Together for Children

Together for Children is a grant programme created and launched by the Carpathian Foundation in partnership with UNICEF to help ensure equal and inclusive access to care and education, especially for children fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as for other children in need. We will reallocate €1,090,000 to participating projects from all across Slovakia during 2023. Key to this programme is building partnerships between local governments and experts from different fields to implement systemic and sustainable change.

Current status

Closed

Goals and short history

  • To promote fair and inclusive access to care and education for children who have fled the war in Ukraine and children in need.
  • To support, in particular, the implementation of systemic and sustainable changes in partnership with local governments, professionals and educators.
  • To provide education and support to the parents and garegivers of these children so they can provide appropriate care.
  • To build key partnerships between local governments, schools, NGOs, professionals, and other actors in the field of inclusive early childhood education and care.
  • To implement quality inclusive education and care at the local level.

Conditions and criteria

  1. The project implementation involves a municipality represented by a local government or an organisation established by it. Where the applicant is a local authority, other relevant partners shall participate in implementing the project. Specifically for a large grant: The involvement of a local government or an organisation set up by it is mandatory in the project.
  2. The project involves multiple actors (state authorities, NGOs, and others) while taking an inter-sectoral approach (i.e. considering the holistic needs of children and their families through interventions across education, health, protection, and other sectors).
  3. The project clearly describes the solution to the above problem, intending to create sustainable systemic change at the local/regional level. At the same time, the project is based on the real needs of the target group, taking into account its socio-cultural, linguistic, and other specificities. Specifically for a large grant: The project introduces sustainable, comprehensive, innovative and proven knowledge, tools, methodologies, solutions and evidence-based approaches in the field of inclusive education and care (e.g. it is part of regular monitoring, planning, budgeting, and evaluation mechanisms at the local level).
  4. The purpose of the project is in line with the purpose of the grant call, including the focus on vulnerable children aged 0-10 years and the needs of children who have fled the war in Ukraine (access to formal and non-formal education for the target group of children (especially in early childhood)/access to educational materials and technology/benefits for children and their caregivers in the form of psychosocial and mental health support/use of optimal nutrition counselling for infants and young children/participation of key actors in behaviour change activities to ensure optimal growth and development of the target group of children).
  5. The project has clearly defined goals – they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
  6. The project activities are described clearly and in detail and logically linked to each other so that their implementation by the applicant leads to achieving the project goal(s). The activities consider the holistic needs of children and their families and cut across education, health, protection, and other related sectors.
  7. The project exactly defines who the target group(s) is/are, what its/their needs are and what its/their size is/are. The project responds to the needs of children who have fled the war in Ukraine and their parents/accompanying persons/caregivers. It clearly describes how this/these target group(s) will benefit from the project implementation. The project shall include as many children as possible as the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project results, and largest possible share of the children who have fled the war in Ukraine, especially those without access to education and care. The size of the target group involved is realistically calculated (if one person is involved in several thematically different activities, they should be counted separately for each activity).
  8. The project results are explicitly, realistically, quantitatively, and qualitatively defined. The impact of the project is clearly described and achievable.
  9. The project budget is cost-effective, realistic, understandable, and detailed. The project complies with the co-financing conditions.
  10. The applicant is entirely aware of the project’s sustainability and follow-up activities to the supported project. Specifically for a large grant: The applicant has clearly indicated how it will ensure the project’s sustainability.
  11. The project clearly describes and assesses the risks involved as well as the risk mitigation measures.
  12. The applicant has a clear plan for communicating the project results to the public. (The project communication will be guided by the Grant Programme Communication Handbook provided by the Carpathian Foundation and UNICEF prior to the signing of the contract).

Up to €1,090,000 will be reallocated under the programme, and applicants can apply for small and large grants. The maximum amount for a small grant is €29,999 per project. The maximum budget for a large grant is €80,000 per project.

The application deadline is 28th February 2023 at 23:59. Supported projects may start no earlier than 1st January 2023 and must be completed no later than 31st October 2023.

The co-financing of the applicant is mandatory at the rate of 5 % of the grant requested. The co-financing may be financial or non-financial, but the cost of the co-financing must be verifiable and demonstrable, and compliant with the Financial Manual at the time of submitting the application (i.e. accurately quantified contributions of volunteer work and the applicant’s own assets and resources used in connection with the implementation of the project).

More information, terms and conditions, and contacts can be found in the current call for the Together for Children grant programme HERE.

Supported in the past

Together for Children is a new grant programme of the Carpathian Foundation and the UNICEF organisation. The first supported projects and results will be known during the year 2023.