The Neighbourhood Fund

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The Neighborhood Fund falls under the Civil Society Fund.

The Neighborhood Fund supports civil society interventions in the six Eastern neighborhood countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The goal of the fund is democratic development and a strong and diverse civil society in these countries, while also providing opportunities for efforts that support democratic reconstruction initiatives in Ukraine.

The Neighborhood Fund's first application deadline is March 13, 2024.

Access and download materials related to grants and applications

Useful Information about the Neighborhood Fund

Interventions under the Neighborhood Fund must address specific challenges in the context through partnerships between Danish organisations and civil society actors from the neighboring countries. In addition to supporting interventions in each of the six countries, the Neighborhood Fund can also support interventions with a regional perspective, involving activities in several of the six Eastern neighborhood region countries.

The Neighborhood Fund can be applied for as Small-scale Interventions up to 200,000 DKK, Citizen Participation Interventions up to 500,000 DKK, and Development Interventions up to 4.5 million DKK. For these three support modalities, the guidelines of the Civil Society Fund apply.

In addition to the three support modalities, the Neighborhood Fund also includes the Reconstruction Ukraine support modality, which can support interventions up to 4.5 million DKK. The special purpose of the Reconstruction Ukraine support form is to:

Ensure dialogue and civil society involvement in the long-term reconstruction of democracy and anti-corruption mechanisms.
Promote diverse participation, transparency, and accountability regarding the use of funds for the implementation of plans for, as well as democratic oversight of, the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The Neighborhood Fund contributes to reconstruction by promoting diverse participation, transparency, democratic oversight, and accountability in the use of funds and implementation of plans for reconstruction efforts. This can be achieved through initiatives that establish accountability structures or strengthen citizens' ability to monitor the work of governmental, private, and other actors in reconstruction, or initiatives that enhance the framework for civil society in future Ukraine. Initiatives can also address acute social needs or the (re)establishment of critical democratic functions and institutions that can stabilize the situation at the local and national levels, thereby contributing to a more responsible and sustainable society.

Read more about the Reconstruction Ukraine support modality in the guidelines of the Civil Society Fund Guidelines here .

All applications are submitted digitally to CISU via the system Vores CISU, where applicants upload the application form and budget format.

The Neighborhood Fund has its own separate application formats for Small-scale Interventions, Citizen Participation Interventions, Development Interventions, and Reconstruction Ukraine.

Find all relevant formats here.

CISU uses several tools for grant allocation management:

An annual estimated distribution of the total funding budget across the different support modalities
Maximum limits for individual types of applications
Maximum limit for each organisation
Scoring/prioritisation of applications for one or more support modality according to a transparent scoring system

Throughout the year, there is close and systematic monitoring of allocated grants allowing the the possibility to redistribute among support modalities/adjust maximum grant limits/postpone the processing of applications/transfer between years/add unused grants.

Regarding 1. An annual estimated allocation of the total funds of the pool across various support modalities.

Following a retrospective analysis and forward estimates, CISU's Board has approved the following distribution of pool funding for 2024.

Grant Allocation Management 2024

Support Modality	2024 - DKK
Small-scale Inrerventions (SI) - CSP basic	3,375,000
Citizen Participation Interventions (MI) - CSP basic	22,000,000
Small-scale Inrerventions (SI) and Citizen Participation Interventions (MI) - Neighborhood Fund	5,000,000
Development Interventions - CSP basic	50,000,000
Development Interventions - Neighborhood Fund	21,500,000
Program*	73,000,000
Program Reviews-concept notes	-
Capacity Analyses	200.000
Co-financing and Support for Application Process	3,000,000
CISU's Information Fund	500,000

CCAM 2022-2025**	53,726,003
Total	232,301,003

Notes*

* Budgeted for 15 organisations to have a program grant from 2024 until the next round.

** Disbursement of climate supplement (CCAM) over two years, 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Regarding 2. Maximum limits per application for individual application types:

Small-scale Interventions: 200,000 DKK
Citizen Participation Interventions: 500,000 DKK
Development Interventions: 4.5 million DKK
Program: The overall maximum limit is 15 million DKK per year. Guidelines outline how much can be applied for based on the organisation's existing portfolio. Special rules apply to the so-called "additional fund" for programs.
Co-financing: 2 million DKK (maximum one grant per organisation per year)
Support for Application Processes: 50,000 DKK

Regarding 3. Maximum limit for each organisation:

The maximum annual grants that can be given to an organisation collectively are 6 million DKK. (This does not include funds from Co-Financing, the CISU Information Fund, OpEn, CCAM, or the DERF).

Regarding 4. Scoring/prioritisation of applications for one or more support modality according to a transparent scoring system:

The Civil Society Fund is allocated an annual total amount on the Finance Act every year, which means it may be necessary to prioritise among applications.

Citizen Participation Interventions, Development Interventions up to 1 million DKK, Co-Financing, Support for Application Processes, and Capacity Analyses are exempt from prioritisation – meaning interventions found worthy of support by the Asessment Committee will receive funding.
For Development Intervention applications exceeding 1 million DKK, the assessment consultant will conduct a scoring in the 'Assessment Committee Note' based on the fulfillment of the assessment criteria in the Civil Society Fund Guidelines. If there are not enough funds to grant all eligible applications, those with the highest scores will be funded. More on this below.

The scoring for each application will be sent to the applicant along with the 'Assessment Committee Note'. An applicant who has not been granted funding can therefore use the scoring to improve the application for the next round.

Funds are allocated for program grants based on knowledge of organisations that either have a program grant or are in the process of becoming a program organisation. In case of extreme pressure on overall funds, programs may also be proportionally adjusted downwards.

If there are insufficient funds in the pool to accommodate all eligible Development Interventions over 1 million DKK, and several interventions share the "lowest score" in the ranking, allocation occurs in the following order:

If the amount needed to grant all interventions with the same score is less than 10% of the total of those applications, funding is granted with the condition that individual budgets are reduced by the necessary percentage.
If this is not possible, priority is given to an intervention that clearly follows a previous intervention. If there are several such interventions, those with the lowest requested amounts are prioritised.
If all interventions are new, funding is provided to the one with the lowest requested amount, and so forth.

The scoring system is based on the assessment criteria outlined in the Civil Society Fund Guidelines.

The score is an expression of the fulfillment of the criteria in relation to to the amount requested and the given context.

1	Weak indication that supports the criteria
2	Some indication that supports the criteria
3	Indication that supports the criteria
4	Solid indication that supports the criteria
5	Comprehensive indication of implementation and/or indication of an established approach/system in supporting the criteria

Click here if you wish to file a complaint

Any complaints about the handling of an application will initially be discussed by CISU's Head of Secretariat, the Chairperson of the Board, and the Chairperson of the Assessment Committee, who will consider the nature of the complaint and decide on its further course.

As a general rule, complaints cannot lead to changes in decisions made in the Grant Assessment System. However, if there are substantial and demonstrable formal errors in the processing of the application, it may be referred for reassessment. Assessments made in the Grant Assessment System cannot be altered.

All complaints will, in any case, be included and used constructively in the ongoing evaluation of professional practices within CISU, involving the Board, Assessment Consultants, Assessment Committee, and the Secretariat/Advisors.

CISU's procedures for feedback and complaints are outlined in CISU's Code of Conduct here.

As a member organisation, you can always request advice throughout the application process. Remember to book well in advance of any deadlines.

Book an advisory session here

Applicants whose organisations are not members of CISU can receive guidance on application procedures. Contact CISU at +45 86120342 or puljer@cisu.dk.