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

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organises an annual call for proposal in cooperation with the financial support of Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Health and the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy.

Representatives of the above mentioned institutions participate in the selection process which also includes representatives of NGOs. Contracts are signed between selected NGOs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of which also examine the implementation of chosen projects and the distribution of allocated funds.

The following information is based upon the rules and precedents established under the call for proposals for co-financing of NGOs in 2009 and 2010 for activities in the areas of international cooperation development and humanitarian assistance.

For one-year projects, the minimum amount granted in the past was €7,000, while the maximum was €25,000. In 2009, the average amount of funding granted was €17,270.

For multi-annual projects, the minimum granted is €25,000 and the maximum €40,000.

NGOs need to ensure between 10-20% of the total value of their project comes from their own resources/other sources. A specific requirement will be mentioned in each call.

General project goals should originate in the developmental needs of the community in question. Formal priorities of a Call are specified in the call for proposals documents, available from the Ministry’s website. The following priorities are based on the call for proposals from 2009 and 2010, which are generally consistent with Slovenia’s overarching development cooperation framework:

(1)    Development Projects in the regions of West Balkans and East European neighbourhood.
a.    Preferred projects: environmental/focused on empowerment of vulnerable social groups (children, women, the elderly, other social minorities, ethnic minorities etc.); or focusing on areas of urbanism, rehabilitation, disaster preparedness, rule of law, social policy, education, training and youth programmes
b.    Preferred countries: those with cooperation agreements already signed (Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova)/in the process of ratification (Kosovo)

(2)    Development Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
a.    Preferred projects: aimed at reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the areas of protection and well-being of children, economic and political empowerment of women and providing environmental sustainability
b.    Priority countries: least developed nations of Sub-Saharan Africa

(3)    Development Projects in Other Regions.
a.    Preferred projects: aimed at reducing poverty, economic and social development incentives, peace and security, fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, providing universal education and sustainable development

(4)    Humanitarian Assistance Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
a.    Preferred humanitarian projects: aimed at reducing poverty and hunger and at helping children

(5)    Education-for-Development Projects in Slovenia.
a.    Education for development complements other activities in reaching aid effectiveness; raising public awareness offers support to European and national aid policies. Various areas: problems of development, environment, climate change, intercultural communication, conflict prevention, human rights, global citizenship etc
b.    Preferred projects: those including representatives of the Ministry of Education and Sport and other public education organisations in Slovenia

Slovenian NGOs who are established on the basis of ‘The Societies Act’, ‘Foundations Act’, ‘Institutes Act’ and ‘Humanitarian Agencies Act’ can apply.

Formal guidelines of any call are specified in the call for proposals documents, including logical framework of the project (forms also provided in the document). These are available from the Ministry’s website.

One-year projects can last between six-seven months. Multi-annual projects can last around 20 months.

Deadlines will vary per year and will be specified in each call. Generally, calls can be opened anytime from December to March, and deadlines can be set within a month of the initial announcement.

Application forms are provided each year in the call for proposals published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Applicants must follow the detailed instruction for project presentation included in the call for proposals document. Generally, the following applies:
(1)    Applicants must submit their applications by the deadline, published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
(2)    The Expert Committee then sets the date by which all incomplete applications should be supplemented.
(3)    The Expert Committee (composed of representatives of the Government of Slovenia and NGOs) carries out a selection process among all complete applications and makes a list of projects for grant support.
(4)    The Minister of Foreign Affairs confirms the committee’s decision (signs appropriate decree/list of selected projects and applicants)
(5)    Applicants may file their appeals to the Minister’s decision within a specified time frame (within eight days after having received the notice concerning the success/failure of their application). Appeals are considered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs for up to 60 days
(6)    Final decision on the selected projects and applicants issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Slovenian or English. Other languages are also acceptable; however call for proposals are published in Slovenian only. 

Applicants cannot be guaranteed of the success of their application, because all applications are considered before grants are allocated to the chosen projects.

Please note that any contact information provided by the Ministry may only be used to acquire further information on the call for proposals procedure.

Sloga can also be contacted for more general information on development cooperation and on accredited NGOs.¹

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¹ Contact information can be found in the NGO Platform Contact Information section of this Guide.