DGB Bildungswerk Bund

“Strengthening women and youth leadership within the trade union movement”: http://bit.ly/2qzoyo8

Countries: Eligible for funding are any projects in South Asia and Southeast Asia with the exception of countries that are not listed on the DAC List of ODA Recipients of the OECD: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/documentupload/DAC%20List%20of%20ODA%20Rec...
Project Duration: 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021 

Application language: English

Deadline: 15 August 2015

Grant size:  Proposals with annual budgets between EUR 60,000.00 and EUR 100,000.00 may be submitted. The annual scope of the project should not exceed 35 percent of the organisation’s annual budget. 

DESCRIPTION:

Women and young workers face precarious working conditions in South and South East Asia. The lack of education and informalization of work often leads to uncertain and slave-like employment relationships and therefore to economic as well as social insecurity. The overrepresentation of women and young workers in non-decent forms of work undermines their rights, perpetuates injustice in societies and weakens the prospects for sustainable economic progress in South and South East Asia. 

In this context trade unions can and do play an essential role. They enable workers to organise and to negotiate with employers and companies to enhance economic and social security. Even if unionisation has a substantial positive impact on the pay and benefit of workers in general, union strategies and activities on organising often fail to reach women and young workers within the trade union movement due to lack of information and insufficient addressing concepts. 

To maintain a growing labour movement, trade unions are asked to find new adequate organising and recruitment strategies. Furthermore, trade unions need to provide opportunities to deepen women and young workers ́ involvement in union activities – especially with regards to leadership and representation within trade unions – in order to strengthen their power and to contribute to social justice and decent work. 

In this context the North-South Network is searching for projects which are dedicated to the strengthening of women and youth leadership within the trade union movement on a content and an institutional level. 

Projects are sought whose activities of union training, information and counselling aim at: 

• advocating the respect for human rights, especially women and youth rights, the right to work and to free choice of occupation, healthy and satisfying conditions of work as well as basic social security, freedom from discrimination and the implementation of gender equality, fair pay and freedom of association, 
• supporting trade unions and their members in their capacity as the collective representation of employees’ interests, in particular for women and youth, in monitoring and implementing labour and social standards including the core labour standards, 
• supporting trade unions, their members and employees in their being a creative part of civil society and thereby playing an important role in the democratisation of economy, state and society, 
• supporting trade unions and their members to have strong capacity to represent their interests, especially those of women and youth, to act as an equal counterpart vis-à-vis governments and employers in talks and collective bargaining negotiations, 
• empowering women and youth leadership within the trade union structures and their representation in executive committees, 
• overcoming fragmentation of unions and promoting the unity of trade unions along with their capacity for joint campaigning, 
• advocating social and gender inequality, the expansion of social security systems and of equal opportunities with a particular focus on youth and women, 
• supporting the establishment and consolidation of independent and democratic trade union structures based on a broad membership. 

ELIGIBILITY:

• Union confederations; unions of national scope; regional organisations of the ITUC or of the GUFs; pro- union NGOs and such engaging in labour issues; union-affiliated or pro-union oriented research institutions and educational providers 
• The implementing agency (applicant) will have to be from South or South East Asia 

Prerequisites for the applicant organisation: 

• registered (non-profit) organisation or legal person with statute and board or management 
• HR and professional resources for the application, execution and accounting of a project in accordance
• with the BMZ provisions 
• financial independence, activities independent of third-party funding. Organisation will have sufficient
• own resources to bear financial project risks (non-eligible expenditure) autonomously 
• accounting able to identify project funds separately; experience in managing international projects will
• be advantageous 
• as for unions: concordance with the political guidelines of DGB, ITUC, Global Unions1 and/or their regional organisations 
• organisation with a democratic and independent constitution

Conceptual project prerequisites: 

• in-depth analysis of the dimension of problems in the country and in the area where the project is sup- posed to intervene 
• realistic project planning implementable within 3 years, including then of start of project, implementing phase and end of project 
• The project is orientated towards sustainability, i.e. also after termination of funding, measures can be implemented by the applicant organisation and the target group will continue to profit from the results also after termination of funding 
• in line with DGB and ITUC goals

The application consists of the following documents, to be submitted as separate files: 

1. completed application form (annex 1) 
2. project budget (annex 2) 
3. completed information on partner organisation (annex 3) 
4. constitutions/statutes, approvals in country (copy of the registration as a local organisation or approva as a trade union, certificates of registration/incorporation) 
5. declaration of intent of the applicant organisation’s Board or Management (local partner) and, as the case may be, of further partners as provided in the project 
6. copy of the last financial statement, audit report; 
7. evidence of tax payments
8. completed checklist (annex 5) 

To download all documents, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/2qzoyo8