DFID sets out new funding system for civil society organisations
Melanie May | 15 November 2016 | News
The Department for International Development has set out a new system of central funding for civil society organisations with four central funding sources in its Civil Society Partnership Review.
The four main sources will be:
- UK Aid Match – a scheme that match-funds public donations to charity appeals for projects to reduce poverty in developing countries, giving the British public a say in what international development issues are important to them.
- UK Aid Direct – providing grants to small and medium-sized civil society organisations, primarily for work to directly tackle poverty in poor communities around the world.
- UK Aid Connect – a new partnership approach that will allow civil society organisations to work collaboratively, bringing together knowledge, practice and expertise for solutions to some of the most difficult development problems.
- UK Aid Volunteers – which will include the manifesto commitment to triple in size the International Citizen Service (ICS) youth volunteering scheme and provide opportunities for new partnerships with volunteering agencies.
According to the DFID, the four sources have been designed to ‘help incentivise good performance, catalyse innovation and partnership, and push for more efficiency, transparency and accountability’ with the aim of ‘guaranteeing the best value for UK taxpayers and the most effective delivery of DFID’s primary goal of eradicating poverty’.
DFID has already launched UK Aid Direct and UK Aid Match funding rounds, for which proposals can be submitted until 31st January 2017. The application arrangements and detailed funding criteria are available on the DFID website.
DFID will launch a UK Aid Connect call for proposals in March 2017, while the UK Aid Volunteers approach is still in development.
Priti Patel, international development secretary, said:
“From delivering life-saving assistance when disaster strikes, to addressing the underlying causes of deprivation, our civil society organisations are on the front line of the battle against extreme poverty. We will work with civil society organisations so we can use their unique expertise in the most effective way to fight the scourge of poverty, protect the world from disease and instability, and create our trading partners of tomorrow.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.