NASSAU, The Bahamas – Officials at the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development, through its Department of Gender and Family Affairs, have made grant funding available in the amount of $45,000 for qualifying Non-Governmental Organizations/Non-Profit Organizations in three key areas tied to the 2021 themes of the annual, national observances of International Men’s Day, National Women’s Week and Sixteen Days of Activism.

Local Non-Governmental/Non-Profit Organizations providing services in the three themed areas will be able to make application for access to the grant funding. Grant funding in the amount of $15,000 will be granted to each pillar.

Grants will be disbursed in small to medium amounts from $1,000 - $3500 max per each grant.

International Men’s Day will be observed Friday, November 19 under the theme “Better Relations between Women and Men”; International Women’s Week is scheduled for November 24-30 under the theme: “Better Relationships between Women and Girls” and the United Nations’ Sixteen Days of Activism will take place beginning November 25 (the annual observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) and concluding December 10 (Human Rights Day) under the theme: “Ending Gender-Based Violence in The Bahamas; From Awareness to Action.”

Dr. Calae Philippe, the Director of the Department of Gender and Family Affairs, said the purpose of the grants is to provide funding for qualifying NGO’s that conduct activities over the course of the next year that support the various themes and provide some measurable impact e.g. increase in knowledge, change of attitude and/or behaviour in the lives of their participants/members of their organization. Dr. Philippe said it also ensures that qualifying community NGOs have funding to support the work “of improving relationships in The Bahamas to reduce violence.”

Dr. Philippe’s comments came during a Wednesday morning press briefing called to announce the details for the commemoration of International Men’s Day, National Women’s Week and Sixteen Days of Activision under the theme: “Healing The Bahamas through Better Relationships.”

The grant funding will be facilitated through a new “granting process” during which NGO's will be expected to fill out grant forms that outlines their objectives, target population, budget spread sheet and proposed measurable impact of their programme.

The Grant will be reviewed and recommendations provided or approval granted. The NGO's would be expected to provide at minimum, quarterly reports. Grants are not automatically provided. It will be based on measurable impact.  Persons that have organizations would be provided support for completing the grant forms if needed.

“This 45,000 is going to help us measure the impact that NGOs are having,” Dr. Philippe said. “We cannot stem the tide of violence in our country if we don’t come together (and) so if you are an NGO that deals with young men and boys, please contact Mr. Henry Johnson (397-8600) to talk about the programme you want to do in your community. If you are wanting to partner to address the better relationships between women and girls, call us at 397-8600 and speak with Mrs. Elaine Sands about you organization and what you want to do and of course if you want to address violence, call us at the same number. We are here because we recognize that each and every one of us can do something, but that some of the organizations may need some assistance.”

Dr. Philippe also announced that the “granting process” has been changed “such that it is formalized.”

“We need to see what your objectives are, what are your deliverables, how are you going to measure the impact so that if it is 100 people that you are reaching out to, what are you doing with those 100 young people, men, women, whomever. How are you going to determine where they are when they start in your programme? What have they learnt in your programme and how is that going to change their knowledge, their attitude, their behaviours and their practices.

“We have an opportunity to impact every community across the archipelago and this is amazing,” Dr. Philippe added.