NOFO: Building Strong Civil Society Organizations in Cameroon

The program will provide a better understanding of the role of civil society organizations as a pillar of democratic systems, provide CSO leaders from across Cameroon the knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively manage their organizations while leveraging all available opportunities for enhanced community impact. The program should provide participants the opportunity to learn from each other to develop standard operating procedures that ensure effective achievement of organizations’ goals and objectives.

Program Objectives

• The program will consist of series of 5 workshops in 5 different regional headquarters of Cameroon. Each regional workshop will bring together participants from two regions.
• Each workshop will consist of a three-day training focusing on various aspects of CSO management. Topics covered will include, among others:
  • The role of CSOs in a democracy.
  • Managing community organizations in emerging democracies.
  • The legal framework of CSOs in Cameroon.
  • Servant leadership and community engagement.
  • Proposal writing and project management, including the elaboration of key performance indicators and reporting.
  • Understanding the USG Federal Assistance principles and mechanism
  • Financial management for sustainable CSOs.
  • Effective use of traditional and modern communication tools for enhanced impact.
• The final training curriculum should be developed following an assessment of Cameroonian CSOs capacities and weaknesses.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $50,000.
• Award amounts: $40,000 to $50,000.
• Number of awards anticipated: 1 award.
• Length of performance period: 6 to 8 months.
• The following types of activities are not eligible for funding:
  • Scholarships for study in the United States or to fund conference attendance or study tours to the United States.
  • Activities that are inherently political in nature or that contain the appearance of partisanship.
  • Construction activities.
  • Programs that support specific religious activities.
  • Fund-raising campaigns.
  • Cash prizes for participants.

Participants and Audiences

• Each workshop will bring together 30 established CSO leaders with at least two-years of experience working in an association, NGO, trade union, or community-based organization. Each participant will commit to organize a pass-it-on activity for a minimum of 10 CSO members in his/her town. There should be plans for robust media coverage to broaden the impact of the project.
• The launching of each of the workshops would be open to local authorities. The grantee should design a robust media coverage plan ensuring that the project will have high visibility.

Eligibility Criteria

• PDS encourages applications from the United States and Cameroon:
  • Registered not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks, community associations, and civil society/non-governmental organizations with programming experience
  • Individuals
  • Non-profit media organizations
  • Professional trade organizations
  • Non-profit or governmental educational institutions
• For profit or commercial entities are not eligible to apply.
• Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.
• In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number.

For more information, visit U.S. Embassy in Cameroon.