About the programme - phase three
Introduction
The Greater London Authority (GLA) is running Phase Three of its Democratic Participation Grants Programme, part of its wider Civic and Democratic Participation Programme.
Phase Three of the Grant Programme will fund civil society equity-led groups between £10,000 - £25,000 to support London's most under-registered and under-represented communities to access their democratic rights. Projects will run from September 2024 until June 2025.
By equity-led, we mean at least 50% of an organisation's management (trustees and senior management) and staff identify with one or more of the identities listed below and have experience of the civic and democratic barriers they are trying to address.
GLA analysis has highlighted the following priority groups:
- young Londoners (16–25-year-olds)
- Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Londoners
- migrant Londoners, including EU and Commonwealth Londoners
- D/deaf and disabled Londoners
- older Londoners
- LGBTQIA+ Londoners, with a focus on trans and non-binary Londoners
- low-income Londoners
- Londoners in precarious housing situations or homeless, and social and private renting Londoners
what are the aims of the programme?
The aims of the Democratic Participation Community Grants Programme – Phase Three are to:
- support Londoners and civil society organisations to increase their political literacy, by equipping them with the knowledge and the tools they need to uphold their rights.
- support Londoners to access their democratic rights by addressing barriers to participation (voter registration, Voter ID, proxy and postal voting, etc.)
- support Londoners to get heard on decisions impacting them and their communities, beyond elections, including through deliberative and participatory democracy at local level, and other mechanisms to participate in civic life.
- grow the number, capacity, and resilience of civil society organisations in the democracy/ social justice sector by ensuring civil and democratic participation is embedded in their business-as-usual activity and future work.
What support is available for applicants?
Groundwork London manage the administration of the Grant Programme and were available to provide advice throughout the application period. There was also an online application workshop for prospective applicants on 16th July.
See Groundwork’s website for more information and the full programme prospectus at https://www.groundwork.org.uk/london/gla-democratic-participation-grants/. Please note the application window closed Tuesday 6th August 2024.
Successful applicants were invited to an induction workshop to cover details of grant delivery, including impartiality, monitoring and evaluation.
Grantees have access to the impartiality toolkit developed by the GLA and Shout Out UK for civil society organisations doing democratic participation work.
In addition, the GLA Democratic Participation team overseeing this Grant Programme are available to support grantees throughout their delivery.
A funding pot of £12,500 is available to provide accessibility support during the application process and project delivery.