Enhancing Civil Society Capacities to Shape Policies and Hold Power to Account (ECHO Grant)

The objective of the Movement Grants Mechanism is to increase the capacity of National Chapters to implement anti-corruption interventions, fund innovative and impactful projects, enhance collaboration for joint action, and facilitate movement-wide learning and capacity. The Mechanism is a transparent and participatory grant method that provides ownership to the Chapters and is facilitated by the Secretariat. The Mechanism is only available for the ECHO affiliated entities (National Chapters).

Three types of grants are available under the Movement Grant Mechanism:

Modality 1: Strengthening the Movement's technical capacities:

Designed to assist a Chapter or group of Chapters to strengthen the Movement's capacities relevant to regional, cross-regional or global priorities as well as support Chapters in sharing best practices with the wider Movement. Transparency International Secretariat launches a Call for Proposal (CFP) at least once a year for this Modality.

• Grant range: 5,000-25,000€
• Duration: Up to a maximum duration of 12 months.  

• Grant range: 10,000-15,000€
• Duration: Up to a maximum duration of 12 months. 

Modality 3: Rapid Grants:

Designed to provide rapid support for advocacy opportunities at the national, regional, or global level that Chapters have identified. Rapid grants are open to submissions all year round until the yearly budget limit has been reached.

• Grant range: 2,000-10,000€
• Duration: Up to a maximum duration of 6 months.  

• Eligibility: Only ECHO affiliated entities are eligible to apply. The list is accessible here.

• Application Form: For all Modalities, you must use a specific form to submit your application, which will be shared by Transparency International Secretariat through Viva Engage. In your application, you should specify:
  • ECHO outcomes and indicators to which your application contributes. The outcomes and indicators can be found in the ECHO Logic Framework, which will be shared during the call for proposals.
  • Alignment with and contribution to Transparency International Global Strategy and Strategic Objectives (SOs).
  • Any Gender- and Climate-related contributions.

• Number of proposals: In the first call for proposals in early 2025, Chapters could submit one proposal per each Modality. With exception of the Modality 3, moving forward, Chapters can submit only one proposal per CFP.

• Amount limit: As per the European Commission Guidelines, Chapters can receive a maximum of EUR60,000 for the whole duration of the ECHO Grant (2024-2027).

• Co-funding requirement: The affiliated entities are required to co-fund 10% of the grant. These funds cannot come from another European Commission grant.

The selection committee reserves the right to limit the number of awards an individual Chapter can access in the spirit of broadening access to more Movement colleagues. Any regional or other requirements would be specified directly in the CFPs.

In the first half of 2025, Transparency International Secretariat launched the first CFP for all three Modalities. While the Modality 3: Rapid Grants is a stand-alone call, Modalities 1 and 2 were further separated into four focus areas: 1) CFP2: Monitoring and Evaluation Movement Impact Assessment, 2) CFP3: Research and Knowledge, 3) CFP4: Gender and Inclusion, and 4) CFP5: Policy and Advocacy.

In the first call, Transparency International Secretariat received a total of 67 proposals across different modalities from all regions. The decision on which Chapters to award required an encompassing evaluation process, involving the inputs from Regional Advisors, Policy and Advocacy experts, Finance colleagues, and EU Action Grant team in line with the criteria which was previously shared with Chapters. A total of 22 sub-grants were awarded in this CFP.