Call 1 Roots4Rights (R4R)

The Call 1 Roots4Rights (R4R) grant opportunity is part of the EU's Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme, which operates from 2021 to 2027. The initiative focuses on promoting and protecting fundamental rights, particularly for women, girls, and LGBTIAQ+ communities.

The total budget for this call is €1,660,000, with funding available for projects that address systemic inequalities through capacity-building workshops and advocacy. Grants can be up to €60,000 for long-term projects (12–24 months) and up to €25,000 for short-term initiatives (6–12 months). The application process is open until June 1, 2025, with projects expected to start in October 2025 and conclude in 2028 for capacity-building activities.

Eligible applicants must be non-profit organizations legally registered in Spain, specifically grassroots organizations that are focused on supporting women, girls, LGBTIAQ+ individuals, migrants, and other marginalized groups. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial principles. Importantly, proposals must be submitted in Spanish, which may limit participation for non-Spanish-speaking applicants.

The evaluation will be carried out by an internal committee from Calala Fondo de Mujeres and Otro Tiempo, alongside external feminist consultants who will ensure impartiality and transparency in the selection process. The criteria for evaluation will include alignment with the call's focus areas, feasibility, and potential for long-term societal impact.

Challenges for applicants may include the requirement to submit proposals in Spanish and potential capacity constraints for smaller NGOs. However, the targeted approach aims to address gaps in traditional funding and empower marginalized communities.

In summary, the R4R grant offers critical funding opportunities for grassroots organizations in Spain dedicated to fundamental rights for specific marginalized groups, promoting a nuanced understanding of intersectional feminism and social justice within the EU framework.

The Call 1 Roots4Rights (R4R) is a call for proposals for civil society organisations active on protecting and promoting Union values. The full name of the EU funded project is Roots4Rights: Protect, promote, and raise awareness of EU values and fundamental rights, specifically focusing on women's, girls' and LGBTIAQ+ people’s fundamental rights. The grant agreement number is 101185485. The topic is CERV-2024-CITIZENS-VALUES - Call for proposals for civil society organisations active on protecting and promoting Union values: call to intermediaries (giving financial support to third parties).

The opening date for submissions was 02 April 2025. The deadline for submissions is 01 June 2025 at 17:00 (Brussels time). This is a single-stage deadline model. The call is currently open for submission.

The expected duration of participation is 24 months for the proposed projects. However, the link with the R4R Project will have a duration of 39 months due to the participation of the organisations whose initiatives are funded in the capacity building activities starting in October 2025 and extending until the end of 2028. The cost allocation period is 24 months depending on the project implementation period from the date of signature of the grant agreement.

The total funding available is 1,660,000.00 €. The project acronym is R4R.

To submit a proposal, the organisation must select one of the two types of proposals described in section 10 of the call and download the corresponding form. The completed form and the attached documents specified in section 4 Eligibility Criteria must be sent to convocatorias_r4r@calala.org. All documentation must be submitted in a single, optimised .pdf document. All organisations will receive acknowledgement of receipt of their proposals. The deadline for submission is 1 June 2025 at 11.59 p.m. Spanish mainland time. The language for the submission is Spanish. More information can be found at https://calala.org/abrimos-convocatoria-proyecto-radix-r4r/.

Calala Fondo de Mujeres will coordinate, with support from Otro Tiempo, the project selection process in accordance with its internal grantmaking protocols. Proposals will be reviewed by an Evaluation Committee composed of three people from the Calala team, one person from Otro Tiempo and two external evaluators, which will review the proposals based on the criteria established in the call for proposals. Proposals will go through a first filter where the mandatory criteria will be checked for compliance. Only proposals that pass the first filter will be evaluated. Each proposal will be reviewed by a minimum of 2 people. The proposals will be evaluated according to the modality, taking into account the evaluation criteria that have been published with the call for proposals.

Feminist, decolonial and anti-racist consultants who are part of the Calala and Otro Tiempo databases will be called upon to submit a letter of interest to participate in the proposal evaluation process and an updated curriculum vitae. Calala will be responsible for hiring external consultants to evaluate proposals within the framework of the call for proposals, ensuring that the selected individuals:

1. Have the necessary skills and experience to carry out the service, for which purpose Terms of Reference will be published so that interested parties can send a letter of interest and CV which will be evaluated with respect to: i) their training and experience with feminist, decolonial and anti-racist approaches, ii) their training and experience in development and social action projects, iii) their experience in the evaluation of development and social action project proposals. Experience in Women's Funds will be positively valued.

2. They will carry out the evaluation with impartiality, confidentiality and transparency in the evaluation process and with no conflicts of interest between the members of the selection committee and the applicant organisations, for which purpose all those involved in the evaluation of proposals will sign a Declaration of impartiality and confidentiality.

Proposals will be ranked in order of highest to lowest score and the best-ranked projects will be pre-selected up to the maximum number of projects for each type of funding. The evaluation committee will sign a document stating that there is no conflict of interest with respect to the proposals submitted. In the event of a conflict of interest, the evaluator will be replaced by another person from the corresponding team: Calala, Otro Tiempo or external evaluators. The proposals will be reviewed by at least two people, which will make it possible to check for any inexplicable differences in the evaluation. There is a scoring table where the aforementioned criteria are detailed, which will make it possible to carry out objective evaluations of the proposals. The evaluators will not be able to see the grade given to their projects by the other evaluator until the end of the process. The information provided by the evaluators will be consolidated by a member of the Calala team who is not involved in the evaluation process. This consolidated information will be verified by the person responsible for the R4R project at Calala.

The target groups are grassroots non-profit organizations of civil society legally registered as Associations, Foundations or Cooperatives in any registry of the Spanish State dedicated to the protection and promotion of the fundamental rights of the following rights holders/collectives/prioritized populations: Women and girls, LGBTIAQ+ Communities, Migrants, Racialized people (Afro-descendants, indigenous, Roma women, Muslims, etc.), Domestic and care workers, Sex workers, Women with disabilities, Rural women.

This call is specifically aimed at women's organizations, feminist organizations and/or LGBTIAQ+ organizations (priority will be given to organizations that are integrated and led entirely or mostly by women and/or LBTIAQ+ people, migrants, indigenous, Afro-descendants, Roma women, Muslims, domestic and care workers, sex workers, women with disabilities, rural women).

Natural persons are NOT eligible, nor are entities affiliated with Calala and Otro Tiempo, nor those made up of people associated with Calala and Otro Tiempo, nor contractors of Calala and Otro Tiempo.

In summary, the Roots4Rights (R4R) project is offering funding to grassroots non-profit organizations in Spain that are dedicated to protecting and promoting the fundamental rights of women, girls, LGBTIAQ+ communities, migrants, racialized people, domestic and care workers, sex workers, women with disabilities, and rural women. The call specifically targets women's, feminist, and LGBTIAQ+ organizations. The application process involves submitting a proposal in Spanish by June 1, 2025. The projects should have a duration of 24 months, but the selected organizations will be involved in capacity building activities for a total of 39 months. Calala Fondo de Mujeres and Otro Tiempo will coordinate the evaluation process, which will involve both internal and external evaluators. The total funding available is 1,660,000.00 €.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are grassroots non-profit organizations of civil society legally registered as Associations, Foundations, or Cooperatives in any registry of the Spanish State. The call is specifically aimed at women's, feminist, and/or LGBTIAQ+ organizations, with priority given to organizations integrated and led entirely or mostly by women and/or LBTIAQ+ people, migrants, indigenous, Afro-descendants, Roma women, Muslims, domestic and care workers, sex workers, women with disabilities, and rural women. Natural persons, entities affiliated with Calala and Otro Tiempo, those made up of people associated with Calala and Otro Tiempo, and contractors of Calala and Otro Tiempo are not eligible.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically cascade funding, as indicated by the text "call to intermediaries (giving financial support to third parties)".

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity does not explicitly state whether a consortium is required or if a single applicant is sufficient. However, given the focus on grassroots organizations, it is likely that single applicants are eligible, although consortia are not explicitly excluded.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is limited to organizations legally registered in any registry of the Spanish State.

Target Sector: The target sector is civil society organizations focused on protecting and promoting the fundamental rights of women and girls, LGBTIAQ+ communities, migrants, racialized people (Afro-descendants, indigenous, Roma women, Muslims, etc.), domestic and care workers, sex workers, women with disabilities, and rural women. The thematic areas include human rights, gender equality, social inclusion, and combating discrimination.

Mentioned Countries: Spain is explicitly mentioned as the country where the applicant organization must be legally registered.

Project Stage: The project stage is not explicitly defined, but the call targets civil society organizations working on fundamental rights, suggesting projects that are likely in the development, validation, or demonstration stages. The expected duration of the proposed projects is 24 months, and the link with the R4R project will have a duration of 39 months due to participation in capacity-building activities.

Funding Amount: The total funding available is 1,660,000.00 €. The specific funding range for individual projects is not detailed in the provided text, but it can be inferred that the funding will be distributed among multiple projects.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, as indicated by the text "Call 1 Roots4Rights (R4R)". The deadline model is single-stage.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants.

Application Stages: The application process appears to be single-stage, as indicated by "Deadline model single-stage". However, the evaluation process involves a first filter to check for compliance with mandatory criteria, followed by a review by an Evaluation Committee.

Success Rates: The success rates are not mentioned in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention whether co-funding is required.

Summary:

The Roots4Rights (R4R) project is an EU-funded initiative aimed at protecting, promoting, and raising awareness of EU values and fundamental rights, specifically focusing on the rights of women, girls, and LGBTIAQ+ people. This call for proposals is targeted at grassroots non-profit organizations legally registered in Spain that are dedicated to the protection and promotion of the fundamental rights of specific rights holders/collectives/prioritized populations, including women and girls, LGBTIAQ+ communities, migrants, racialized people, domestic and care workers, sex workers, women with disabilities, and rural women. The total funding available is 1,660,000.00 €, and the selected organizations will receive grants to implement projects with a duration of 24 months. The application process is a single-stage open call, with a deadline of June 1, 2025. Proposals will be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee consisting of members from Calala, Otro Tiempo, and external evaluators, based on criteria published with the call for proposals. The evaluation process includes a first filter to check for compliance with mandatory criteria. The R4R project also includes capacity-building activities for the funded organizations, extending the link with the project to 39 months. The call is managed by Calala Fondo de Mujeres, with support from Otro Tiempo.