February 2023 – January 2026

Budget: 1,126,849 EURO

Funded by European Union, co-funded by Keystone Moldova, Foundation „Stichting Dorcas Aid International”, Association for Education “Neoumanist.”

The global objective of the grant competition program is to support local civil society organizations in delivering inclusive, age and gender appropriate social services to vulnerable people in Moldova.

Two specific objectives are envisaged:

1. Provision of financial support to CSOs to design/re-design community-based social services by integrating laundry, personal hygiene, and socialization for vulnerable groups.
2. Building new partnerships between local CSOs and public authorities to develop sustainable and gender appropriate community-based laundry services.

Final beneficiaries:

• At least 1500 of people from vulnerable groups are expected to benefit from laundry services developed within the project.
• 15 CSOs and PAs with increased capacities to develop resilient inclusive laundry, personal hygiene, and socialization services to vulnerable groups.

ACTIVITIES:

• Grant competition program conducted in two consecutive stages:
  1. Concept notes and the corresponding preliminary selection of est. 20 CSOs. Preselected sub-grantees will benefit from an in-depth capacity building program to enhance the proposed design of community-based laundry services.
  2. Full application stage aiming at selection and grant awarding of 15 most relevant and sustainable proposals for the development of community-based and inclusive laundry services.
• Info-sessions for potential applicants to promote the financing opportunity developed within proposed Project among at least 60 CSOs specialized in provision of social services to vulnerable groups.
• Study visits for preselected CSOs to better reflect the specifics of a laundry service and to learn from positive practices and models of laundry, personal hygiene, and socialization services developed with EU support and implemented by three experienced local CSOs.
• Workshops and individual support on the development of full application forms to provide expertise in terms of project structuring and writing, building resilient local partnerships, roles and contribution of local public authorities when developing community-based social services; aspects related to inclusion and mobilization of community resources; the provision of social laundry, personal hygiene services, and socialization models.
• Selection and awarding stage – at least 15 grants will be awarded within the awarding ceremony to inform the large public about the results of the grant competition program and officially present the winning CSOs.
• Capacity building program – an extensive workshop on grant management and on the development of the visibility component of sub-grants, including the development of an individual communication plan to promote inclusive laundry, personal hygiene, and socialization services in the targeted communities for selected CSOs.
• Technical assistance to CSOs to strengthen the dialog and cooperation with PAs and community-based services – needs assessment of each sub-granted CSO; elaboration of 15 individual plans on technical assistance and support based on the findings of the needs assessment; development/adjustment and approval of the regulation and quality standards for the 15 community-based social services, explicitly including the laundry, personal hygiene, and socialization services, in close cooperation with the local public authority.
• Capacity building program – 4 modules
  1. Asset-Based Community Development/ABCD and Local Resource Mobilization/LRM aimed at enhancing the role of Civil Society as a community development actor; to learn principles of asset-based community development, how to identify and mobilize existing, but often unrecognized assets. 
  2. Innovative solutions to develop self-sustained inclusive social services on how to efficiently integrate the inclusion component when designing/re-designing a community-based social service.
  3. Regulatory framework and accreditation of social services to provide a comprehensive presentation of the regulatory framework in field of social service provision, as well as relevant necessary regulations related to the development of social laundry and personal hygiene services.
  4. Social services quality and sustainability to reflect alternative models and partnerships to ensure sustainable functioning of social services and aspects related to the quality of provided services as well applied mechanisms to measure the level of beneficiaries’ satisfaction.
• Development of the Joint Project Communication Strategy and provision of support to sub-granted CSOs to develop and implement their own communication plan for the duration of the Project.
• Project launch and final events – will be used to inform the mass media, governmental institutions, civil society organizations, donor community, project stakeholders, and the public at large about the project objectives, as well as about achieved results.