• Special Grant

Call for Concept Notes - Asanka Creative Initiatives Fund

Launch date

May 11, 2026

Deadline for submitting your grant application

June 1, 2026

Type of funding

Grant

Range of grants

Maximum amount of $7,500

Grant Timeline

1 year (12 months) maximum period

pattern

Context - Creative Initiatives

ISDAO is flexible and supports activists so they can work in areas that are rarely funded by donors and that aim to advance and strengthen movements for social change, inclusion, and justice. Recognizing that very few resources are dedicated to innovative and creative activism, ISDAO is launching the fifth cycle of the Asanka Fund.

For ISDAO, within the scope of this grant, creative initiatives are those that go beyond traditional forms of activism. This includes, but is not limited to, all innovative initiatives undertaken by individual LGBTQI activists to support LGBTQI activism in at least one of ISDAO’s focus countries.

ISDAO encourages innovative strategies for advocacy, mobilization, and movement-building, including strategies aimed at shifting narratives through literature, video, digital content creation, photography, choreography, film, radio, painting, drawing, and all forms of art in general at the local and regional levels.

For answers to frequently asked questions, click here.

Eligibility criteria

Asanka grants will be awarded to:

  • Individual LGBTQI activists based in one of the ISDAO focus countries or originating from one of the ISDAO focus countries, whose work is rooted in and connected to the local movement in the region or in one of the ISDAO focus countries. These focus countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo.

Please note that :

  • Individual LGBTQI activists are people who identify as members of the LGBTQI community and are recognized as such by their peers.
  • For this fund, only initiatives proposed by individual LGBTQI activists will be accepted.
  • Concept notes submitted by groups or organizations are not eligible for funding.

Individual activists from francophone countries, as well as members of the LBQ, trans*, and intersex communities, are strongly encouraged to apply.

For answers to frequently asked questions, click here.

Instructions

to submit a grant application

We are currently accepting concept notes in French and English. Any application submitted after the deadline will not be considered for submission to the Asanka Fund decision-making panel.

Please DOWNLOAD the appropriate form and read the guidelines carefully before beginning your application.

Please make sure your application is complete and that all questions have been answered. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete before submitting it.

After the deadline, ISDAO cannot consider applications that are incomplete or missing certain information, and we cannot accept any additional information or revisions after the deadline.

Please complete the more detailed eligibility test on the form to determine whether you are eligible to apply for this grant.

Attach the complete document to a single email and send it to asanka@isdao.org by 11:59 p.m. GMT on June 1 at the latest

To submit your

grant application

Individual LGBTQI activists

Download
icon-mail Attach the complete document in a single e-mail and send it to asanka@isdao.org.
icon-date Before 11:59 p.m. GMT on June 1

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
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process

Our process

for the awarding of grants

step 1

Open Call for Concept Notes

Individual activists will be asked to submit their concept notes within three (3) weeks

step 2

Submission of Concept Notes

Concept notes are accepted from individual activists based in the West African subregion or in the diaspora who propose creative initiatives focused on storytelling and/or advocacy about LGBTQI people

step 3

Translation of concept notes

All Concept Notes are translated into English or French 

step 4

Notifying Ineligible Applicants

After an internal screening for eligibility, all ineligible applicants are notified via email

step 5

Shortlisting by the decision-making panel

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

step 6

Interviews

Shortlisted applicants are invited to an interview with the decision-making panel to present their creative initiative and answer any questions about the project

step 7

Virtual decision-making

The decision-making panel scores each interviewed applicant and makes a collective decision about which projects to fund, based on the Asanka criterion and priorities. Final decisions by the panel are communicated to the ISDAO team

step 8

Notification to Candidates

The ISDAO team sends a notification to pre-approved applicants and requests detailed budgets and references: this is the due diligence stage

step 9

Signing of grant agreements and transfer of funds

Funds are transferred to the fiscal hosts of grant recipients’ choice within two to three weeks of signing the agreement

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