Call for Concept Notes – Education for Refugee and Displaced Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa

This call is designed to increase access to education for refugee and displaced children and youth. Targeted capacity building, combined with small grants for core activities, locally driven education-related programming and policy engagement, would amplify the voices of refugee and internally displaced people (IDPs) and those of organizations that represent them and are led by them. Through innovative solutions, the call aims to increase access to quality education by providing additional funding for organizations that are best placed to understand the needs of their communities and are on the front lines of providing essential education services for refugees and IDPs. This call will enable dynamic partnerships between Canadian organizations, national organizations, host communities, and refugee-led organizations (RLOs) and IDP-led organizations. It will be an important contributor to the emerging evidence base and global learning on the role of RLOs and IDP-led organizations in directly enhancing education outcomes of refugee and IDP children and youth. Context-specific, locally driven solutions and conflict-sensitive design will be critical in ensuring the use of adaptive and responsive approaches that integrate risk management strategies.

The call has 3 core objectives:

• facilitate organizational capacity building among local RLO and/or IDP-led organizations* working in the education sector to strengthen their empowerment and organizational effectiveness
• provide grants** to local organizations, particularly RLO and/or IDP-led organizations, to strengthen gender-responsive education programming for refugee and internally displaced children and youth, particularly girls and adolescent girls, and ensure due diligence and monitoring of grants
• amplify the voices of local RLO and IDP-led organizations working in the education sector, including women-led organizations, through their collective action with key education stakeholders, governments and host communities

* RLOs and IDP-led organizations are defined as community-based organizations (CBOs), including women-led organizations, working in the education sector that are either founded and/or led by refugees and/or IDPs as decision makers. While some RLOs and IDP-led organizations are officially registered with the host state, others cannot register due to legal barriers. Both registered and non-registered organizations can receive assistance within the context of this call. Organizations must be active in providing protection and assistance to refugees and IDPs, with their activities including but not limited to advice and programs on inclusion, integration, meaningful participation, education, empowerment and self-reliance.

** Grants can be used to fund:

• core activities of the RLOs and IDP-led organizations that operate in the education sector
• education-related programming in line with the RLO/IDP-led organizations’ mandate or objectives
• flexible response fund for adaptive activities in the event of unforeseen events (i.e., conflict, health pandemic)

As an organization can only submit one application to this competition, interested applicants are asked to notify the Office of Research of their interest in applying to this opportunity by March 12, 2021 by sending an email to ahacquo1@lakeheadu.ca.