Orskov Foundation Grants – Call for Applications

The Orskov Foundation is a member of the Network of International Development Organizations in Scotland (NIDOS) and works for the development of poorest rural communities in the world.

The foundation tries to integrate agricultural education with community projects so that communities may find their own solutions to the complex problems they face every day. The foundation encourages individual students as well as community projects by offering them the grants.

Orskov Foundation is currently seeking grant applications for individual student and community project categories.

 

Student Funding

• Applications seeking funding for equipment, or attendance at conferences, will NOT be funded.
• Applications seeking funding to cover the costs of complete Bachelor, Master or Doctorate courses, or parts of Bachelor, Master or Doctorate courses will NOT be funded.
• Applications seeking funding to cover the costs of Bachelor, Master or Doctorate research projects will NOT be funded.
• Applications that cannot demonstrate the potential to alleviate poverty and/or provide sustainable environmental benefits will NOT be funded.
• Applications from students not studying degrees within for agriculture, land use or environment will NOT be funded.
• The student grants are only provided to help support costs of training at a university or similar organisation other than the university/college in which you are registered at the time of the application.
• Eligible students (graduate students from any countries which are, in the opinion of the trustees, regarded as developing countries) must be registered for graduate degrees at their home universities in a developing country and must be able to demonstrate that they have full support from the relevant university department/organisation that they are seeking training from.
• Preference will be given to support training aimed at sustainable land use problems with an emphasis on animal, plant and soil interactions, where it can be demonstrated that, in addition to contributing to knowledge, they will (a) have the potential to alleviate poverty and (b) provide sustainable environmental benefits, including adaptation/mitigation to the impact of climate change.

Community Project Funding

• Funding will only be provided where a clear demand can be demonstrated and evidence provided that the projects will be established and managed with the active participation of the community groups involved.
• Community projects will only be considered eligible if they are based in countries which are, in the opinion of the trustees, regarded as developing countries.
• Community projects demonstrating innovation, rather than imitating the projects that have already been funded, are more likely to be considered.
• The Trustees will only consider projects with a budget up to a maximum of £2,500
• Community projects must be able to demonstrate that they will be managed using the revolving fund principle.  This is a core requirement for projects and if you can demonstrate an effective and innovative approach to achieving this, your application is more likely to be considered.

Last date for submitting the applications is December 31^st 2011.

To find the guidelines to apply, visit http://www.orskovfoundation.org

Find more grants by visiting http://www.yipekenya.org/News.htm

Youth AfriCamp: Building expressive advocacy capacity for youth participation

Themes: Youth and New Media; African Youth Charter and African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

Open Society Institute, Youth Initiative seeks to empower youth to become active citizens who are willing and able to influence public life and promote open society ideals. The international initiative is an expansion of what began in 1995 as the Debate Program. While its work with debate continues, the initiative also provides small grants and technical assistance to build the capacity of youth-focused local organizations and encourage a broader range of youth-led projects that promote open society values. The Youth Initiative (YI) aims to build a community of networked, civically engaged young leaders who understand the underpinnings of a democratic society, and will therefore become its active guardians.- www.soros.org/youth

The Youth AfriCamp provides a forum that allows the participating youth to showcase their work in their respective regions.  In addition, the camp includes training segments that will allow youth to acquire skills in creative social messaging techniques that they can apply to their work. The YI sees added value in convening the AfriCamp to not only act as facilitator and sponsor, but most importantly, to raise the profile of the work young people are doing under challenging conditions.

The AfriCamp will bring young activists together so that they can learn from one another while we learn from them. It is integral for the YI to identify these local actors and collect this information to inform the OSI network. It will allow young activists to gain hands-on training in new media that could be translated to their advocacy efforts in their given fields. The participants will be recruited across the sub-Sahara Africa with ages ranging from 18-29 years.

Format

The AfriCamp will accommodate both Francophone and Anglophone participants.  The selection process will be competitive ensuring high caliber participants. The format includes a week long combination of presentations, training sessions and breakaway sessions for direct peer consultation for those working on similar issues or issues of interest. Training sessions will consist of outside facilitators procured by the YI as well as peer to peer trainings. The event will culminate with an afternoon long advocacy concert featuring local artists. The Youth Initiative has developed the following general themes for the Youth Camp: Youth and New Media, Youth and the Africa Youth Charter, Youth and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

To register, fill in an application form online: http://www.idebate.org/africamp/ and for any inquiries please contact Ronald on email:  rrwankangi@osiea.org.

Application deadline 5^th March 2010.