The Open Society Institute Middle East & North Africa Initiative (MENA) welcomes unsolicited grant proposal outlines, or concept notes, on a rolling basis throughout the calendar year. Concept notes and grant proposals should fall within the following focus areas:

• Rights and Governance. MENA supports local civil society groups that promote international human rights standards, the rule of law, and government accountability, including budget work. It looks to support groups that conduct human rights monitoring and advocacy; legal reform work, and human rights education. Grantmaking emphasizes projects that promote the rights of women and migrant workers.
• Media and Information. MENA supports innovative projects that promote free media and the open exchange of information. It looks to strengthen content and build capacity for independent print, broadcast, and online media and actively supports groups or initiatives that promote the right to free expression. Media projects that seek to foster the rights of women and migrant workers and that attempt to engage youth in media production and information exchange are particularly welcome.
• Youth and Knowledge. MENA aims to support initiatives that engage youth in building an open society. Grantmaking targets programs that promote early education, youth development, and youth engagement in civil society with the broader aim of helping young people become productive citizens.

As a general rule, MENA prefers to receive grant applications made on behalf of an organization rather than an individual. Preference is given to local organizations in the region or initiatives that partner local and foreign organizations' expertise. MENA accepts proposals in Arabic, English, or French. Program staff will endeavor to review the proposal outlines at the end of each month and respond 30 days afterwards.

Format

The program requests that grantees submit concept notes outlining the project (no longer than two pages long). These concept notes should be sent as attachments (.pdf, .doc, swx, .rtf).

Each concept note should include:

• Name of the project
• Name of the applicant organization
• Contact person and full contact information
• An executive summary of the project (What do you want to do and how? What is the problem your project seeks to address?)
• Project objectives (What would the project accomplish?)
• A draft budget (in USD)
• Background information about the organization or individual applying

Please note that if your proposal outline is reviewed positively, OSI will request a more detailed proposal.

All concept notes, full proposals, or questions on this process should be sent to proposals@osimena.org.