manager's salary; the purchase of office equipment (laptop computers, projectors, printers, etc.); office rental; ongoing organizational expenses (topping up mobile accounts, internet provider costs, etc.); language study; salaries of civil servants; or commercial ventures.
To participate in the pitching session and to submit your concept, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/pitch_2019
The deadline for submission for the social action project pitching is 20 December at 23:59.
Conditions for participation:
- Pitching participants must be at least 18 years old.
- Project submission is open to individuals and organizations based in Ukraine, in particular, civil society organizations, public sector organizations and organizations working in the cultural and educational sectors. Please note that FOPs (individual registered private entrepreneurs) are not eligible to apply.
- Any individual, project team or organization may submit a maximum of two social projects to pitch.
- One person representing an organizational or team partnership must apply on behalf of the entire organization or team cooperating in any social action project. The representative is consequently holds signatory responsibility and is accountable for the team/organization’s adherence to the terms of the agreement and for all financial grant management and reporting. All project partners must be in possession of the appropriate legal status designating eligibility for the reception of charitable funds (grants).
- A total of either one or two persons — organizational or team representatives — will be invited to participate in the training sessions prior to the pitching session. The British Council will cover the cost of accommodation and meals for selected participants and reimburse all transportation costs.
Additional questions? Please contact activecitizens@britishcouncil.org.ua
Costs incurred in the organization and implementation of the pitching programme are underwritten by the British Council Ukraine within the framework of the Social Cohesion Project in support of the Ukrainian Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, with additional financial support provided by the British Embassy in Kyiv.