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Criteria for Local Initiatives

Desirable Impacts

The overall goal of FLICT is to strengthen - in a countrywide approach – initiatives for conflict transformation in Sri Lanka, by supporting civil society to play a more effective and influential role in contributing towards a lasting and positive peace.

FLICT expects to achieve this by supporting local initiatives in the implementation of projects and by providing services to reflect on their work and develop their organizational capacities further.

FLICT expects that conflict transformation efforts would have the following impacts:

  1. Have an immediate and direct relevance for peace-building efforts in Sri Lanka especially at grass root level (Track 3).
  2. Assist in strengthening the medium and long run conflict transformation capacity of the Sri Lankan polity and society.

Satisfy FLICT's Focus Areas

Following are the 3 critical focus areas selected by FLICT:

  1. Transforming cultural identities towards an inclusive society
  2. Inter-ethnic and inter-religious linkages for conflict transformation
  3. Civic participation for democratic and plural forms of governance

It is expected that local initiatives in these focus areas are crucial for the success of the on-going peace process as well as in the promotion of democratic governance, and henceforth establish and promote norms of non-violent conflict transformation.

For a more details explanation of these three focus areas, click here

What is meant by Local Initiative

Having recognized the need for change and the desire for intervention, entities such as the following, considered to be local initiative may formulate project proposals to seek support from FLICT:

  • An organization

  • A network of organizations
  • A federation of organizations

These should be Sri Lankan entities and not international organizations or their local branches.

Types of support offered by FLICT

FLICT provides a range of support to our partners. These are as follows:

  • Channeling of funds for civil society organizations in three focus areas

  • Capacity building for partner organizations
  • Facilitating the development of a decentralized pool of consultants
  • Facilitating networking and cooperation among partner organizations working for conflict transformation
  • Disseminating experiences and lessons

Supporting Intermediary Organisations

While FLICT provides support to organizations that may choose to deal directly with us, we also work through intermediary organizations that may have their own partner organizations or may act as a network of organizations. An intermediary hence would obtain funds from us and implement projects through a collective of their partner organizations. A long term interest of FLICT is to develop several strong intermediary partners who will share the same vision and have the capacity to continue the work initiated by FLICT independently.

Proposal Appraisal Process

All project proposals received by FLICT are subjected to an internal review process to find out if they conform to certain pre-designed criteria.

Some of the proposals will be subjected to external review and may even be scrutinized by our Steering Committee.

The stages of the review process are presented in Annex II . This information is also made available in the FLICT website.

The review process is a collective one where several person within the project unit and sometimes outside examine the proposal for its validity and consistency.

What does FLICT look for when appraising proposals?

When proposals are reviewed the following criteria are applied:

  • Relevance of the objectives and proposed activities in respect of FLICTs focus areas

  • Management capacity of the organization;
  • Approach and methods of implementation;
  • Impact; (envisaged changes according to the submitted conflict analysis)
  • Sustainability. (Financial and organizational)
  • Cost effectiveness

Specifically, FLICT would consider the following when processing project proposals:

Strategic Focus:

  • Would the project have a positive impact on peace-building and/ or assist non-violent conflict transformation capacity?
  • What kind of impact or change is expected? Have the proponents identified clearly the expected outcomes and impact, and valid measures developed, means of verification mentioned?
  • At what level is change expected? Are the expected changes at an awareness, symbolic, institutional change, or policy level?
  • Will change be sustained after the proposed intervention?

Organizational Aspects:

  • Does this organization have previous experience in working in the relevant field or does it have staff members who have already gained such experience in the field?
  • Does this organization currently have developed contacts with the beneficiaries?
  • Does this organization have basic administration and accountancy skills and relevant capacities?
  • Is the organization a part of a network?
  • Has the organization undertaken a self analysis to identify its strength and weaknesses and build these into its capacity development requests?
  • Has it worked in cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental organizations? Is it willing to work with other organizations?
  • Does the organization value and adopt democratic principles in its own work and is it transparent in project implementation and financial control?
  • What is the proposed self-contribution by the organization?

Target Groups / Beneficiaries:

  • Is the project inclusive in terms of target groups?
  • Does it promote the interest of all conflicting parties?

Approach:

  • Is the approach of the organization multi partial, inclusive and participatory?
  • Does the project include an evaluation and monitoring mechanism?
  • Is the proposed interventions impact (result) oriented?
  • Are the proposed activities cost effective? Have alternative approaches and methods carefully considered?

What types of organization is eligible for support?

Local organizations that are working with different target groups in conflict transformation are eligible for support. These may be non-government organizations or organization in the private sector, or public sector organizations hat facilitate civic participation in their work. A broad spectrum of interest groups such as business community, youth, women, media, professional organizations, teachers, artists, the media etc. interested to work on or focus areas are eligible for support.