The five-year U.S. Agency for International Development Civic Initiatives Support (USAID CIS) project aims to expand and deepen civic engagement across all priority sectors for USAID/Jordan, as outlined in its Country Development Cooperation Strategy. FHI 360 supports local civil society organizations by providing grants and technical assistance to build their capacity and improve sustainability.
Components of the project include:
1. Implementing targeted, mission-driven grant programs to amplify the voices of citizens in public debate, respond to urgent development needs, promote common interests in policy reform and create effective collaborations through:
- Civic Initiatives Support Fund: Supports civil society organizations and intermediate support organizations whose programs, services, training provisions and advocacy campaigns align with USAID priorities
- Democracy, Rights and Governance Grants: Support civil society organizations to bolster their public policy advocacy and legislative reform initiatives and to build coalitions for campaigns and programs that are more responsive to their constituencies
- Combating Violence Grants: Support pilot initiatives that engage students, teachers, communities and parents in combating violence in schools and promoting social justice
- Disability Rights and Inclusion Grants: Support interventions that enhance services to people with disabilities provided by organizations serving this group
2. Building capacity to foster sustainability through:
- Institutional Strengthening Fund: Supports civil society organizations and intermediate support organizations to directly contract for external, customized technical assistance that matches their needs and priorities
- Societies Empowerment Fund: Supports sector-specific civil society organizations to help them assess, plan and develop their institutional capacities, as well as to integrate a rights-based approach into their missions
- Subcontracts to intermediate support organizations to help them provide technical assistance to community-based organizations on the fundamentals of sound institutional and program management
3. Enhancing engagement among the government and civil society organizations by:
- Bolstering the capacity of government staff in the National Registry of Societies within the Ministry of Social Development
- Providing additional support to government agencies as requested, including the Ministry of Social Development’s Disability Directorate and the Higher Council for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities
