Organisations working on issues of human rights and equality are invited to apply to the Human Rights and Equality Grant Scheme 2020.

Acess to justice

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) will award small grants of up to €6,000 and general grants of up to €20,000 to support activities in Ireland that promote access to justice for people who face the greatest barriers to accessing their rights.

Now in their fifth year, grants are open to civil society organisations, rights-holder and community led groups, and trade unions from across the country, who can bring forward proposals on empowering people to understand and claim their rights.

This includes people at risk of discrimination protected under the nine grounds of Ireland’s equality legislation: gender, civil status, family status, age, sexual orientation, disability, race, religion, and membership of the Traveller community and people at risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Support 

Activities that promote participation of people in decisions that affect them are eligible to apply for grant support including:

• Participatory education and training activities,
• Projects focused on engaging people in shaping policy and legislation reform
• Conferences, seminars and workshops,
• Tools and campaigns, including digital, which give voice to rights holders’ experience and which promote their human rights and equality,
• Participatory research and policy analysis,
• Monitoring compliance of public bodies with human rights and equality standards.

Since its grant scheme was established in 2016, the Commission has supported over 100 human rights and equality projects across Ireland, including research programmes, training or resource activities, conferences or events and cultural initiatives.

The strict deadline for receipt of applications is Monday 27 April at 4pm and full details of the grant scheme are available on the Commission’s website.