Opportunity Grant – Malawi, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire

Only civil society organisations from Malawi, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire are eligible to apply. Your organisation must be located in, and implementing a project in Malawi, Nigeria or Côte d’Ivoire. 

Applicants must also be small to medium sized organisations with an average annual expenditure over the past two years of less than £500,000 per year. You will be asked to submit evidence for your expenditure values. This could be an audited report or a profit and loss statement.

We recognise the broad scope of civil society and the wide range of organisations, actors and coalitions it encompasses.  Civil Society Organisations can include: 

• Community groups 
• Youth Groups 
• Non-governmental organisations 
• Indigenous groups 
• Charitable organisations 
• Faith-based organisations 
• Research institutes 
• Social enterprise groups 
• Public-private partnerships 
• Communications and media groups  
• Professional associations 

If you don’t feel you identify with any of the above groups, please contact us at enquire@amplifychange.org

International Non-Governmental Organisations based in the Global North and UN agencies are not eligible to lead an Opportunity Grant proposal.

AmplifyChange supports grassroots groups that find it difficult to access funding, including unregistered groups. We understand that it may not be possible for your group to register officially as an organisation or to have your own bank account if your application is successful. We will either support you to get registered and open a bank account or support you to identify a fiscal sponsor – an organisation that is prepared and able to help manage grant funds on your behalf.  

We will conduct due diligence and financial assessments on your organisation and on the sponsoring organisation.

The purpose of this Opportunity grant call is to fund civil society organisations, support their advocacy work, and strengthen them so they can bring about positive change in safe abortion policy. 

It is important that applicants think strategically about their local movements and how they will make the most effective contribution to change. Applications must respond to Changing Policies and Laws and may also work across one or more of our other outcome areas in our Theory of Change:

• Increasing individual awareness of SRHR as human rights 
• Improving access to SRHR resources, information & services 
• Transforming social norms 
• Building stronger, more inclusive movements for SRHR 

AmplifyChange funds advocacy. We are focused on achieving long-term, sustainable change, however we recognise that collective actions are the best way to achieve change, so understanding how you connect to the wider movement and being able to demonstrate how you are working towards the same change is critical. 

AmplifyChange does not support organisations seeking to deliver services unless they contribute to advocacy and movement building for sustainable gains to SRHR. 

We work as a challenge fund, and applications are considered on a competitive basis. We aim to be flexible in our funding approach so that smaller and new organisations can access our funding, but we do expect a project to have promising potential to achieve meaningful change. 

How do I improve my chances of success?

We expect to receive a large volume of applications during this call and will be able to fund approximately 15 to 20 grants in each of the three countries. We therefore encourage all applicants to consider the following guidance carefully in order to give yourself the best chance of success:  

For a better chance of receiving funding, an application should:

Demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem you seek to address in the local context, where possible including evidence of the issue at the local level. 

• Include clear and realistic objectives. 
• Articulate a well thought-out and feasible pathway to achieve change in policy (with consideration of AmplifyChange’s outcome areas). 
• Identify and work with key influencers and policy makers that have the power to bring about positive change on safe abortion.
• Show an understanding of related work going on in the same setting and articulate why this project is needed to compliment it. 
• Respect confidentiality and place the safety and security of communities at the centre of its initiative.
• Consider some of the challenges you might face during the project and let us know how you think you may overcome them.
• Identify any significant gaps in the organisation’s technical and / or institutional capacity and outline how these gaps will be addressed.

We will not fund applications that: 

• Are vague or lacking in specific detail 
• Include only ambiguous awareness-raising or ‘sensitisation’ activities without a clear influencing and follow-up strategy*
• Do not include any advocacy
• Are not realistic, feasible within the timeframe or budget
• Do not demonstrate a convincing strategy to achieve meaningful change in policy
• Do not show any understanding of how this work will compliment other existing work; for example, in the same geographical area or around the same thematic issue.

*We have received many applications that reference ‘sensitisation’, ‘awareness raising’ ‘capacity building’ and ‘meetings’ –if these terms are used in an application, they must be backed up with context and plans. Including justifying why you think these approaches are needed and likely to be effective.  

All applications must be submitted online using our online application system. You must first register your interest to apply online and answer eligibility questions. If your organisation is eligible to apply, you will be able to continue to the online application form. You can read more about how to register here. 

If you have already registered in our system for a previous funding round or to manage a past or current grant, you do not need to re-register. Please login using your existing login details and access the online application form that way. 

To assist you with your application, you can download an offline version of the questions you will find in the online application form (Application planning document) as well as a budget and workplan document (Project Planning Workbook).

 Application planning document – Opportunity grant

 Project Planning Workbook – Opportunity grant

Please note: the Application planning document is to be used as a guide to help with your project design – you will not be able to submit it as part of your application. However, you will be able to upload the Project Planning Workbook with your application. You can also submit photos, videos or other media as part of your application.  

The system will not automatically save your application as you fill in your details, so please save regularly as you go along. Applications that have already been started can be found in the ‘Pending’ section.  

You can revisit and edit your application as many times as you wish before you submit your application. When you are happy with your application and have uploaded the relevant documents, ensure you click ‘Submit’.  

You will be able to download a PDF of your application at any point during your submission. 

If you have any technical problems when you are working on your online application, please contact us at enquire@amplifychange.org with the email title ‘Assistance needed for Opportunity grant application’.  

For further information on how to use our Grants Management System, please consult our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). You can also find a collection of guidance on how to use our grants management system here. 

We urge you to not wait until the last minute to submit your application to avoid disappointment.  

What happens next?

All submitted applications will be screened by AmplifyChange for compliance with eligibility criteria. Compliant eligible applications will be reviewed by the AmplifyChange Grant Support Team and Fiduciary Risk Team.

During application review, we will be using the following criteria to help with our decision making in the final stages: 

• Clear articulation of the specific needs of the current SRHR context in the chosen country or region, and the corresponding approach of the project   
• Demonstrable potential of project to add-value to the SRHR sector and respond to the specific needs of the current SRHR context in the chosen country or region  
• High potential for having a positive impact towards improving SRHR for all.  
• We will not award more than 10% of the available funds to any one country 

Recommendations will be provided to the AmplifyChange Board of Directors for their deliberation. The Board’s decisions are final. 

AmplifyChange reserves the right to balance recommended applications based on the wider AmplifyChange portfolio considering SRHR needs and geography in line with our benchmarks and results framework.

How do I write a good application?

We asked our Technical Review Panel (TRP) to provide their top-tips for writing a strong application. Watch the film below and download the PDF guide to see their advice.

To help develop your strategy, watch our videos on changing policies and laws here.

For more help to develop your proposal, please review our Knowledge section of our website. It includes guidance on writing applications, as well as support on how to address our key outcome areas.

Prior to awarding a grant, if your application is recommended for funding, your organisation will undergo an assessment to verify your ability to manage the funds. This assessment is not a test but will enable us to set some organisational strengthening goals to achieve during the grant. You will also have the opportunity to revisit the application and update the proposal to ensure it is still relevant. You can learn more about our financial requirements and best practices for strengthening your organisation in our Building Blocks Handbook.

Access our guides to support developing your proposal below:

Top Tips for Writing a Proposal (PDF)

How to write an application

Project design

Learn from AmplifyChange grantees

Some of the best AmplifyChange grantees have shared practical advice from their experience of strengthening their organisations and the tactics they have successfully used to advocate for improved SRHR. Check out our selection of case studies for successful advocacy tactics at AmplifyChange Learn.