Hivos collaboration grants 2018 for coworking and creative hubs in Africa

Application Deadline: 10 December 2017

Last month Hivos organized the third edition of its Coworking Summit, an annual gathering for founders and managers of creative hubs, coworking, hacker, maker, and art spaces. This year marked a special edition, as Hivos decided to join forces with Afrilabs, bringing together more than 40 hubs from all over Africa.

The event provided a platform for participants to network, share stories and experiences, learn from their peers, get inspired and boost new collaborations. In order to facilitate these processes further, Hivos invite coworking and creative hubs to apply for the Hivos’ collaboration grants.

Grants

Hivos will provide the following two type of grants:

Knowledge exchange grants

This type of grant will be awarded to candidates who want to benefit from each other’s expertise and/or experience.

Examples:

A maker space in country A visits a creative hub in country B to help them with 3D technology.
A creative hub in country A visits an ICT space in country B to learn about their financial sustainability model.
Space A sends a staff member to space B to learn about community outreach and space B sends a staff member to space A in return to learn about marketing or monetization of creative content.

Grants within this category have a value of 1.000 – 5.000 EUR.

Collaborative projects grants

This type of grant will be awarded to candidates who want to undertake a joint project.

Examples:

Art spaces from countries A, B, and C organize a joint art exhibition or music festival.
Tech hubs A and B create an innovative product together.
Coworking spaces from countries A, B, C and D work together to come up with an innovative collaboration between coworking communities throughout Africa.

Grants within this category have a value of 10.000 – 20.000 EUR.

The total amount of grants awarded for the knowledge exchange and the collaborative projects is 60.000 euros.

Eligibility criteria

Applying spaces should be based in one or more of the following countries*: Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
Knowledge exchange grants. Spaces applying for this type of grant can either submit a single application (space A visits space B) or a group application (space A visits space B and space B visits space A). In the case of a single application, a letter of agreement of the host space is required. Spaces should also include a fee in their budget proposal for the services/time expected from the host organization.
Collaborative project grants. Spaces applying for this type of grant are expected to initiate collaboration and form a partnership prior to applying for the grant. Spaces should jointly prepare a proposal and budget, which must be agreed upon and signed by all spaces involved. Spaces then appoint one lead space that will submit the grant application on behalf of the group to Hivos. The lead member will receive the grant amount and is responsible for its distribution to other consortium members according to the agreed budget that is submitted.
A space can send a maximum of 3 representatives to the other space. Representatives should fall into one of the following categories:

Space founder
Space manager
Space staff member

Process

Step 1: Submission of grant proposals by 10 December 2017

Step 2: Selection by 24 December 2017 (grant recipients will be notified shortly after)

Step 3: Contracting by the end of January

Step 4: Activity period February – May

Format

Applications are accepted in Arabic, French, and English. The grant proposals must be no longer than 3 pages with the following sections:

Collaboration details:
- Number of member spaces
- Names and countries of spaces and legal entity of each space
- Short description of the work and the mission of all spaces
- Names, positions and contact details (phone number & e-mail address) of each representative nominated to travel
State for which type of grant you are applying (knowledge exchange grant or collaborative project grant) and provide a brief outline of what you would like to do with the grant. Try to be as concrete as possible.
Brief outline of proposed activities, including a simple schedule, time frame or step-by-step list.
Budget proposal, including the requested amount (In EUR).
Signatures of the founders of all consortium member spaces in case of a collaborative project grant

Selection criteria

Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:

Relevance of the project to the local context;
Interdisciplinary of the collaboration (e.g. an unusual alliance between an art space and ICT hub etc.);
Preference is given to those who seek collaboration between Northern African countries and Sub-Saharan African countries;
Preference is given to applicants from spaces outside capital cities;
Preference is given to female applicants and those belonging to minority groups;
Preference is given to candidates who have not received a Hivos’ collaboration grant before.

Requirements and reporting

Successful applicants are required to submit a final narrative and financial report after the completion of their visit, which is used to measure the outcomes of the visit and the overall benefit/added value of the mobility grant. The report, which will be flexible in format (a formal report, a series of articles or blog posts, a video), should at least include the following information:

Details of the spaces involved
Objectives set out at the beginning
Details about the activities undertaken with the grant
Outcomes at the end of exchange/collaboration
Plans for continuation of collaboration with other spaces
Financial report in line with Hivos requirements (to be shared after grant approval)

Deadline and other Requirements

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 10 December 2017. Applicants must ensure that their grant proposals are in word or pdf format and that they are sent by email to: collaborationgrants@hivos.org

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Hivos collaboration grants 2018