Core Funding to East Jerusalem Based Cultural Organizations | NDC

Core Funding to East Jerusalem Based Cultural Organizations

"Core Funding to East Jerusalem Based Cultural Organizations"

Period: 2016- 2020

Donor: Sweden through the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)

Location:  East Jerusalem

Budget: SEK 42 million

 

With the ultimate aim of supporting resilience of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem this project has been designed to strengthen the endurance of the people of Jerusalem, and Palestinian cultural identity more generally; to create therefore a cultural movement that reinforces national identity and solidarity within the Jerusalem society.

 

Five cultural institutions in Jerusalem – the Palestinian National Theatre, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Palestinian Art Court - Al Hoash, and Yabous Cultural Centre – have agreed to form the Jerusalem Arts Network (Shafaq) with a set of shared aims designed to help them achieve a shared national cultural vision with a special focus in Jerusalem.

The overall objective of the project is to: “Support the resilience of Palestinian community in East Jerusalem through the promotion of cultural rights".

 

The specific objective of the project is:

Empower the Palestinian arts CSOs to continue and expand providing cultural services in East Jerusalem

 

Project Components:

The project intends to achieve the above stated objective through the following components:

1. Grants:

The main purpose of this component is to provide long-term core funding to the partner NGOs in line with their strategies. Core funding provides NGOs with the flexibility to implement their strategies and to cover essential basic costs required to sustain their operation in Jerusalem that would otherwise not be covered by project funding. The other sub-component finances the establishment and operation of Shafaq (The Jerusalem Arts Network).

The two main granting schemes under component one are:

1.1 Networking Fund

This fund is dedicated to the establishment and operation of the network of specialized cultural organizations in East Jerusalem  over the four years period of the project.

The purpose of this networking fund is to enhance the network effectiveness to perform its roles including increased cooperation between Jerusalem based cultural centers, representing the members in policy advocacy, and mobilizing strategic financial support to the members.

 

1.2 Core Fund

This sub-component provides substantial long-term (four years) core financial support to the five cultural NGOs who are the founding members of Shafaq. The core funding aims to support the partner NGOs in implementing their strategies and programs, and achieving their strategic objectives and targets.

The share of funding to each of the five NGOs has been determined based on the historical disbursements over the last three years in addition to projections based on strategic plans when available.

 

2. Capacity Development and Technical Assistance

The objective of the capacity development and technical assistance component is to improve the capacities of the partner NGOs to become more responsive, transparent and accountable by setting best practices, promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration among the third parties, strategic policy research and planning, and audits and evaluations.

The implementation of this component is the direct responsibility of NDC. Results of capacity assessment for each of the partners revealed different needs for each of the NGOs; some needed basic institutional tools/systems to be developed and institutionalized through trainings and coaching, while others had more advanced needs. The capacity development needs are detailed in the capacity development plans for each of the CSOs and the consolidated capacity development plan for the project.

 

Activities to be financed under this component include, in addition to the implementation of the individual capacity development plans for each of the partners, the following: strategic plans for the partners; biannual assessment of Shafaq effectiveness and design of Shafaq capacity development plan; carrying out a baseline study and an independent midterm evaluation; annual audits and developing a manual on Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and training of trainers on HRBA.

 

3. Project Management

This component is mainly dedicated for the project management, reporting and monitoring. This will cover the costs of grant administration and associated capacity building under the project. This will include capacity building and technical assistance, management of the grants to the partners,  and oversight of the partner NGOs