Grants for Women's and Feminist Human Rights Organizations

The grant programme is designed to advance the rights of women and girls, promote gender equality in Ukraine, and strengthen the women's rights movement by supporting women's civil society organizations, activists, and networks.

The programme supports initiatives that:

• strengthen the organizational capacity of women's civil society organizations, including those representing vulnerable groups of women and girls;
• enhance advocacy efforts and implement initiatives that protect women's rights and promote gender equality;
• increase the influence of women's and feminist networks, coalitions, and platforms on public policy, legislation, and society.

The call focuses on innovative approaches and catalytic models that have the potential to generate long-term positive impact and can be scaled up or adapted by other communities or regions.

Innovation is understood not only as creating new solutions but also as adapting or combining existing practices to improve effectiveness, expand outreach, and enhance the quality of services or advocacy.

Applicants are expected to clearly define the intended results, demonstrate a logical link between the identified problem, proposed activities, and long-term change, and include measurable indicators of success in their proposals.

The grant programme invites officially registered women's civil society organizations from all regions of Ukraine that meet the established eligibility requirements.

The main participation criteria are:

• the organization must be officially registered;
• have at least three years of relevant experience;
• have a statutory mission focused on protecting women's rights and/or promoting gender equality;
• not be affiliated with government institutions or political parties.

For the purposes of this call, women's organizations are defined as organizations whose statutory purpose is the protection of women's rights and/or the promotion of gender equality.

Under the grant programme, organizations may apply for grants of up to CAD 50,000. The grant amount is provided in the Ukrainian hryvnia equivalent based on the National Bank of Ukraine exchange rate on the application submission date.

Grant funding may be used for:

• organizational support, including staff salaries;
• travel expenses (up to 20% of the total budget);
• the purchase of equipment valued at no more than CAD 2,000 per item;
• activities that promote collective care policies and help prevent staff burnout (up to 10% of the total grant amount).

Grant funds cannot be used for:

• construction activities;
• incentives for public officials;
• support of political parties;
• initiatives supporting professional women's associations that are not feminist organizations;
• initiatives that cause harm to the environment.

The grant programme supports projects focused on the development, implementation, and scaling of effective models and solutions across the specified thematic areas.

Priority is given to initiatives that:

• develop sustainable models for women's economic empowerment;
• support military families, veterans, and women veterans;
• promote the meaningful participation of women in Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction processes;
• develop effective strategies to increase the visibility of women's rights, gender equality, and women activists' work;
• advance environmental protection, climate justice, and the protection of women's rights.

Particular consideration will be given to projects that demonstrate innovation, scalability, and the potential for long-term impact.

To participate in the grant programme, organizations should complete the following steps:

• Register in the Ukrainian Women's Fund online project submission system.
• If the organization is already registered, use the organization identification code received after registration to submit the application form.
• If the system indicates that an organization with the same registration code already exists, contact the Ukrainian Women's Fund grant manager.
• Complete and submit the online application form by 23:59 on 16 August 2026.
• After submission, the organizer confirms the application registration by email: grants@uwf.org.ua.
• All applications submitted before the deadline will be reviewed by the Expert Committee.

Applications are assessed using a 100-point scoring system based on the established evaluation criteria.

The main evaluation criteria include:

• Alignment of the project with the call priorities — up to 20 points.
• The catalytic potential and innovativeness of the proposed solution, including:
  • potential for adaptation, scaling, and replication;
  • a well-founded approach to ensuring the sustainability of results;
  • the ability to achieve measurable early results and create conditions for broader systemic change — up to 30 points (10 points for each component).
• Compliance with feminist principles and values — up to 20 points.
• The organization's capacity to implement the project, including management capability, team expertise, strategic advocacy experience, partnerships, and risk management — up to 20 points.
• Financial management and reporting capacity — up to 10 points.

The maximum possible score is 100 points.

As part of the grant programme, one of the evaluation criteria is the applicant's ability to ensure a high standard of financial management and reporting.

The assessment considers:

• the presence of sound financial management practices;
• the organization's capacity to maintain proper financial management and prepare reporting in accordance with the programme requirements.

Under the grant programme, the Ukrainian Women's Fund reserves the right to take certain procedural actions during the competition process.

In particular, the organizer may:

• extend the call and/or recommend a review of applications based on the evaluation results;
• request additional information from applicants when necessary for the proper assessment of an application;
• not disclose the reasons for rejecting an application.