Urgent Action Fund - Africa

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) is a human rights and feminist Pan-African, non-profit organisation, established in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Fund provides timely critical, financial and technical resources to women’s rights organisations in support of innovative, rapid, and unique initiatives that promote women’s leadership in peace building and justice processes. The Fund is committed to enhancing women’s leadership to bring about justice and equity, and to contribute to the creation of a society free of disruptive conflicts. Grants are given all year round, and the maximum grant amount is US$5,000.

Urgent Action Fund-Africa makes grants in three categories:

• Situations of armed conflict, escalating violence, or politically volatile environments;
• Precedent setting legal or legislative actions; and
• Protection of women human rights defenders.

To qualify for a UAF-Africa grant, the proposed action must meet four specific criteria:

• Strategic: To meet the strategic criteria, the proposed action must be part of a larger plan to create change in the community that will advance women’s rights.
• Unanticipated and Time Urgent: one of the unique aspects of Urgent Action Fund-Africa is that it provides small grants to organisations in a very short time frame. The reason behind the short time frame is that the grants are provided to organisations who have a situation or opportunity arise that was not expected, yet would require immediate action in order to be effective.
• Sustainable: To meet the "sustainable" criteria, an organisation must be able to carry out the proposed action effectively. In addition, however, the organisation must also be able to get funding from other donor organisations for future activities related to their overall strategy.
• Supported: Because Urgent Action Fund-Africa recognises how important support from various organisations is, the group applying for a grant from UAF-Africa must have the support of other groups or organisations involved in women’s human rights, or other human rights groups, either from within the community, or worldwide.

The proposal should demonstrate all four criteria. The fund does not support natural disaster relief, humanitarian aid, travel to conferences, or general support. UAF-Africa only provides support to organisations in which women are the primary decision-makers.

Click here for more information about the fund.

There are no deadlines for grant applications. Most grant applications received by UAF-Africa are responded to within 72 hours.

Click here to download application forms.