Background	Project Duration
Grant Size	Deadline
Own Contribution	Application Forms
Funding Priorities	Application & Procedures
Grantmaking Criteria	Languages
Guidelines	Tips

The Cooperation and Cultural Action Service (SCAC) operates a unit in each country through the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomatic missions. Each SCAC is responsible for partnerships in the fields of science, culture and development cooperation.

The Social Development Fund is a co-financing grant that targets projects mainly initiated by Southern citizens via NGOs or local authorities and is implemented with their assistance. The Fund supports income generating activities and the development of basic services. Funds will be provided to support proposals which meet the criteria and objectives of the Fund and have the best chance of making an impact.

Not defined; grants values between € 7,000 and €300,000 have been provided in the past.

Officially, the applicant has to contribute at least 30% of the total project costs, either in cash or in kind. However, in practice, own contributions are not always necessary and depend on the policy of the local SCAC office. Normally, the governmental contribution cannot exceed 70%.

 

The French government created the Fund in order to financially support development projects of local communities in partner countries of the primary solidarity zone. The goal is twofold:

• To actively participate in poverty reduction efforts by funding projects at the grassroots level. Through its geographical closeness to the beneficiaries, it is believed that the programme can adjust to local situations more effectively.

• To encourage local actors to independently draft and implement development projects, thus empowering local civil society. Certain projects particularly target the most vulnerable groups: mentally disabled people, young mothers from peripheral suburbs, however, other projects target elites such as universities and central administrations.

In practice, the selection criteria are the following:
•    The belief in an applicant’s reliability concerning his competence and intentions in order to reach the project goals
•    The project’s sustainability with a special focus on the financial mechanisms in place to assure the functioning of the project after the funding period
•    The eligibility criteria as described on the local SCAC websites
•    The coherence of the project budget and project aims
•    The pertinence of the project, its impact, and target groups such as people in need are rather general prerequisites than eligibility criteria specifically analyzed.

There are no official guidelines as each SCAC organises the allocation of funds independently. However, an evaluation has been published in 2002, trying to analyse the actual practices. It can be found here.

No minimum or maximum project duration exists.

 

No deadline applies.

 

In general, the final funding decision is taken by the ambassador or by the SCAC by delegated authority. In addition, the law of 1996 installing the instrument envisages a consultative selection comity. Under French chairmanship, this comity should bring together representatives of the recipient countries’ governmental authorities, representatives of civil society, other donors and SCAC representatives. In practice, this comity has been put in place by most countries. However, the frequency of meetings often is low. Moreover, frequently, the SCAC prepares the dossiers in internal informal processes and, in highly unequal debates, already taken decisions are presented to the SCAC local homologues. Finally, the grade of representation of civil society is very different among the countries. The presence of other donors is rare.

This means, that applicants should contact their local agencies in order to get an understanding of application procedures, rules and forms used.

For the different countries, these diverse rules can be found on the following websites:

Bolivia: http://www.ambafrance-bo.org/spip.php?rubrique1

Burkina Faso: http://www.ambafrance-bf.org/france_burkina/

Cambodia: http://www.ambafrance-kh.org/spip.php?rubrique1

Cape Verde: http://www.ambafrance-cv.org/france_capvert/

Cameroon : http://www.ambafrance-cm.org/france_cameroun/spip.php?rubrique=2

Ivory Coast: http://www.ambafrance-ci.org/spip.php?rubrique=8

Ethiopia: http://www.ambafrance-et.org/France_Ethiopie/

Ghana: http://www.ambafrance-gh.org/spip.php?rubrique2

Kenya: http://www.ambafrance-ke.org/

Madagascar: http://www.ambafrance-mada.org/ambafrance-mada/

Mali: http://www.ambafrance-ml.org/

Morocco: http://www.ambafrance-ma.org/

Mozambique: http://www.ambafrance-mz.org/

Niger: http://www.ambafrance-ne.org/

Dominican Republic: http://www.ambafrance.org.do/france_dominicana/

Sénégal: http://www.ambafrance-sn.org/france_senegal/spip.php?rubrique4

Chad: http://www.ambafrance-td.org/france_tchad/

Togo: http://www.ambafrance-tg.org/portail/

Vietnam: http://www.ambafrance-vn.org/

 

French