Call for Humanitarian Innovation Projects 2024

Deadline Date: May 31, 2024

Donor Name: Humanitarian and Stabilization Operations Center (COHS)

Grant Size: More than $1 million

Applications are now open for the Humanitarian Innovation Projects to encourage the establishment of high-impact underlying solutions that benefit the whole sector, in order to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian action and emergency responses.

The Humanitarian Innovation call for projects (APIH) was launched by the Humanitarian and Stabilization Operations Center (COHS) in 2021 in line with the commitments made at the French National Humanitarian Conference (CNH) and the recommendations of the external audit of the Emergency Humanitarian Fund (FUH). 

It is an annual financing instrument aimed at supporting innovative and structural humanitarian projects conducted by local and international NGOs specialized in emergency responses. It is fully aligned with the aims of the 2023 – 2027 French Humanitarian Strategy and seeks to ensure its implementation by supporting initiatives from humanitarian NGOs.

The APIH also aims to foster pooling of approaches and help develop synergies between humanitarian actors, so as to contribute to transforming practices and the comprehensive evolution of the humanitarian sector. 

Themes

• The APIH’s priorities are based on the evolution of the challenges faced by the humanitarian sector. 
• In 2024, it seeks to continue support for initiatives related to: 
  • Integrating the place of women and girls and gender issues in humanitarian action and emergency response;
  • Addressing the consequences of climate change on humanitarian crises and reducing the environmental impact of humanitarian action;
  • Protecting the humanitarian space, civilians and humanitarian personnel and fighting impunity for crimes against them. 

Funding Information

• Project budgets must be between 200 000€ and 1M€.
• Project durations should be between 12 and 18 months, starting from 1 November 2024 onwards. 

Eligibility Criteria

• The APIH is open to international and local humanitarian NGOs working individually or in consortiums. Each organization (consortiums included) can submit only one project.
• In the following cases, projects will be ineligible for APIH funding:
  • Projects with insufficient innovation for the humanitarian sector;
  • Projects in a specific geographical area with no plan for wider replication;
  • Projects for development assistance; 
  • Projects targeting none of the priorities;
  • Projects focused only on communication, information and awareness; 
  • Organizations proposing more than one project proposal; 
  • Projects submitted by private companies, research centres, public institutions and international organizations. 

Selection Criteria

• Projects should fulfil the following criteria:
  • Innovation
    • The APIH aims to finance humanitarian innovations that can help transform the humanitarian sector. 
    • Projects should involve an innovative approach compared to existing forms of action and tools. Initiatives are considered innovative if they develop or trial new solutions to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian action. 
    • Project presentations should clearly indicate the benefits of the innovation as opposed to existing approaches.
  • Impact
    • The APIH aims to support the general evolution of the humanitarian sector through high-impact projects in emergency response. 
    • In order to benefit the whole sector, the scaling up of proposed innovation should be anticipated and detailed in project presentations. For pilot projects, presentations should explain how they will be shared and adapted to other contexts and areas.
  • Effectiveness
    • Proposed innovations should optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action to improve responses related to the 2024 priorities. 
    • The challenges addressed by projects should be analysed clearly and coherently. 

For more information, visit Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.