Applications Invited for International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) 2025

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About the Organization

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is a specialized agency dedicated to strengthening our shared humanity through the promotion of education, science, culture, and communication.

We set standards, produce tools and develop knowledge to create solutions to some of the greatest challenges of our time, and foster a world of greater equality and peace.

Protecting biodiversity, responding to artificial intelligence, advancing quality education, safeguarding heritage, and ensuring access to reliable information are some examples of the work that UNESCO does with its 194 Member States across the globe.

About the Grant

The International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) is a multi-donor fund established under Article 18 of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Its purpose is to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction in developing countries that are Parties to the 2005 Convention.

It does this through support to projects that aim to foster the emergence of a dynamic cultural sector, primarily through activities facilitating the introduction and/or elaboration of policies and strategies that protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions as well as the reinforcement of institutional infrastructures supporting viable cultural industries. The IFCD promotes South-South and North-South-South cooperation, while contributing to achieving concrete and sustainable results as well as structural impacts, where appropriate, in the cultural field.

Through an open and competitive process, we fund innovative projects with up to US$ 100,000, implemented over a 12–24-month period. The projects are evaluated based on their relevance, feasibility, financial management capacity and expected results.

Eligible projects:

The IFCD invests in projects that lead to structural change through:

• The introduction and/or elaboration of policies and mesures that have a direct effect on the creation, production, distribution of and access to a diversity of cultural expressions, including cultural goods, services and activities;
• The reinforcement of human and institutional capacities of public sector and civil society organizations, deemed necessary to support viable local and regional cultural industries and markets in developing countries.

Projects submitted by public authorities and institutions that:

• Develop tools that contribute to decision-making and planning (mappings, sustainable statistical collection and processing systems, sectoral strategies, etc.)
• Create and/or strengthen public cultural agencies and institutions essential to the development of cultural industries, including developing the expertise of civil servants
• Establish and/or strengthen financing and market development mechanisms for cultural goods and services
• Implement international cooperation agreements and treaties aimed at a more balanced exchange of cultural goods and services
• Create and/or strengthen the pedagogical and organizational capacities of educational, vocational and technical training institutes in the cultural and creative sectors
• Promote the development of cultural industries in the digital environment, in accordance with the roadmap for the Implementation of Guidelines to Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Digital Environment
• Strengthen participation in cultural life, in particular measures to promote engagement of vulnerable groups (including persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples) in the creation, production, distribution and access to diverse cultural expressions
• Create and implement measures or policies to promote gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors

Projects submitted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that:

• Strengthen capacities of civil society focusing on policy participation, communication and/or networking
• Contribute to inform policy making, including monitoring and evaluation activities to determine the impact of cultural policies and measures to promote cultural industries
• Strengthen the pedagogical and organizational capacities of educational, vocational and technical training institutes in the cultural and creative sectors
• Create new financing opportunities and promote access to national and international markets for cultural goods and services
• Promote the development of cultural industries in the digital environment, in accordance with the roadmap for the Implementation of Guidelines to Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Digital Environment
• Strengthen participation in cultural life, including measures to promote engagement of vulnerable groups (including persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples) in the creation, production, distribution and access to diverse cultural expressions
• Create and implement measures to promote gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors

Eligibility

• Public authorities and institutions from eligible countries (developing countries that are Parties to the 2005 Convention)
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from eligible countries (developing countries that are Parties to the 2005 Convention) that meet the definition of civil society*
• International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) registered in countries Parties to the 2005 Convention, that meet the definition of civil society* in the Operational Guidelines and that present projects that have an impact in developing countries at the sub-regional, regional or inter-regional level.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: 21 May 2025.

Call for Applications 2025

For more information please check the Link

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Tags Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Liberal Arts Others