Responses to Request for Clarifications: International Organisations with Women, Peace and Security as core mandate (WPS-INGOs)
Information meeting
Q: Request to share the PPP from the information meeting
A: The presentation can be shared upon request.
Application process
Q: The call indicates that it is invitation-based and that 19 selected organisations have been invited to apply - would it be possible to know which organisations have been invited?
A: A list can be shared upon request.
Q: Is there a deadline for asking questions?
A: No, there is no deadline, but please bear in mind any time difference and the submission deadline.
Please remember that questions relating to technical issues with the Grants Portal should be sent to support.grants.portal@norad.no
Q: Will all applications be assessed after the deadline or on a rolling basis?
A: All applications will be assessed after the deadline.
Q: Can we obtain the Application Preview and Grants Handbook in pdf format?
A: We do not have an application preview as a pdf. Please be informed that you can start an application in the Grants Portal and save it as a draft. This will allow you to view the different steps and requirements of the application. You can also work on the application over multiple days, if needed. The application will only be sent once you press ‘submit’.
The Grant Handbook is available here on Norad’s website.
Q: For the Results framework, should that be the same format as our current Norad grant Results Framework? (An excel sheet with indicators and targets?)
A: No specific format is required, you can use your own format. Please note that as this call concerns core support, the results framework (and other documents) should be for the organization as a whole, not a specific project.
Eligibility
Q: We are a foundation registered in a European country. Therefore, could you please indicate if we still meet the requirements?
A: With international organization we refer to organizations that are not registered in Norway, working globally with WPS as core mandate.
Q: The call requires applicants to have Women, Peace and Security as their core mandate. How is this assessed in practice - through legal statutes, the share of activities/budget dedicated to WPS in recent years, or a broader qualitative review? Is there a minimum threshold for this?
A: The call for proposals is core support to INGOs that have WPS as core mandate. This means that the main objective of your work should contribute to the WPS agenda and Norway’s NAP WPS. All your activities should contribute to this.
Q: Would an organisation whose core mandate is international criminal law and human rights, but with a substantial and recurring body of work on CRSV/SGBV and transitional justice, be considered potentially eligible - or is a dedicated WPS mandate a strict requirement?
A: This depends on the above answer. A dedicated WPS mandate is a strict requirement.
Q: Since core support is awarded to a single lead organisation that then manages its own sub-grants, could an organisation with relevant legal/technical expertise but without a core WPS mandate be engaged as a technical partner or sub-grantee after the award is made?
A: This is core support to the organization that receive the contract. It is up to the organisation to select its sub-grantees. We will not accept consortium applications since this is core support to selected organisation.
Q: Are there any specific criteria for what constitutes an INGO (registration status, etc.)?
A: Any organization working globally that is not registered in Norway.
Q: Does an applicant organization have to have ongoing activities in the countries?
A: It is preferable to have ongoing activities in priority countries. However ongoing activities in all of the priority countries is not a requirement.
Q: Should applicants focus only on the mentioned countries, or can other countries be included?
A: Applications will be assessed according to their relevance to Norway’s WPS Action Plan, including Norway’s priority countries. The countries of implementation must also be DAC countries.
Q: Is there an expectation for the 3-5 NAP countries to be spread across regions (Africa, MENA and Asia) or can an org submit an application for one region?
A: There is no requirement for presence in a specific region or across multiple regions. However, the applicant must demonstrate in which countries it operates, and these should align or overlap with Norway’s WPS priority countries.
Q: Regarding the information on activities and percentage of activities, does percentage refer to budgetary figures?
A: Percentage of WPS core activities can relate to budget figures, but it does not have to. How to best present your organization’s WPS core activities, is at the discretion of the applicant.
Q: How is core activity defined?
A: You need to show active engagement in the WPS agenda, and the main activities of the organization must be on WPS thematic areas. Your organization’s strategic document should fit the WPS requirements and priorities in the call.
Q: Should applicants submit a results framework and theory of change (ToC) for the organization?
A: As this call concerns core support, please submit the results framework and ToC for your organization.
Q: What level of details of information does Norad require in the annexes?
A: Additional documents are intended to be able to assess your organization’s work more in detail. You should therefore assess what examples and information are most relevant to demonstrate your organization’s engagement and capacity in WPS.
Q: What is Norad expecting in terms of format of how results are presented, i.e., case study, evaluations or other?
A: It is up to the applicant organization to assess what examples of your work and which results best show your capacities, achievements and contributions to the WPS agenda, and that you would like to highlight. These can be included in the separate annex 4, as mentioned in the call for proposals.
Q: Can applicants include solely WPS expertise among the personnel? Should personnel at organizational or country level be included?
A: You can include personnel that will be involved in managing the agreement, including technical, financial, and local personnel. Norad will assess the organization's overall capacity (technical and administrative) to maintain and implement its WPS core mandate.
Q: If the organization's strategic plan is until 2027, will that be a concern for eligibility?
A: No.
Q: What are the criteria you will use to assess that an organisation has "Women, Peace and Security as their core mandate (WPS-INGOs), aligned with the Norwegian Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security (2023-2030)."? What is considered sufficient for an organisation to prove that WPS is in their core mandate?
A: This call for proposals concerns core support to INGOs that have WPS as core mandate. This means that the main objective of your organization’s work should contribute to the WPS agenda. Your organization’s strategic document should fit the requirements and priorities, and you need to demonstrate that the organization’s main activities are on WPS.
Norad will assess the applications against the requirements and priorities listed in the call. The additional documents requested are intended to allow Norad assess your organization’s work in detail.
Q: As an intergovernmental organization (IGO), can we apply to this Invitation-Based Call for Proposals on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)?
A: We refer to the call for proposals which sets out the criteria and priorities for applicants. For this call, only international NGOs can apply, and not intergovernmental organizations.
Q: Is it possible to apply for the core support under this call as a consortium with other offices of the same federation that all together have a track record in WPS or should there be only one applicant that eventually subgrants the funding to other offices?
A: Norad will not accept consortium applications for this call for proposals. Only one office of the organization should apply. How the core support is utilized is up to the grant recipient. The type of core activities the organization has undertaken and to which Norway’s financial support (along with other income sources) has contributed should, however, be described in an annual report.
Q: Is there any further information on evaluation and scoring - such as the weighting of each criterion?
A: Each application will be assessed against each of the criteria listed in the call for proposals, in particular the relevance and the WPS portfolio composition.
Q: Could you please provide us with the current list of eligible priority countries for this specific call for proposals? Alternatively, could you direct us to the official document where this list is published?
A: You can access Norway’s National WPS Action Plan here.
The applicant must demonstrate in which countries it operates. Other countries may also be included, but it is preferable to have ongoing activities in (some of) priority countries. Ongoing activities in all of the priority countries is not a requirement. Kindly note that the countries of implementation must be DAC countries.
Q: In the presentation you shared, you state that "Organisations with agreement that fully or partly covers the same objectives and the same support period as this call, will not be prioritised". We recently applied for a gender-related call for proposals in one of Norway's WPS priority countries. We have not yet received a response regarding this call. If the response is positive (i.e., if the Norwegian government decides to fund our programme for that country-specific call), would that automatically de-prioritise our application to the currently open WPS-INGO call if it also includes the same priority country?
A: Smaller or country-specific grant agreements through a Norwegian Embassy will not influence your eligibility under this call for proposals
Q: Can the activities funded through this core support connect with other priorities, thereby further strengthening the WPS-focus thereof and/or bolster existing work? How specific must the suggested description of goals and activities and expected results for the period be (i.e., on activity-, output-, or outcome-level)? How specific must the workplan be?
A: Your organization’s core activities can contribute to several priorities, but Norad will assess how your core work contributes to the WPS agenda and the objective of the call. Norad will be interested in tracking your higher level WPS results and learning from your best practices in reaching these results. Your organization’s annual workplan will be used for assessing how you plan to do this the next year.
Norad does not ask you to change your results framework or strategic plan or annual workplan. We will assess the set-up for the organization, based on the required documents.
Additional documents are intended to be able to assess your organization’s work more in detail. You should therefore assess what examples and information are most relevant to demonstrate your organization’s engagement and capacity in WPS.
Financial questions
Q: Is there a budget ceiling for applicants to apply for?
A: Norad has not set a budget ceiling for each application, however please note that the amount is the total amount for all of the agreements that will be entered into. Norad aims to enter into three to five agreements for the period 2027-2030.
Q: Can you confirm the funding period and how many years the budget should cover?
A: Grants may be requested for multi-year core activities implemented in the period between 2027-2030. All grants are conditional upon appropriations by the Norwegian Parliament and allocation of funds. Please prepare a budget for 4 years.
Q: As we work to prepare our submission, we would appreciate a clarification on the budget, specifically, will applicants be evaluated based on the amount that they propose?
A: Applications will be assessed against the criteria listed in the call for proposal, which includes the budget’s quality and level of cost-efficiency. Please note that the funds available under this call is the total amount for all of the agreements that will be entered into. Norad aims to enter into three to five agreements.
Q: Are we correct in understand that the funding administered under this grant would be unrestricted? And that the financial reporting required will be the organisations full annual budget?
A: Yes, this grant is core support that is unrestricted. For the financial report, it is your organization’s annual accounts/financial report that will be required.
Q: On your webpage, Norad outlines generic conditions for calls for proposals. Specifically, it is stated that "Generally, the contribution to indirect operating costs should not exceed 7% of direct costs for the intervention." In the presentation you shared with me, it says "OBS! No indirect cost core support, core budget/no format". Could you clarify whether the budget to be submitted can account for 7% indirect costs?
A: As this call concerns core support to organizations, indirect costs cannot be included in the budget.
Q: Regarding budgeting, which must be prepared for 4 years, should this work be separate from ongoing/planned work or complementary and synergistic (and again, on activity-, output-, or outcome-level)?
A: The budget you submit should not be a specific project budget for this work since this is a call for proposals for core support. Hence, it is the core budget for the organization that will be assessed. Norad will assess the quality of the budget and your cost-efficiency in reaching the objective for the call.
Thematic questions
Q: What time frame should we use to address potential negative impact on women's rights, climate, and anti-corruption? Should we focus on the grant term or beyond? For example, if the work is successful during the grant term, there can later be backlash against women's rights. This typically cannot be directly attributed to our work, but it is a potential impact for all women's rights work.
A: Since this call for proposals concerns core support, actions taken to address potential negative impact of your organization’s activities on its surroundings, including women’s rights, climate and corruption, should be a part of your organization’s risk management.
The timeframe should therefore be that of your organization’s risk management plan.
Partnerships
Q: For INGOs not invited to apply, is it possible to be a subgrantee to the 19 organizations?
A: This call for proposal concerns core support to the selected grant recipient. It is up to the selected grant recipient to select its sub-grantees. Norad will not accept consortium applications since this call concerns core support to selected organisation.
General questions
Q: Does "knowledge management" here refer to the source of data for results and frequency of collecting the data, or does it refer more broadly to our MEL system?
A: Knowledge management relates to how your organization identifies/captures, manages, stores and disseminates expertise, learning, experiences from your organization’s work, both internally and externally. Depending on the organization, this can be included in the organization’s ToC/results framework or strategic plan/strategy.
Q: The list of the document states the Results Framework should include the context/problem analysis and ToC. Should this be in a table or a narrative?
A: We understand this to refer to section 4, which states that applicants must submit ‘Documentation of result examples that exemplifies contextual understanding, Theory of Change, results, risks, and best practices’. This means that applicants should provide examples of the results the organization has achieved through its core activities. These examples should demonstrate that you have contextual understanding (including of risks), identified good practice, and be in line with your organization’s ToC.
Please note that, as this call concerns core support, it is the results framework and ToC for your organization that should be submitted. You can use the format that your organization has. Depending on the organization, a context analysis may, for example, be included in the organization’s strategic plan/strategy.
Q: Should the results framework be the same format as our current Norad grant Results Framework? (An excel sheet with indicators and targets?)
A: No specific format is required, you can use your own format. Please note that as this call concerns core support, the results framework (and other documents) should be for the organization as a whole, not a specific project.
Q: Will there be any narrative reporting requirements?
A: For the narrative reporting, it will mainly be your organization’s annual report that will be required, but please note that additional updates or information may be requested if needed, e.g., in relation to annual meetings that will be held during the support period.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of personnel bios that can be included?
A: Norad is not requesting personnel bios (i.e., no CVs), but rather an overview of your organization’s technical and thematic capacities that are relevant for following up an agreement over this call.
Q: Is there a maximum number of annexes that can be included as part of the application?
A: Please note that you should not upload as many or too lengthy documents, but those that will enable Norad to assess your organization’s capacity and engagement in WPS.
Q: What will the reporting look like? Will reporting on the core support require detailing every activity, follow a time-bound schedule (e.g., 6-monthly/yearly), or use another level of specificity (e.g., output- or outcome-level)?
A: For the narrative reporting, it will mainly be your organization’s annual report that will be required, but please note that additional updates or information may be requested if needed, e.g., in relation to annual meetings that will be held during the support period. For the financial report, it is your organization’s annual accounts/financial report that will be required.