RCfP

Reverse Call for Proposals

Shifting power to local community organisations in Zambia

Background

This ‘Reverse Call for Proposals’ is a prototype under RINGO (Re-imagining), an ambitious initiative that seeks to reimagine the purpose and role of INGOs while creating a more balanced civil society globally that ensures national and local organisations can have more power, resources, and influence. This follows long-standing demands from many in civil society for a more ethical ‘localisation’ and new forms of bottom-up power.

The ‘Reverse Call for Proposals’ prototype design and rollout is led by a collective of civil society organisations, including Pledge for Change, Center for Disaster Preparedness (Philippines), AGNA (Affinity Group of National Associations), Kujalink and the Zambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society (ZGF). It is an initiative that aims to ensure that partnerships between international and local civil society are entirely locally led and demand-driven, based on local assessments of their needs. The ‘Reverse Call for Proposals’ is a mechanism to help shift power by asking for solidarity and action from INGOs.

ZGF’s mission is to strengthen local communities and civil society’s capacities to unlock and utilise available and untapped resources for sustainable development. To date, ZGF has supported 162 organisations, ranging from well-established CSOs and emerging CSOs to community-based organisations across Zambia, through a total of 237 grants awarded over the past 15 years.  At the community level, ZGF’s specific role is to help revive the community philanthropy ethos, empower communities to become active partners in defining and shaping their development by tapping into their own resources, help develop community structures, strengthen community leadership, facilitate civic self-organisation, and link communities to interested stakeholders.

Purpose

ZGF facilitated a process of identifying priorities in eight communities across four districts (Chibombo, Chisamba, Luangwa and Rufunsa), using the asset-based community-led development (ABCD) approach, through which we encouraged communities to identify their existing assets and to invest their assets to respond to community priorities and needs jointly.

ZGF invites International NGOs working in Zambia to submit their proposals in support of community-led initiatives in Chisamba, Chibombo, Rufunsa and Luangwa through (a) financial support, (b) in-kind support, (c) knowledge transfer and training, and/or (d) support to partnership building and stakeholder engagement.

We anticipate that signatories to the Pledge for Change initiative (Care International, Save the Children, Plan International, FHI360, SOS Children’s Villages and Oxfam) will be particularly interested in this approach as a means to advance their commitments to Equitable Partnership and Influencing Wider Change in our shared context (and we will work with Pledge for Change governance to provide additional support and scaffolding to this approach for signatories).

Download the Reverse Call for Proposals guidelines in word here and in PDF format here

Download the Reverse Call for Proposals template in word here and in PDF format here