UNDEF accepts on-line proposals during an an annual window from 15 November to 31 December. Those who plan to apply are strongly encouraged to visit the UNDEF website as soon as possible to familiarize themselves with what is required, in particular http://www.un.org/democracyfund/Applicants/applicants_index.html.

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The Online Project Proposal System(OPPS) is now closed as of 31 December 2009. UNDEF accepts applications during a call for applications period which takes place once a year during the fall/winter. It is usually announced on the UNDEF homepage a few weeks before the opening of the call. We encourage you to visit the UNDEF website periodically to be aware of updates and future invitations for the 5th round of project proposals which should begin in November 2010.

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The following institutions are eligible for UNDEF grant funding:

(i) Civil Society Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, engaged in promoting democracy. These are anticipated to receive the bulk of the funding.

(ii) Independent and Constitutional Bodies, including Election Commissions, Ombudsman Institutions, National Human Rights Institutions and other independent governance bodies, for project proposals facilitating the inclusion of the voice of civil society.

(iii) Global and Regional inter-government bodies, organizations and associations other than the United Nations, for project proposals which strengthen the voice of civil society.

More detailed information on funding priorities and on how to submit project proposals is available in the UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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No, however, applicants have to comply with certain guidelines.
Please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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Yes, but it must be in the context of a new project, since UNDEF does not provide continuing funding.

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Formal networks can apply. Informal networks cannot apply as such as there is a need for an administrative and accounting structure for monitoring and reporting purposes. However, one NGO of an informal network can be the applicant and all or some of the network members can be project partners and be listed as such in the proposal, with the clarification that they form an informal network. Prime responsibility for reporting will fall on the applicant NGO.

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In principle, there is no limit to the number of proposals. However, applicants are advised to be strategic as it is highly unlikely that UNDEF will fund more than one proposal per organization.

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Proposals from all countries as well as regional and global initiatives will be considered; there are no limitations in this regard. However, strong preference will be given to applicants from countries and regions that are in the transition and consolidation phases of democratization, in particular countries emerging from conflict, new and restored democracies, least developed countries and low or middle income countries.

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UNDEF grants will be allocated for projects with a default duration of two years. However, it is fully acceptable to UNDEF if a successful applicant completes a project in less than two years.

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(i) Initiatives which do not promote democracy

(ii) Initiatives filling a funding gap for ongoing activities

(iii) Activities that can more appropriately be funded by other funding sources (e.g. Thematic Trust Funds or the Peacebuilding Commission’s Fund)

(iv) Projects focused primarily on research

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UNDEF aims at funding action oriented projects. Proposals focusing only on research related activities are not one of our core priorities.

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Information about UNDEF funded projects in previous rounds is available on UNDEF website under the project section. You can also search UNDEF projects database

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Two types of management arrangements are possible for an UNDEF funded project and are left up to the decision of the applicant.

(i) CSO-Implemented projects without an Executing Agency (CSOP): Projects where the CSO or other applicant does not partner with an Executing Agency (i.e. a UN agency monitoring and supervising the project, acting as UNDEF's agent for project oversight and as intermediary for disbursements). The CSO is responsible for the overall management of the project and bears all substantive, financial, monitoring, reporting and evaluation responsibilities. The vast majority of proposals are in this format.

(ii) CSO-Implemented projects with Executing Agency (CSOP + EA): Projects where the applicant partners with a UN Executing Agency who will monitor and supervise the project, acting as UNDEF's agent for project oversight and as intermediary for disbursements. The CSO or other applicant will bear substantive responsibility for achieving results in the project. The Executing Agency will receive the funds and pass them to the applicant and will be responsible for the oversight of the project

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UNDEF does not prefer one implementation modality over another. It is the applicant's decision whether or not to work with a UN Executing Agency. Should an applicant decide to work with an Executing Agency, the applicant must seek the consent of the Executing Agency prior to submitting their proposal, and must include in the proposal the contact details of the person who has given this consent. The management modality will affect the program budget. Please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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No, this is the choice of the applicant. The vast majority of grantees do not have an Executing Agency.

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The Executing Agency will normally be entitled to charge up to 7% of the Total Project Costs for its overhead cost in overseeing the project, unless otherwise advised by UNDEF. This fee must cover all financial, contractual, reporting, evaluation and other agreed services to the project. Please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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UNDEF funds projects, not project implementers. The CSO or other applicant in both management arrangement modalities will, however, be allowed to charge the project budget with some of its direct costs for programme support (e.g. salaries, travel, office supplies), as per local conditions and best international practice. However, such costs must be itemized clearly under separate budget inputs (e.g. salaries, travel, or miscellaneous). UNDEF expects these costs to be modest and high overheads will impact negatively on the assessment of the project proposal under the "Value for Money" assessment criterion. Please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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The CSO or other applicant in both management arrangement modalities will be allowed to charge the project budget with its direct costs for programme support (e.g. salaries, travel, rent, office supplies), as per local conditions and best international practice. However, such costs must be itemized clearly under separate budget inputs (e.g. salaries, travel, or miscellaneous) UNDEF expects these costs to be modest and they will impact on the assessment of the project proposal under the "Value for Money" assessment criterion (see § 5.6 of the Project Proposal Guidelines Fourth Round).

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UNDEF funds projects starting at 50,000 USD and up to 400,000 USD.

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"Budget by activities" refers to costs for the project activities themselves (such as project events, production of radio/TV programs, outreach, creating and distributing training materials, etc.). You can list up to 15 activities.

"Budget by output" refers to costs necessary for supporting the implementation of the project (such as salaries, travel, rent, office supplies, etc.).

Please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines for sample budgets and more detailed instructions.

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No, in the budget provided you only need to specify the project costs to be funded by UNDEF. You can indicate in section 4 "Others Donors and sponsors" the details (amount, origin, etc.) of other funding sources and their contact addresses.

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You can find the details on UNDEF monitoring, reporting and evaluation requirements on the UNDEF guidelines available on the UNDEF website under the “Information for grantee” section. Please refer to your funding round.
The section below provides you with the key requirements.


Monitoring
Monitoring of project activities will be done in several ways. All project applicants must monitor their own activities. In addition, if the project is CSOP + EA, all Executing Agencies will be also responsible for project monitoring and submission of reports.
If the project is CSOP, UNDEF reserves the right to appoint monitors to observe project milestones. Further information on milestones will be available at the project document drafting stage.
Finally, UNDEF will monitor projects by way of review of mid-term and progress reports and will on occasion perform monitoring visits as well.

Reporting
All projects will be required to submit mid-term, final narrative and financial reports. These reports will be considered public information. UNDEF mid-term and final progress report templates and corresponding guidelines will be made available on the UNDEF website. All financial reports must be certified by an external, independent auditor, reflect interest earned on funds received from UNDEF, and align expenses with the approved budget allocations. Further details will be provided to successful applicants through the UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

Evaluation
All project proposals must have a proposed evaluation strategy that will be further detailed in the project document. The actual evaluation modality will depend on the management arrangements

For CSOP projects, in some cases the evaluation will be commissioned by UNDEF, in other cases the applicant will be requested to commission an independent evaluator. UNDEF will pay for these services out of the M&E funds that have been retained from each project. UNDEF has the discretion to use these funds for related or similar purposes as well. The applicant will cooperate with UNDEF-appointed monitors, and will be responsible for collecting baseline information and feedback forms throughout the project lifecycle.

For CSOP + EA projects, the Executing Agency will arrange for the evaluation and should discuss its scope with UNDEF prior to undertaking the evaluation. The cost of evaluation will be covered by the Executing Agency fee.

As indicated in section 5.8, 10% of the total project costs will be kept aside for monitoring and evaluation purposes. For CSOP projects, the M&E costs are capped at $25,000. For CSOP+EA projects, there will be no cap of $25,000. The 10% will be used to pay the EA administrative overhead fee (which includes monitoring, reporting, and evaluation) and the balance will be retained by UNDEF for third-party, comparative or thematic evaluations as needed.


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On-line Project Proposal System (OPPS) is an on-line system that allows applicants to submit their applications to UNDEF. The OPPS can be accessed at through the UNDEF website.

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Proposals must be in either English or French, the two working languages of the United Nations.

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Please note:

(i) Length: The fields can accommodate only a limited number of characters. If you go over the character limit, your text will be truncated. This greatly affects the quality of your proposal. Therefore, please present your project information in a concise and clear manner, and ensure that you do not go over the limit.

(ii) All the fields with the symbol (*) are compulsory.

(iii) Budget: Please ensure that programme support costs (salary, rent, utilities, equipment etc.) are modest (see sections 5.7 and 5.8 of the guidelines for further details).
Please ensure the total requested in the budget by activity and the budget by input match, and they correspond to the total requested grant amount in section 2 of the form.

(iv) Timeline: Please note that, if approved, your project will not commence until September 2011 at the earliest. Therefore, projects with activities that need to commence earlier than this will not be considered.

(v) Geographic scope: Please be as specific as possible on the geographic scope of the project to give a clear idea of the project scale.

For more information, please see UNDEF Project Proposal Guidelines.

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Once your proposal has been saved, you will receive an email with your log-in information as well as the link to access your proposal. Please use this information to log-in here.



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Your application is submitted to UNDEF once you click the "preview and submit" buttons at the end of the form. You will receive a confirmation email soon after submitting your application. This email will contain your application receipt number. Should you not receive the confirmation email within 48 hours, contact us at democracyfund@un.org

You cannot edit an application once it has been submitted. You will be able to view your submitted application only while the application period is open (15 November - 31 December 2010). For this reason, UNDEF recommends you keep a copy of your project application. UNDEF will not send submitted applications back to applicants.


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No, proposals can only be submitted on-line through our On-line Project Proposal System (OPPS). Proposals submitted by email, mail, fax or any other channel will not be considered.

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All information which is necessary to assess your project proposal is required in the on-line project proposal system. Please do not send any further documents or information to UNDEF as they will not be taken into consideration.

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Once your proposal has been submitted, you will be assigned a receipt number which will be sent to you in the email acknowledging receipt of submission of your proposal. You can use this information to view your sumbitted proposal
Please note that you cannot edit a proposal, once it has been submitted. Also, you will be able to view your submitted proposal only while the proposal period is open. For this reason, UNDEF recommends you also keep a copy of your project proposal. UNDEF is unable to send submitted proposals back to applicants.

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Click on the link here and enter your e-mail address and your log-in will be sent to you.

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Please check if you can access other web pages, as there may be a problem with your internet connection. If other pages are working, please contact your internet provider or the system administrator to determine the problem. If other pages are not working, try to access OPPS through other browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari).

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Kindly ensure the following:

(i) That you have completed all required fields (see fields with a red asterix *)
(ii) That the written text provided did not exceed the maximum number of characters allotted
(iii) Ensure that the figure listed in Section 2 "Requested Grant Amount" is identical to the total sum of the amounts provided in Section 5 "UNDEF Funded Budget by Activity" and "UNDEF Funded Budget by Input".

Kindly also verify that the problem is not related to your computer. You can for instance try to submit in a different browser (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari). In addition you can try to reboot your computer.

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UNDEF has very limited capacity to assist with OPPS, hence kindly ensure that you first try all the recommendations given under 31 However, if all else fails you can send an e-mail to democracyfund@un.org

(i) Kindly provide a detailed description of the problem
(ii) Inform us in what browser you are working
(iii) Write down all the information on the screen, including pop-up blockers
(iv) If possible include a print screen of the problem faced. (press ALT and Print Screen)

The more detailed your inquiry is the greater likelihood it can be addressed by UNDEF in a timely manner.

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Try creating a new generic email address (such as @gmail or @yahoo) for the proposal.

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The problem might be linked to your browser. Before contacting UNDEF, kindly save your proposal and reopen it in another browser such as Chrome. If you do not have another browser installed yet on your computer, you can download Chrome by clicking here: http://www.google.com/chrome

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All project proposals submitted to UNDEF will be assessed by experienced independent consultants against the 10 following criteria:

1. The project promotes the objectives of UNDEF
2. The project draws on the United Nations comparative advantage
3. The project will have a significant impact
4. The project will encourage inclusiveness
5. The project will enhance gender equality
6. The project has strong prospects for successful implementation
7. The applicant organization has a strong track record
8. The project is technically sound in conception and presentation
9. The project represents good value for money
10. The project has strong prospects of sustainability beyond the project duration.

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Final decisions on funding are taken by the Secretary-General on the basis of recommendations from the Advisory Board. The Board has 19 members, composed of Member States, representatives appointed by the Secretary General including representatives from civil society and the Executive Director of the UN Office for Partnerships. UNDEF advises the Permanent Missions of the countries of the projects recommended by the Advisory Board.

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Only those who reach the short-list stage will be contacted. Around June 2011, successful short-listed applicants will be notified at the electronic address indicated in their proposal, unless otherwise advised on the UNDEF website. UNDEF does not have the capacity to respond to individual queries. Short-listed applicants will be invited to draft a project document for negotiation with UNDEF. This is the final stage of the selection process, as only those who successfully negotiate a project document will be selected.

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