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Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF)

Youth Leadership Development Fund 2024/25

Call for Individual and Development Grant Applications

Youth Leadership Development Fund 

The Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF) seeks grant applications from qualified individuals and organizations for the 2024/25 Youth Leadership Development Fund. The grant aims to strengthen, support and promote youth ecosystem building in the country. The grants will be awarded to individuals and organizations working in line with the thematic areas of interest. 

About the NYFF

The Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF) is a five-year collaborative programme of LEAP Africa, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Luminate Group that seeks to strengthen youth leadership in Nigeria through outcomes-driven policy engagements and inclusive resourcing that help youth shape the future long-term development plans of the country. The NYFF is anchored on three core components which include: 

1. An Imaginative Futures Working Group at the national and regional levels to mainstream youth ideas within the long-term planning process 

2. Youth Leadership Program: This pillar seeks to build the capacity of young leaders and youth-led organizations while also providing grants for young people/organizations working on the identified thematic areas.  

3. Online and Media engagement: The fund seeks to strengthen the voices of the young Nigerian through policy advocacy, debates, online campaign, etc. toward the realization of  #theNigeriaWeWant. 

Grant Thematic Areas

The Youth Leadership Development Fund prioritizes part of the themes that emerged as the Youth agenda in the Nigeria We Want (NWW) report which was produced through the visioning exercise of the NYFF. Click here, the Nigeria We Want Report, to read about the report. It is imperative for the applicants to submit concepts/proposals that are in line with the themes and capable of driving social change within their community.

The following two thematic areas will be considered for funding: 

• Facilitating Good Governance: Youth-driven good governance projects that promote active citizenship through the following sub-themes: leadership development, institutional strengthening, accountability and transparency initiatives, and equitable policies both at national, and subnational levels. Also, proposals on the following subject matters below will be considered:

  • Interventions on the Review, Domestication and Implementation of National/State Youth Policy: Youth policies are developed to provide guidelines and strategic focus for administering the Youths at National, State and Local levels. The present national youth policy, tenured for 2019-2023, is outdated. While efforts are ongoing by the Ministry of Youth Development on the review of the policy, it is imperative to leverage on the existing efforts of young people in the government's design of communal interventions and projects. Hence, the call for structured initiatives that will support the policy review, increase awareness, and encourage domestication and usage of the Youth policies at local, state and national levels.  

  • Autonomy and Efficiency of Local Government Administration: Local government administrations have been identified as the closest to the grassroots and the most structured institutions for reaching and serving the local community.   Considering the Supreme Court’s recent confirmation of the financial autonomy of local governments and the quest for an efficient local government system in Nigeria, NYFF seeks to support youth initiatives that will strengthen, support and enable the proper functioning of local government areas and judicious use of resources at that level. 

• Resolving Fundamental National Questions: Youth development projects that promote national values, empathy, patriotism, unity, peace, and equity within the country will be prioritized for this theme. Also, proposals on the following subject matter below will be considered.

  • Social Inclusion: NYFF seeks proposals on Youth development projects that seek to address Gender Equality and proper inclusion for People With Disabilities (PWDs):

    • Gender Equality: Gender equality provides room for equal consideration and absorption of every gender in every activity. It allows unbiased treatment to all genders and provides equal chances of opportunity and contribution to society. Considering the myriad of concerns about gender inequality and social exclusion across various systems such as sexual and gender-based violence in private and public institutions, and gender bias in access to health, education and other social amenities etc, NYFF seeks to support youth initiatives that address the issues of gender inequality in the community, government system and structures. 

• Implementation of the Disability Act: The Disability Act seeks to ensure people with disability are not discriminated against on the grounds of their disability by any person or institution in any manner or circumstance. The Act, which was passed on March 28, 2018, criminalizes discrimination against people with disabilities. The Act also seeks to fully integrate persons with disabilities into society by establishing their right to social amenities such as education, health, accommodation and emergencies, infrastructural systems, and so on. The Act also provides a five-year transitional plan for public buildings, infrastructures and automobiles to be suitably modified for people with disabilities. However, the Act has not been fully domesticated or implemented across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The NYFF seeks to support youth initiatives that would aid the domestication of the Disability Act, as well as its proper adoption and adaptation into various systems at local, state and national levels. 

• Depolarization: Polarization has been one of the issues faced by Nigeria lately. The trend of polarization cut across tribes, religion, sectionalism and among others. Those trends have bedeviled leadership choice, socialization within the country and overall integration of Nigerians for the National course and development. Many efforts have been put in place to ensure full integration among the youths by the government such as Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Unity School formation etc. While those efforts have provided meeting points for different tribes and opportunities for intercultural interactions, it is important to further develop youth initiatives as community engagement plans that seek to address the underlying issues of polarization to ensure proper national integration and socialization.  

Note: 

• We encourage projects that leverage Technology, Media, Art, Entertainment, and Creativity.

• We encourage applications from more women-led organizations, feminism projects and People With Disabilities (PWDs) projects. 

Grant Structure

Eligibility criteria

Individual-level 

• The beneficiary must be a Young Change Maker (aged 18- 35 years) with a proven track record of working on a sustainable solution that directly addresses any of the thematic areas. 

• The beneficiary must demonstrate a good understanding and experience of youth activism, strategic planning and project management.

• The beneficiary must demonstrate experience and knowledge of community or team building following principles of honesty and integrity.

• The beneficiary must demonstrate talent and passion for new ways of behaving, norms, actions, love for creative arts and imagination -

• The beneficiary must have genuine means of identification and/or must be attached to an institution. 

• The beneficiary must provide two (2) reputable referees. 

Organization Level

• Any organization applying must be a formally registered organization with the corporate affairs commission of Nigeria or any other state-level relevant registration. Otherwise, unregistered organizations can form a cluster and apply through a registered organization. 

• Any organization applying must be a youth-driven civic and transformation organization working on sustainable solutions that directly addresses any of the thematic areas.

• The organization must have good antecedents and proper track records. 

• The organization must have a SCUML certificate and any other relevant documents that certifies their legal operations.  

• The organization must have a physical address and a corporate account. 

• The development grant applicants must have a good reach with the proposed state of Implementation.

• The organization must provide financial records with good financial standing and records 

• The organization must provide 2 reputable referees. 

Guideline for Application Submission

Please click apply or Login (for existing users) at the top right position of this page to apply for the grant. The application steps consist of the following:

• Filling of Pre-application questions 

• Proposal Submission: Applicants should submit a concept note/proposal, not more than 3000 words, following the stated guidelines and proposal template. Click here for Individual/Development Grant Proposal Template 

• The proposal templates are divided into three sections:

  • Section A: This consists of the Individual/organization background, challenges identified, initiatives to be implemented, and scope of work

  • Section B: This section consists of the Monitoring and Evaluation framework showing the expected inputs, outputs, outcome and impacts of the project

  • Sections C: This section consists of the project work plan, showing the activities to be performed, timeline and the budget for each line items 

• Submission of Organization/individual identification document:

  •  Small/Individual Grant: NIN certificate or equivalent.

  • Organization Grant (Development & Catalyst Grant): CAC registration, Organizational document, and other documents such as certificate of recognition by previous funders, SCUML, etc, in a single PDF. 

• Filling of the Referees’ information: Name, Organization and portfolio, Phone Number, and email address

Process Flow and Timeline for the 2024/2025 Grant-Making Activities

FAQ, Disclaimer, Ethics and Conduct

FAQ 

What is the age range of the applicant?

The age range of the applicant is 18 to 35 years. 

What is the age range of the implementation scope?

The implementation scope covers young person age, the organization must be implementing projects within the age range of 18 to 35 years. 

What is the duration of the grant cycle? 

The cycle will run from November 2024 to November, 2025.

Who funds this grant?

This grant is co-funded by MacArthur, Ford Foundation and Luminate Group.

Can my organization apply for more than one category of grant?

Yes, but you will only be granted one. 

How will the selection be performed?

The selection will go through three selection rounds: First stage assesses compliance with the application procedures, the second stage assesses suitability of an application with the help of assessment rubric, and the last stage is due diligence, where the NYFF team verifies the details provided in the application. 

What will the grant disbursement look like? 

The grants will be disbursed in two tranches: 

• Small and development grants (First tranche: 50% and second tranche: 50%) 

• Catalyst grant  (First tranche: 50% and second tranche: 50%) 

The second tranche will be conditioned on the milestone achieved at the midterm of the project. 

Disclaimer 

The NYFF project is co-funded by MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and Luminate Group, the implementing organization is LEAP Africa. Only the link provided by the implementer in this document should be used to submit the application, applicants should not submit elsewhere. The application is free of charge, the applicant should not give any amount to anyone for the application process.   NYFF has zero tolerance for corruption.

Ethics and Conduct 

a) Absence of conflict of interest: The applicant should be free of any conflict of interest. 

b) Anti-corruption and anti-bribery: The applicant shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations and codes relating to anti-bribery and anti-corruption. Any attempt by an applicant to influence any of the application process or engage in unlawful agreement will lead to the rejection of its application. For the purpose of this provision, ‘corrupt practices’ are the offer of a bribe, gift, gratuity or commission to any person as an inducement or reward for performing or refraining from any act relating to the award of a contract or execution of a contract already concluded. 

c) Respect for human rights and country regulations: The applicant must comply with the National rules and regulations in line with the grants and implementation processes. 

d) Breach of obligations, irregularities or fraud: NYFF Secretariat reserves the right to suspend or abort the procedure, where any misconduct is observed either breach of obligations, irregularities or fraud. If breaches of obligations, irregularities or fraud are discovered after the award of the contract, the contract may be terminated and the project beneficiary might be blacklisted in the civil society community.

For enquiries and more information, please reach-out to nyff@leapafrica.org 

To apply, kindly click on the sign-up or log in button displayed at the top right corner of this page