Confidence Building

2013 -2014 Call for Applications

Confidence Building in the South Caucasus – a joint initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Black Sea Trust

The Robert Bosch Stiftung (RBSG) and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation of the German Marshall Fund (BST) are continuing their joint funding initiative to support confidence building activities of non-state actors in the South Caucasus and its neighboring countries. The partners are convinced that civil society can make a valuable contribution to the process of confidence building, mutual understanding and reconciliation between populations in territories involved in (armed) conflicts. This initiative is designed to encourage grantees to investigate new ways, methods and approaches for fostering mutual understanding.

Program Description

The projects should be initiated by civil society organizations which can effectively engage target audiences within the population of the region in their projects’ activities. Organizations requesting grants must be legally registered in one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The involvement of additional partners (especially those from the EU) is possible and welcome.

Projects working in the following areas would be especially appreciated:

• cross-border initiatives for youth;
• approaches to civic education or active citizenship;
• approaches to reconciliation and peace that incorporate experiences from history and convey them to the younger generation;
• the role of media in overcoming stereotypes.

A special emphasis is placed on multilateral initiatives and those that reach out to the neighboring countries – Russia and Turkey.

BST and RBSG encourage applicants to be creative and bold. Project ideas can focus creating various platforms (environment, music, sports, etc.) that bring together people from territories involved in conflicts, on facilitating contacts between state actors in the South Caucasus and the surrounding regions in non-formal settings, on using different media tools (traditional and/ or new) to foster mutual understanding, etc.

The average grant will be around 23,000 USD (about 18,000 EUR). Multilateral projects may exceed that amount in exceptional cases. 

Application and Selection

The entire program administration is carried out by BST on behalf of both partners.

The Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation invite interested organizations to apply per the below.

Decisions about selection and funding of the submitted projects will be taken jointly by representatives of both donors, with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation involved only in Turkish-Armenian reconciliation projects. A grant letter to the selected projects will be issued by the end of June 2013, and respectively, November 2013.

Applicants are strongly advised to submit proposals for projects that will take longer than 6 months in the April 2013 call.

Applications have to be sent to confidencebuilding@gmfus.org.

Two different application deadlines are offered in the 2013 – 2014 Call. The partners recommend applying in spring since funds are limited.

1) For the May 12, 2013 deadline, interested organizations are invited to submit project proposals from April 10, 2013 until May 12, 2013, at 18:00 in Bucharest, Romania (UTC+3:00). 

The projects must be completed by May 2014 and reported to BST within one month of the project’s completion. The maximum duration of the project should not exceed 11 months.

2) For the October 1, 2013 deadline, interested organizations are invited to submit project proposals only from September 1, 2013 until October 1, 2013, at 18:00 in Bucharest, Romania (UTC+3:00).

The projects must be completed by May 2014 and reported to BST within one month of the project’s completion. The maximum duration of the project should not exceed 6 months.

Project proposals must be submitted in English only, using the application and budget forms below:

 Application Form

 Budget Form

Grantees must submit the final reports in English only, using the two forms below: 

Narrative Report Form

Financial Report Form

Interested parties may consult the following contact persons, who are prepared to provide advanced consultation if needed:

Nino Liluashvili – BST representative for Armenia and Georgia (nliluashvili@gmfus.org)

Mehriban Rahimli – BST representative for Azerbaijan (mrahimli@gmfus.org)

BST and RBSG encourage the applicants seeking to develop projects that may exceed the maximum duration and budget to contact Ms. Liluashvili or Ms. Rahimli for consultations.