World news story

Call for project concept bids for funding in Thailand: Magna Carta Fund 2019/20

The British Embassy in Bangkok is pleased to open a call for concept bids to its devolved funds under the FCO Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy.

From:
British Embassy Bangkok
Published
4 January 2019
Thailand

The British Embassy in Bangkok is pleased to open a call for concept bids to its devolved funds under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy (Magna Carta Fund) for the UK Financial Year 2019/20 (April –March).

The Magna Carta Fund encourages promotion and protection of human rights, democracy and rule of law across the globe by supporting high-impact projects that help alleviate the underlying causes of human rights abuses.

For the 2019/20 UK financial year, the British Embassy in Bangkok is looking for innovative project ideas to be implemented from 1 April 2019, until the end of March 2020 in Thailand. We are asking potential project implementers to submit a short concept bid in the following areas:

  1. Enhancing freedom of the press and the media environment so that it supports freedom of expression and underpins wider human rights;

  2. Supporting Human Rights Defenders, and linking the reporting of issues on the national level to the international stage;

  3. Enhancing Civil Society’s role to support Business and Human Rights, including Thailand’s National Action Plan, greater supply chain transparency, and migrant worker rights, in line with the UN’s Guiding Principles;

  4. Support to Civil Society within the LGBTIQ community to further legislation, public advocacy, and gender recognition (in line with the Yogyakarta Principles).

Selection Criteria

Bids will be assessed against the following criteria:

  • Impact – delivering sustainable, meaningful change in at least one of the areas listed above. Please be ambitious

  • Capacity & network - the capacity of the implementing organisation to engage with stakeholders to deliver stated outcomes

  • Financial viability – to programme 85% of expenditure by and to spend 85% of total budget before the end of December 2019 with all activities implemented by end February 2020. You should also be able to cover initial costs as we reimburse for activities

  • Design – there must be clear links between the proposed interventions/activities and the project outcomes to achieve its aim

  • Risk management – robust analysis of risks, and a plan of action to manage and mitigate those risks

  • Value for money – the number of direct beneficiaries engaged and the scale of achievable outcomes should be competitive

The reach and range of partners engaged, dissemination strategy and potential to replicate your project will also be considered.

We encourage bids that demonstrate collaboration with other partners or groups and work in areas where programme funding is less available.

We would draw your attention to these points:

  • We strongly encourage you to contact us in advance of submitting a concept note and discuss your ideas, initial contact by e-mail to daniel.fieller@fco.gov.uk

  • We anticipate accepting bids in the region of. 500,000 THB – 1,200,000 THB. Projects are funded in Thai Baht.

  • We fund in arrears but can agree a funding schedule to match activities. This means that the organisation must cover initial costs and the Embassy will reimburse costs against production of receipts for agreed expenses. We will also require regular reporting and receipts for activities.

  • For most projects, the combined total of management fees, overheads and administration costs should not exceed 10% over the overall project budget. 10% is not a target, but a limit.

  • Running costs associated with an implementer’s offices, such as office equipment, buildings, repairs, etc. should not fall to the project budget as direct costs. They are part of the of the organisation’s overheads and covered by the administration costs.

  • We can pay costs for implementing agency staff who are directly involved in delivering the project – these can be separate and in addition to the administration charge.

  • We do not fund per diems for participants at events. We can cover reasonable costs, e.g. meals, accommodation, and travel with receipts/supporting documents.

  • There is no guarantee of funding for a second year of activity, but implementers may wish to consider how projects could be scaled up if funding were to be agreed.

How to apply

You can download the Project concept form (PDF, 168 KB, 3 pages)

The deadline for submitting the completed project concept is 23:59 (Bangkok time) on Sunday 3 February 2019. Concept bids must be submitted in English. Please e-mail daniel.fieller@fco.gov.uk

Implementers of successful concept bids will be notified by 8 March 2019, and will be invited to develop full project proposals by 23:59 (Bangkok time) on Sunday 29 March 2019.

We expect activity to start soon after a contract is signed in early April 2019. All activity should end before the start of March 2020.

Published 4 January 2019

Related content