Funding Criteria

The funding criteria for the strategic period 2011 - 2015

Type of projects

KIOS supports human rights projects of civil society organisations.

Typical projects funded by KIOS include:

• Human rights campaigning, lobbying and advocacy
• Human rights monitoring and documentation
• Human rights awareness raising and education
• Providing legal aid
• Capacity building

Funding is not granted for development work, educational projects (unless human rights education), social work, humanitarian aid, research projects or socio-economic support for marginalized groups. Furthermore, KIOS does not grant scholarships, fellowships, or financial support for conferences or travelling.

Geographical focus

For the strategic period 2011 - 2015 KIOS focuses its funding to the following countries:

• In Eastern Africa: Burundi, North and South Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
• In South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet. 

Funding cannot be granted for projects in other countries and applications coming from any other country outside of focus countries will not be registered.

Priority groups

KIOS aims at supporting projects that especially deal with the rights of the most vulnerable groups, such as women, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, human rights defenders and people living in extreme poverty.  

Grant size & budget

There is no set limit to the amount of grant that can be applied for.

The budget must be presented in the local currency of the country.

The budget of the project should be realistic in relation to local price level, project activities and to the capacity and previous experience of the applicant organisation.

The grantee is expected to provide a self-financing share of a minimum 7,5 % of the total costs of the project funded by KIOS. State the self-financing clearly in the proposed budget.

Other Finnish funding

Funding can not be granted to projects or programmes that are already funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, for instance through Local Cooperation Funds of Finnish Embassies.

Project duration

The first KIOS grant is always for a one year (or shorter)project. Applications requesting funding for longer projects will not be registered and handled by KIOS. 

Requirements

The KIOS Executive Board’s decisions on financial support are made on the basis of the project’s substance and feasibility, and applicant organisation’s capacity to carry out the project.

The following will be considered when deciding on the financial support:

• The potential of the project to promote or protect human rights
• The capacity of the applicant to carry out a human rights project 
• Professionalism in human rights and previous experience of human rights work
• Proven experience of project and financial management
• Previous experience of projects funded by international agencies
• The project objectives and their achievability by the proposed project activities
• The budget of the project in relation to local price level, project activities and to the capacity and previous experience of the applicant organisation