Call for Proposals for the Youth Fund „Local Youth Initiatives“ is open!

Today, on the 8th April 2024, we are officially launching the open Call for Proposals for the Youth Fund „Local Youth Initiatives“ within the framework of the project Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe funded by the European Union.

Youth Fund for Local Youth Initiatives provides grants to support civil society organizations for projects that will improve and develop participatory youth policies in communities of the Western Balkans by supporting youth initiatives and fostering active citizenship and participation of young people in monitoring reforms and policies impacting youth in the region.

Eligible organizations for applying are civil society organizations registered in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Project proposals within this Call will be submitted in a two-step procedure: 1st step – Concept Note phase and 2nd step – Full application phase.

Deadline for submitting concept notes is 8th May 2024 by 20:00 (Belgrade time);

Applicants must apply in English, online to the email address: youthfund@centaronline.org

Information session on this Call for proposals to be held online, on 12th April 2024, from 12:00 to 13:30 (Belgrade time). Should you be interested in this session, please fill in the form by 11th April 2024 to be found here.

Questions requesting further explanations of the Call may be sent by e-mail no later than 20th April 2024 to the E-mail address youthfund@centaronline.org.  Replies will be individually sent to applicants by 25th April 2024.

You can find below the Guidelines for grant applicants and the annexes needed for the project application.

The Youth Fund “Local Youth Initiatives” is a FSTP (financial support to third parties) i.e. sub-granting activity of the three-year regional project “Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe” (RYDE), funded by the European Union in the period 2023-2026 through EU Civil Society Facility and Media Programme in favour of the Western Balkans and Turkey for 2021-2023 (IPA III). The RYDE project is being implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation from Serbia as a lead partner in cooperation with the partnering civil society organizations from the Western Balkans: Academy of European Integrations and Negotiations (Albania), Youth Act Center (Albania), Kosovar Stability Initiative (Kosovo*), Network of Progressive Initiatives (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center Foundation (North Macedonia) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development (Serbia).

📄 Doc #1 Guidelines for applicants_Youth Fund for Local Youth Initiatives

📄 Doc #2 Annex Ia – Concept Note Form

📄 Doc #3 Annex Ib – Full Application Form

📄 Doc #4 Annex II – Detailed Budget

📄 Doc #5 Annex III Logical framework

📄 Doc #6 Annex IV – Declaration by the Grant Applicant

📄 Doc #7 Annex V – Declaration on partnership by the Associate Partner

 

Terms of Reference – Experts for Youth participation in Kosovo and Albania, Desk research on youth policies

Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe-RYDE (hereinafter referred to as the Project) financed by the European Union (EU), on the basis of grant no. 441-454, is being implemented in the period from February 1, 2023 until January 31, 2026. The Center for Democracy Foundation from Belgrade (Serbia) is the lead partner of the Project and coordinates the work of project partners (hereinafter referred to as Partners) in the consortium consisting of Academy of European Integrations and Negotiations-AIEN and Youth Act from Tirana (Albania),  Network of Progressive Initiatives-NPI from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center from Skopje (North Macedonia), Kosovar Stability Initiative-KSI from Prishtina (Kosovo*) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development – ADD from Novi Sad (Serbia).

For more information, visit this link Lot 2_Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference – Experts for a Socio-economic area of Kosovo and Albania, Desk research on youth policies

Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe-RYDE (hereinafter referred to as the Project) financed by the European Union (EU), on the basis of grant no. 441-454, is being implemented in the period from February 1, 2023 until January 31, 2026. The Center for Democracy Foundation from Belgrade (Serbia) is the lead partner of the Project and coordinates the work of project partners (hereinafter referred to as Partners) in the consortium consisting of Academy of European Integrations and Negotiations-AIEN and Youth Act from Tirana (Albania),  Network of Progressive Initiatives-NPI from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center from Skopje (North Macedonia), Kosovar Stability Initiative-KSI from Prishtina (Kosovo*) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development – ADD from Novi Sad (Serbia).

For more information,  visit this link – Lot 1_ Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference – Conduct Annual Survey

Title of the action: Conduct annual survey with businesses across Kosovo to monitor the implementation of labor related legislation in Kosovo

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

IKS is implementing the project “Toward Social Justice and Equity”, funded by International Swedish Agency for development – SIDA, through Community Development Fund – CDF. The Overall Objective of the Project is to contribute to greater social justice by improving implementation of labour rights and labour-related legislation through enabling active engagement of civil society and social partners. A greater social justice would contribute to better distribution of opportunities, wealth and privileges in the society.

RESEARCH PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this research is to assess the current situation in the private sector in Kosovo about the labor rights and health and safety working conditions. The survey results will be presented to stakeholders and serve for improving the legislation and/or implementation of existing legal base.

The call will be open for a week, starting from 12th of September 2023. The deadline for proposal submission is 30.09.2023 at brikena_berisha@iksweb.org.

For more detailed information: Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference – Junior Researchers for Survey

The Center for Democracy Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the CDF) implements the three-year regional project Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe-RYDE (hereinafter referred to as the Project) financed by the European Union (EU) on the basis of grant no. 441-454. The project is being implemented in the period from February 1, 2023 until January 31, 2026. The CDF is the lead partner of the Project and coordinates the work of project partners (hereinafter referred to as Partners) in the consortium consisting of AIEN (Albania), Youth Act (Albania), Network of Progressive Initiatives-NPI (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center (North Macedonia), Kosovar Stability Initiative- IKS (Kosovo*) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development – ADD (Serbia).

The goal of the Project is to contribute to strengthening the participatory democracy of European integration and regional cooperation in the Western Balkans, through increased influence of civil society organizations, especially youth organizations in the promotion of democratic values, political, economic and social benefits of European integration of the Western Balkans.

For information regarding the ToR and how to apply, please see document: 📄 ToR junior researchers RYDE Survey FINAL

The documents must be sent at the email info@iksweb.org, no later than 4th of August.

Terms of Reference – Senior Researchers for Survey

The Center for Democracy Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the CDF) implements the three-year regional project Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe-RYDE (hereinafter referred to as the Project) financed by the European Union (EU) on the basis of grant no. 441-454. The project is being implemented in the period from February 1, 2023 until January 31, 2026. The CDF is the lead partner of the Project and coordinates the work of project partners (hereinafter referred to as Partners) in the consortium consisting of AIEN (Albania), Youth Act (Albania), Network of Progressive Initiatives-NPI (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center (North Macedonia), Kosovar Stability Initiative- IKS (Kosovo*) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development – ADD (Serbia).

The goal of the Project is to contribute to strengthening the participatory democracy of European integration and regional cooperation in the Western Balkans, through increased influence of civil society organizations, especially youth organizations in the promotion of democratic values, political, economic and social benefits of European integration of the Western Balkans.

For more information on the ToR and how to submit, please see the document: 📄ToR senior national experts RYDE Survey Final

The documents must be sent at the email info@iksweb.org, no later than 4th of August.

Applications for POLITEIA Regional School for Youth Participation 2023 are now open!

We invite you to apply for the POLITEIA Regional School for Youth Participation that will take place July 6-12, 2023 in Niš, Serbia.

The first POLITEIA School for Civil Society took place in 1997 where youth gained valuable knowledge of democratic and European values. Since then, hundreds of young people were taught and motivated to actively participate in social and political processes. POLITEIA is recognized as one of the leading non-formal educative programs for because of its great choice of lecturers, interactive methodology as well as choosing qualified participants. POLITEIA was raised to a regional level during a three-year regional project “Regional Youth Compact for Europe - RYCE” (2018-2021) and participation is now available for young people from the entire Western Balkans region. POLITEIA Regional School is organized within the three-year regional project“Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe” funded by the European Union.

Some of the main issues of this year’s POLITEIA will be:

  • European Union and enlargement - Western Balkans and accession to the EU: stagnation or progress?
  • National, Regional and European Identity - How can we connect them?
  • What kind of economic and social progress does the adoption of European standards bring?
  • What kind of country and society do we want to build?
  • Public space - inclusive, democratic, without hate speech and fake news
  • What are the domestic assignment on the way to the EU? How does the EU help us achieve them?
  • Key challenges at the national and regional level
  • Regional cooperation - a condition for EU accession or a real need in the Western Balkans?
  • What are public policies and how are they designed?
  • What are the youth policies in the EU and the Western Balkans?
  • Dialogue between youth and decision-makers - how is it organized, who participates in it, what is discussed?

Participation in the POLITEA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation is open to final-year undergraduate high school students, students, young professionals and activists from the age of 18 to 25 from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo*, Serbia and North Macedonia. Participants will be chosen according to their academic, activist and other achievements as well as their motivation for being part of POLITEIA alumni network.

Successful candidates will be those who have a strong interest in acquiring new knowledge about the social, economic and political benefits of the European integration of the Western Balkans, youth policies, youth networking at the regional and European level, as well as mechanisms for participation in the process of creating and implementing public policy.

Certificate for successfully completing POLITEIA Regional School for Youth Participation will be awarded to the POLITEIA participants.

The deadline for submitting application is June 4, 2023.

Please kindly note that participation in POLITEIA Regional School for Youth Participation 2023 is free of charge! The organizer is also covering all accommodation, food and travel costs.

Terms of Reference Solidar Suisse

Training and mentoring women in traning to gain textile skill is one of the activities implemented under the ‘’SpeakUp’ project, by Iniciativa Kosovare per Stabilitet, funded by Solidar Suisse.

IKS intends to commission a local expert to support the identified potential women by coaching and mentoring them in textile skills such as cutting and sewing, as part of “SPEAKUP” project. IKS will coordinate this effort, but the expert would be responsible for organizing and communicating with the targeted audience. IKS reserves the right to review and approve the methodology and all instruments, guides, and or administrative procedures as necessary to comply with IKS procedures.

Consultant submitting proposals are invited to demonstrate their capability and credentials to offer these services (e.g. past experience in the field), set out their proposed methodological approach and quote a price for the services requested.

Evaluation factors will include: proposed cost of services, quality and detail of the proposal, integrity of the proposed methodology and integrity of the administration plan; the degree to which the proposals demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Kosovo’s textile industry and challenges faced, and; the relevance and creativity of the proposed training content. IKS will select the proposal that demonstrates the best combination of price and proposed methodology/implementation plan.

The deadline for accepting offers is 1st of April 2023. All application should be sent at info@iksweb.org.

For full description of the Terms of Reference, please see this link: TERMS OF REFERENCE. 

Terms of Reference – Project Assistant/Intern

Scope and Methodology 

IKS intends to hire a part-time Project Assistant/Intern. 

The tasks and responsibilities of the Project Assistant/Intern are to: 

1. Support the Project Manager/Executive Director; 

2. Support to day-to-day management of the “Support to Social Justice Coalition” project; 

3. To ensure the project is delivered within the timeframe and budget; 

4. Keep track of activity plan; 

5. Support on preparing administrative and financial records in close cooperation with the Project management and Finance team; 

6. Support on preparing project contracts and donor reports. 

Duration of the assignment 

The intended duration is six (6) months up to one (1) year of paid internship. 

Please submit your CV’s and Motivational Letter to info@iksweb.org. 

Deadline for submission is 27th of September 2021. 

To read the full Terms of Reference, please click: 📄 Terms of Reference: Project Assistant Intern

Terms of Reference – Matra

Objectives

Improving employment conditions is a key element in working towards better gender equality in Kosovo.Through this contract, the IKS project team aim to obtain information about the quality of jobs for women in Kosovo and feed information on the working conditions of women at the country level in the retail and cleaning industry. This will be used by IKS and QPA as the basis for a policy/work strategy and a wider programme of support to women participation in the labor market in Kosovo.

While the focus of CSOs and other actors has rightly been on active labour market projects, decent work has been neglected to date. Regardless of which factor is the most prevalent, it is certain that discrimination of women at workplace happens systematically and their working conditions are far from being decent.

Our goal is to achieve decent work conditions for all women. Ending this form of discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it is also crucial to achieving social justice.

Implementation

The intended commencement period is the 1st of October 2021, while the sessions should be completed before the 31st of December 2021.

Please send your CV and Motivation Letter to brikena_berisha@iksweb.org, by 23d of September 2021.

To read the full Terms of Reference, click: 📄 Terms of Reference – Matra