Call for Partners

THIS CALL IS CLOSED FOR NEW APPLICATIONS

Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI), founded in 2016, is committed to supporting frontline workers bring non-clinical mental health support to every child and family affected by conflict and displacement.  

The withdrawal of US and other forces from Afghanistan has led to chaos and a climate of fear across the country. It’s estimated that half a million people will flee the country by the end of the year adding to the 2.2 million Afghan people in neighbouring countries and the 3.5 million people already internally displaced. 

Chronic, toxic stress and the breakdown of protective structures (support networks) make refugees, particularly children, vulnerable to the impacts of trauma, poor health, economic and life outcomes. International, state, humanitarian and local agencies are struggling to provide adequate psychosocial support to help those affected in the aftermath of their journeys from conflict, in transition or when integrating into their host countries.  

RTI will support grassroots organisations working with or planning to work with Afghan refugees to set up and sustain safe, trauma informed collective healing spaces that will help people to connect in a community and to build the resilience they need to cope with the uncertainties of what lies ahead, and in so doing, prevent the transmission of trauma across generations.   

Objective

RTI would like to work with local organisations organising responses to meet the needs of Afghan refugees, in countries preparing to receive arrivals. RTI invites relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to submit expression of interest to partner with RTI who will provide seed funding and build their capacity to set up community hubs to support psychological wellbeing for children, families, youth and adults. 

We invite grassroots, community-based organisations with experience of working with young children, youth and their families who are already engaging with or who are mobilising to work with Afghan arrivals. We’d like to support organisations that plan to or are already running safe spaces and activities for children, young people, and parents to help reduce stress and facilitate healing.  

 What we offer

We will train partners to establish safe spaces for children, families, youth or adults to deliver structured psychosocial support that help the wellbeing and regulation of the communities that attend. 

RTI Training and capacity building package: 

Alongside funding support, RTI will provide in person training and capacity building, followed by 5 months of remote capacity building. 

In the phase of training (in country where possible) with chosen partners, RTI will: 

  • Meet the team and conduct an assessment (with team and with relevant community, as appropriate)  

  • Deliver two weeks training (approx. 6 hours per day) (an overview of the training can be viewed here 

Where relevant, we will work alongside your team to either set up and launch your new service or incorporate these new practices into your existing service. For completely new services, we will support your service design, materials development, and outreach processes. We will also provide training in RTI Monitoring & Evaluation practices and requirements 

Following the first month, RTI will continue to support your team for five additional months with: 

  • Monthly capacity building call 

  • Monthly calls with other partners implementing similar services with Afghan communities 

Eligibility

Our funding will be a contribution to already existing services. We will consider grants between 25,000 – 45,000 EUR.

To be eligible, applications must meet the following conditions: 

  1. Work with or plan to imminently work with newly arriving Afghan refugees  

  2. Have some experience of working with young children, youth and their families 

  3. Commitment to sustain the service or model beyond the funding period 

  4. Demonstrable capacity to match funds 

  5. Applicants must be registered NGOs or established legal entities  

  6. We invite applications from the following countries: Albania, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan and Turkey but will be open to expressions from other countries receiving Afghan arrivals. 

How to Apply

To be considered, please provide an Expression of Interest containing the following information:

1. Details of organisation  

  • Name of organisation 

  • Address including country(s) of operation 

  • Website and contact details 

  • Details of contact staff for application (with email and contact number) 

  • Brief description of organisational history, current mission and operations, target groups, current size of staff team and location of operations (no more than 200 words) 

  • List of current partners (funding and/or implementing partners) 

  • Annual organisational budget 

  • Grant amount requested from RTI 

2. Expression of interest 

2.1 Why is your organisation interested in partnering with RTI to provide psychosocial  support to newly arrived/arriving Afghan refugees?(maximum of 200 words) 

2.2  Please also describe:  

  • How training and capacity building in trauma sensitive and identity informed approaches for Afghan refugees will be integrated into your ongoing operations? (maximum of 200 words) 

  • How the budget applied for will be used to support the above. (narrative – maximum 100 words) 

  • Please provide a budget including e.g. materials, salaries, volunteer stipends, Admin costs no more than 10% of total budget 

  • Anticipated numbers of people to be reached through your interventions. Please specify, if known, approximate numbers of children five years and under, parents and caregivers and/or young people or other community members. 

  • Anticipated outcomes (maximum 100 words) 

3. Timeframe and sustainability 

Over what timeframe do you anticipate being able to sustain psychosocial activities developed through the partnership with RTI following the end of the 6 month grant period? (maximum 50 words) 

What capacity do you have to match funds? (maximum 50 words) 

 
 

Submission of applications 

This call shall remain open from 17 September 2021 until the 15th October 2021, 12:00pm EET. Applications may be submitted at any time and will be evaluated in a sequential manner and decided on a rolling basis.  

Submission of applications is made via email. Applicants must submit an expression of interest including a budget and submit it to the following address: 

Subject line: Afghan response  

Only complete applications will be considered for evaluation and selection purposes. 

Application Process

If successful at the Expression of Interest stage, applicants will need to complete a Project Proposal and Due Diligence document before they are able to receive funds. Applicants should only consider applying if they are able to meet the above eligibility criteria and the following due diligence requirements. Please click here to view the minimum requirement. 

Please check this page regularly for updates and to find information on next stages for the application.