Applications Invited for Tenth Cycle of the UNVTF Small Grants Programme 2025 Sub-grant programme One

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About the Organization

Started in 1997, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime works to make the world safer from drugs, crime, terrorism and corruption.
We work in 150 countries, building networks of cooperation across borders and providing reliable data and analysis. UNODC is also training judges, police officers and border officials as well as healthcare and social workers to make communities safer and more resilient.

The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons (hereinafter referred to as ‘UNVTF’ or the ‘Trust Fund’) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 as part of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The fund is victim-centred and aims to provide essential humanitarian, legal and financial aid to victims of trafficking in persons through established channels of assistance. The UNVTF is managed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and benefits from the strategic guidance and expertise of a five-member Board of Trustees, appointed by the UN Secretary-General for a three-year term. Since its inception in 2010, the UNVTF has supported 215 CSO projects in over 60 countries, directly impacting the lives of over 100,000 victims of human trafficking.

About the Grant

UNVTF is launching a Special Window Call for Proposals to support interventions led by experienced frontline civil society organizations in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. These projects, lasting up to 24 months, will focus on providing assistance to victims of trafficking, particularly women and children, in Asia and the Pacific, as well as in Latin America.

Objectives:

This Special Window Call for Proposals focuses on supporting frontline civil society organizations assisting victims of human trafficking in Asia-Pacific, Latin America & the Caribbean. The main objectives of this Grants programme are:

• to provide direct assistance and protection to vulnerable victims of trafficking in persons
• to improve health and well-being, facilitate social integration and prevent re-trafficking amongst vulnerable victims of trafficking in persons

Thematic focus and priority issues:

This Call for proposals seeks to provide funding support to not-for-profit organisations working in the area of trafficking in persons whose projects are aimed at providing immediate and essential direct assistance for vulnerable victims of trafficking in persons. Priority shall be given to projects that target the following population:

• Women and children; and
• Those most left behind, including underserved groups especially excluded or disadvantaged victims of human trafficking (such as persons with disabilities, youth, LGBTQI+, internally displaced and refugees, indigenous, older and members of ethnic minorities).

Priority shall be given to projects that adapt programmes or design interventions that:

• Facilitate early identification of human trafficking victims;
• Integrate the use of innovative strategies and technologies supporting appropriate victim assistance;
• Integrate survivor-focused financial inclusion and economic empowerment approaches to support victims’ rehabilitation and reintegration to society;
• Promote engagement with persons with lived experience of trafficking and taking into account trauma-informed responses for victims’ reintegration into society;

Priority shall be given to projects that target persons identified in the following situations:

• persons identified among large movements of refugees and/or migrants, internally displaced persons affected due to conflict, post-conflict and continued instability,socio-political tensions or a breakdown of law and order;
• persons identified in or fleeing areas that has been affected by the spill-over of climate change related displacement;

Priority shall be given to projects that target the following forms of exploitation:

• sexual exploitation
• forced labour
• organ removal
• domestic servitude
• forced begging
• forced criminality
• forced marriage
• production of pornographic material
• recruitment of children into armed groups
• child trafficking in sport

Activities that will be given priority include:

• medical assistance
• material assistance in the form of food, clothing etc.
• immediate, safe and short-term shelter
• legal advice and representation aimed at securing legal status and/or remedies
• psychosocial assistance
• education and/or vocational training
• assistance with family reunification and/or repatriation with full consent of the victim

Priority shall be given to projects that are able to demonstrate:

• understanding of existing victim protection and assistance frameworks in the country or region of implementation, including through the presentation of MOUs or other formalized arrangements with relevant state institutions;
• coordinated approach with NGOs, service providers, international organizations, foundations, and/or the private sector.

Duration: All activities financed by this sub-programme must be implemented within 24 months.

Award amounts: Proposals with budgets up to USD 40,000 will be considered for award. Please note that value for money will be assessed as a part of the rating criteria. Grant awards will not exceed the entity’s annual income for the previous fiscal year. Applicants’ financial management capacity will be assessed in this respect.

Eligibility

Priority shall be given to organizations (lead applicant/implementing organizations) that are either:

• survivor-led
• first-time recipients of the UNVTF funding

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:

• be a non-profit making organisation (NGO, CSOs, CBOs) registered under the relevant Laws of the country where it is registered and in the country where it will be implementing the proposed project;
• have been registered by 1 December 2022;
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the project, i.e., not acting as an intermediary;
• demonstrate prior experience of at least two (2) year implementing activities in the area of direct assistance to victims of trafficking in persons in line with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime or in providing other services to vulnerable populations including IDPs and forcibly displaced persons;
• complete registration in the UN Partner Portal (UNPP) with a valid Partner ID including Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Module;
• have a bank account in the organisation’s name;
• confirm that the organisation takes appropriate measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and signs the Partner declaration form.

When the applicant who was previously awarded a grant by UNVTF submits a new application, the funded project from the previous grant should be programmatically and operationally concluded, i.e., the project has concluded/activities completed, and all required reports have been submitted without pending issues or unreturned unspent balance before they can commence operation of a new project.

How to Apply

All applicants must register and create a profile on the UN Partner Portal - Where UN Agencies and Civil Society Partners Connect. The registration procedures for partners are outlined in resources available on the UN Partner Portal.

Applicants are to submit a full project proposal which will be reviewed by a technical evaluation team and UNOV/UNODC’s External Party Engagement Unit.

Applications must be submitted by email to unodc-victimsfund@un.org titled Application for UNVTF Grants Programme 2025

Applications that require UNODC to request access to documentation via password or confirmation link will not be considered. Applications sent by any other means (e.g., by fax or by regular mail) or to other addresses will not be considered under this Call for Proposals. Incomplete applications will be rejected.

The deadline for the submission of full project proposals is 16 November 2025, 23:59 (CET), as evidenced by the date of receipt of submission email. Any application submitted after the deadline will be automatically rejected.

For more information please check the Link

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