Grants in the Field of Justice and Human Rights Protection

The Call for Proposals is administered under the "Accelerating Recovery for Human Security in Ukraine with Urgent Response to Intensified Attacks through Co-Creation Cooperation" project implemented by UNDP in Ukraine with financial support from the Government of Japan. The competition aims to strengthen access to justice and human rights protection for victims and survivors of war crimes by supporting civil society organizations that complement national efforts through survivor-centred, gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches while strengthening institutional capacity.

The grant competition is open to organisations that meet the established eligibility requirements. Applicants must be officially registered in Ukraine as non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, charitable organisations, or associations of civil society organisations.

Key eligibility requirements include:

• at least one year of active operations;
• proven experience in project implementation; experience working with international donors, successful project delivery, and proper reporting will be considered an advantage;
• compliance with UNDP institutional capacity requirements, assessed through the Capacity Assessment Checklist (CACHE).

The competition is not open to commercial organisations, political parties, state authorities, local self-government bodies, religious organisations and communities, as well as individuals and sole proprietors.

The grant programme finances project-related costs that are necessary for implementation and comply with sound financial management principles. All expenses must be incurred during the project period, properly documented, and verifiable.

Eligible costs include:

• personnel and expert remuneration;
• consultancy, professional, communication, and information services;
• procurement of equipment, vehicles, and assistive rehabilitation devices required for project implementation;
• venue rental, catering, printing services, and production of audio and video materials;
• communication activities, utilities, transport costs, consumables, and office supplies.

Equipment procurement may account for up to 80% of the total grant budget, provided its necessity is properly justified.

The grant does not cover:

• preparation of the grant application;
• academic or fundamental research;
• repayment of debts or liabilities;
• costs related to exchange rate differences.

Grant funding is provided through advance payments, except for the final instalment. The final instalment, representing at least 10% of the total grant amount, is reimbursed after approval of the final financial report and supporting documentation.

The maximum grant amount is USD 60,000.

The grant programme supports initiatives aimed at strengthening access to justice and human rights protection for people affected by war crimes in Ukraine.

Priority is given to projects that:

• strengthen the technical and operational capacity of justice institutions to investigate, document, and respond to war crimes through the development of practical methodologies, standards, digital solutions, and operational tools;
• develop sustainable professional training systems on war crimes investigations using human-centred, gender-responsive, and trauma-informed approaches;
• enhance referral mechanisms for survivors and ensure safe reporting of war crimes by improving information support, confidential reporting channels, interagency cooperation, psychological support, and awareness-raising activities.

Applicants should prepare their project proposal in Ukrainian or English using the required application form and submit it in accordance with the competition requirements.

Main steps:

• Prepare the application package as a password-free .zip or .rar archive. The total archive size must not exceed 35 MB.
• Submit the archive by email to grants.ua@undp.org and olena.kryvko@undp.org, indicating the competition title in the email subject line.
• To avoid technical issues, applicants are encouraged to upload the complete application package to Google Drive (or another cloud storage service) and include an active download link in the email.

Applications submitted by other means or after the deadline will not be considered.

After receiving grant funding, the grantee is responsible for proper project monitoring and for assessing the achieved results. UNDP monitors project implementation through the review of reports, online consultations, monitoring visits, working meetings with the project team and key stakeholders, as well as participation in project activities.

Key requirements include:

• Submission of interim progress reports upon UNDP's request, when information on project implementation is required.
• Submission of a final report, including:
  • a description of the activities implemented;
  • the results achieved;
  • a financial report covering the entire grant implementation period.

Reporting templates will be provided by UNDP.

Applicants are required to submit a complete application package demonstrating the organisation’s legal status, institutional capacity, and readiness to implement the proposed project.

The application package must include:

• completed project proposal form (Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel);
• a copy of the organisation’s statutes (PDF);
• a copy of the organisation’s registration document (PDF);
• the organisation’s bank details (PDF);
• CVs of the proposed experts/specialists involved in project implementation (Microsoft Word or PDF);
• completed CACHE Institutional Capacity Assessment Checklist (PDF);
• where available, supporting documents demonstrating the applicant’s implementation capacity, such as letters of support, recommendation letters, sample reports, and other relevant materials (Microsoft Word or PDF).