Grant Types vis-à-vis Impact Themes Voice transitioned from being under the Dialogue and Dissent policy framework of MoFA in phase 1 to becoming part of the Power of Voices framework in the extension phase, particularly focusing on diversity and inclusion. While the nature of the programme remained the same, there were nevertheless some shifts in intentionality, reflected in the way the grant types and impact themes had been interacting in both phases. For instance, the Influencing Grants have the biggest fund value (47%) and threshold (i.e., maximum of 200,000 euros per project in the countries) in line with the original Dialogue and Dissent framework, but over the years we have been contracting more Empowerment projects (40%) with the smallest fund- ing threshold among the four grant types, amounting to maximum 25,000 euros only per project. In the extension phase focusing on diversity and inclusion, these grant thresholds did not shift, but the intention to invest more in rightsholder-led groups and organisa- tions has continued to be prioritised, even in the larger grant types of Influencing and Innovate & Learn.
Furthermore, the added impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the programme, while transitioning into the extension phase, really required Voice to rethink and reassess its responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of the rightsholders. Thus, the three impact themes of Voice needed to be contextualised further in the extension phase based on the rapidly shifting demands of the time. The need for innovation and creativity has never been more underscored than in the recent CfPs inviting all projects and grant types to promote economic empowerment due to loss of live- lihood, access to mental health services and wellness programmes, protection of digital rights, security and privacy, access to information and technology, har- nessing arts and music to advocate for social justice, and strengthened initiatives in many other thematic areas. While the achieved targets, as illustrated in table 2 above, had no major variance from phase 1, these specific themes nevertheless provide a better picture of where the rightsholders’ priorities are during the beginning of the extension phase.
Rightsholders march as part of celebrating the civil society week in Tanzania
Rightsholders The strong push to underscore intersectionality as a funda- mental aspect of understanding the lives of rightsholders had allowed Voice to reach an even broader network of communities, groups, and individuals with overlapping layers of lived experiences and intersecting identities. In the extension phase of Voice, the newly approved projects do not only remain focused on working alongside the 5 rightsholder groups; they have also opened and widened the way for the programme to reach and include more, such as stateless people and refugees, people affected by modern slavery, people who use drugs, people in conflict areas, individuals and groups most affected by climate change and natural disasters, and many more. This is in addition to the “sub-groups” previously identified in phase 1, characterised by the intersections of gender, ethnicity, age, and disability. Investing in multi-country grants, which are regional grants to support and link the national initiatives to broader inter- national movements, have also allowed Voice to embrace the participation and representation of rightsholders and their organisations based outside the 10 target countries. In Asia, the projects are reaching countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. In Africa,
we are supporting grantee partners working in Central Africa (e.g., Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, etc.) and even Southern Africa (e.g., Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia). In phase 1, Voice released a regional Empowerment grant to connect small organisations in two or more countries to connect with each other and embark on a joint learning trajectory. However, in the extension phase, the multi-country CfPs were designed to focus more on the larger grant types to leverage the influencing work and innovations at the regional level. The increasing representation of different subsets of rightsholder groups within Voice grantee partners and the widening geographic reach of the projects that Voice grants support are a concrete demonstration of one of the key findings of our mid-term review- Voice has untapped potential to support self-led, right- sholder groups requiring resources .
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