According to the RESISTIRE policy paper, it has become imperative to design grant programmes that will support the resilience of CSOs and enable creative and effective responses to crises. This requires a shift in grant programmes towards transformative, participatory, flexible, long-term, capacity-building core funding support.
The HORIZON 2020 RESISTIRÉ Project has formulated a set of policy recommendations after conducting an extensive 30-month research effort and hosting workshops involving experts. These recommendations aim to address and mitigate social inequalities that are either created or deepened by crises.
Some of these recommendations emphasize the need for inclusive and multi-stakeholder crisis management, the failure to incorporate women’s experiences and perspectives into National Recovery and Resilience Plans, the imperative of viewing crises as an ongoing challenge, and the potential of transformative grant programs to effectively combat the multitude of crises shaping the contemporary world.
During a one-day conference held in Istanbul, the focus shifted to two policy documents developed as part of the project, following the presentation of RESISTIRÉ’s findings on innovative approaches to dealing with crises.
According to the policy paper titled “Transformative Funding: A Pathway for Creative and Effective Crisis Response” due to the numerous crises and disasters faced by Europe and the world (such as health, warfare, energy, food security, environmental destruction, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes, and gender-based violence), there is an increasing necessity to design grant programs that support the resilience of NGOs and enable creative and effective responses to crises. This shift calls for a transformation in grant programs towards core funding that is transformative, participatory, flexible, long-term, and focused on capacity building.
RESISTIRÉ’s research and workshops with CSO representatives suggest that current funding schemes have several shortcomings that limit the possibility of developing creative civic responses to crises:
- Most funding for civil society organisations and initiatives is short-term and project-based(which limits capacity-building, long-term and strategic planning, and the flexibility needed for an effective crisis response);
- CSOs operate with a mentality of‘scarcity’(of funding) and find themselves in competition with each other (which limits their creativity and ability to take risks);
- Short-term project funding leaves CSO staff in an insecure and precarious position(which makes it difficult for them to make long-term plans and to invest in capacity-building and well-being, and limits their ability to respond and respond creatively to crises);
- Funding priorities and funding decisions are typically made in a top-downdecision-makingprocess;
- Grassroots organisations, initiatives, and movements often do not participate in the decision-making processregarding the allocation of funds, even though they are the ones who know the needs and funding priorities on the ground;
- Hierarchical relationshipsbetween the providers and recipients of grants limit the possibility of meaningful, creative engagement in the funding relationship;
- Significant time and energy are spent on bureaucratic procedures, which create additional barriers for grassroots organisations and initiatives and make it difficult to affect the rapid adjustments that are needed, particularly in times of crises with changing situations and needs.
The policy paper calls on major funders of CSOs, including the European Union, to revise their funding schemes so that CSOs have more capacity to respond to needs on the ground, particularly in times of crises, when mainstream fundingschemes become hinderers rather thanenablers of rapid and effective response. More specifically, it invites funders to diversify their forms of funding, revise the parameters of the funding process, allocate rapidly available crisis funding, and re-evaluate the funding mindset.
Forms of funding
- Provide flexible, multi-year, capacity-building funding–leaving space for experimentation, creativity, and crisis response;
- Combine long-term core fundingand short-term project-based funding;
- Support community-led organisations; enable special funding for grassroots organisations and initiatives led by members of vulnerable groups (through earmarking and other schemes) to help build community resilience and to mobilise local resources to be deployed in times of crisis;
- Use grants to support community philanthropy and community foundations (that are based on the mobilisation of local resources for local issues) to help build local resilienceto be deployed during times of crises;
- Allow regranting to make it possible for smallerorganisations to be supported by larger CSOs and to open pathways of collaboration: It is particularly important for funders that are not part of the rights movements they are funding to consult grassroots actors about where the funding should go or give the funding to movement-led and community-led organisations that can facilitate the allocation of funds in a participatory way (through regranting and other means).
The funding process
- Conduct research on the funding needs of CSOs and grassroots civic initiatives and make funding allocations needs-driven;
- Put an emphasis on the process, and not exclusively on the outcomes, thereby leaving time for reflection and iterative processes;
- Make decision-making processes on funding priorities and allocations inclusive –for example, by developing participatory funding schemesthat enable CSOs and grassroots organisations and movements to decide on funding priorities and allocations;
- Simplify reporting processes and reduce bureaucracy: use the information that is already there (and introduce video-reporting as an option when appropriate)
Crisis funding
- Redefine funding lines and processes based on an understanding of perpetual and interconnected multiple crises: gender-based violence, racism, state violence, climate justice, poverty, and other forms of slow violence and slow disaster;
- Develop crisis-specific funding schemes in consultation with grassroots organisations and initiatives to identify and respond to the funding needs on the ground;
- Make rapid response / emergency fundsavailable;
- Introduce flexibility into all funding schemes in order to support creative and effective crisis responses by CSOs.
The funding mindset
- Redefine the relationship between funders and grantees as one of partnership(having a more horizontal partnership and sharing common values enable a rapid and effective response during a crisis);
- Acknowledge, learn from, and support the multiplicity of resourcesthat communities and grassroots organisations and movements have, such as skills, knowledge, networks, and activist energy, acknowledging that ‘money’ (as important as it is) is not the only nor the most important resource for an effective crisis response;
- Do not let issues of trust and accountability get in the way of building equal relationships with grassroots organisations and initiatives, and instead build long-lasting relationships and collaboration to maintain mutual trust and accountability;
- Re-evaluate all funding processes and outcomes based on questions of inclusion, intersectionality, and fairness, paying particular attention to the structural inequalities that result from histories of colonialism, racism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and ableism