Special Grant

Call for Concept Notes - Asanka Creative Initiatives Fund

Launch date

March 04, 2025

Deadline for submitting your grant application

March 25, 2025

Type of funding

Grant

Range of grants

Maximum amount of $7,500

Grant Timeline

1 year (12 months) maximum period

Context

ISDAO is flexible and provides support for communities to work in areas that are rarely funded by donors and that aim to advance and strengthen movements for social change, inclusion, and justice.

Aware that very few resources are dedicated to innovative and creative activism, ISDAO is launching the third cycle of the Asanka Fund. For this call, ISDAO encourages innovative advocacy, mobilization and movement-building strategies, including those aimed at changing narratives through literature, video, digital content production, photography, choreography, film, radio, painting, drawing, and all art forms in general at local and regional levels.

Creative Initiatives

For ISDAO, in the context of this grant, creative initiatives refer to approaches beyond traditional forms of activism. This includes but is not limited to projects led by LGBTQI individual activists that contribute to LGBTQI activism in at least one of ISDAO's focal countries. Examples include producing a mini-documentary, editing a book, creating a comic strip, launching a web radio, or developing a photography project, among others.

For answers to frequently asked questions, click here.

Eligibility Criteria

If you are in a leadership role in an organization (executive director, coordinator, president, program manager etc.) please ensure that the creative initiative you wish to implement does not fall within your organization's focus areas.

Please read the checklist carefully to assess the other eligibility criteria for the Asanka fund.

Instructions

to submit a grant application

If you are in a leadership role in an organization (executive director, coordinator, president, program manager etc.) please ensure that the creative initiative you wish to implement does not fall within your organization's focus areas.

Please DOWNLOAD the corresponding form and Please read these guidelines carefully before starting your application.

Please take the more detailed eligibility test on the form to determine if you are eligible to apply for this ISDAO Asanka grant opportunity.

To submit your

grant application

Please download the form below and complete all the sections:

Individual activists

LGBTQI
Individual Activists

Download

Attach the complete document in a single e-mail and send it to asanka@isdao.org.

Before March 25 at 23:59 GMT

We wish you good luck with your application!

Do you have any questions?

Please read our "Frequently Asked Questions" by clicking the link below

Frequently Asked Questions

Our process

for the awarding of grants

step 1

Open Call for Concept Notes

Individual LGBQTI activists will be asked to submit their concept notes within a period of three (3) weeks.

step 2

Submission of Concept Notes

Concept Notes are accepted from individual LGBQTI activists based in the sub-region or in the diaspora over a 3-week period.

step 3

Translation of Concept Notes

All eligible Concept Notes are translated into English or French.

Step 4

Review by the panel

Concept notes are reviewed by the panel virtually, respecting the principles of confidentiality and absence of conflict of interest.

step 5

Virtual project presentation by finalists and virtual decision-making meeting

The contacts for each Concept Note will make a presentation to the Panel by video call to explain and justify the project they have submitted. Final decisions are made by the Panel.

step 6

Validation of the Panel's decision

The ISDAO Board of Directors validates the grants awarded by the Panel. Excluding cases where there are red flags or major concerns identified, the overall decision made by the Panel, independently and autonomously, is respected. This is a process in which the Board of Directors approves all funding for disbursement and shares red flag cases, if any. This validation is an administrative process and is part of the accountability and governance measures of ISDAO.

Step 7

Notification to Activists

The Communications team sends a notification to all activists who have submitted a Concept Note following the outcome of the Decision Panel.

step 8

Signing of grant agreements and transfer of funds

The funds are transferred to the fiscal hosts' bank accounts within two to three weeks of signing the agreement. All individual activists will receive grants through a fiscal host of their choice.