Guidelines for applicants Sri Lanka Open Call 2026
Open Call for Expression of Interest: Sri Lanka Human Rights Grants 2026
KIOS is launching an open call for expression of interest to support human rights work in Sri Lanka carried out by local civil society organisations. This call aims to support Sri Lankan civil society organisations whose work promotes and protects human rights, particularly of marginalised groups in vulnerable situations. Smaller organisations with limited funding opportunities are encouraged to apply. Expression of Interests to this call can be submitted until 23 June 2026. The applications for the Expression of Interest will be reviewed within 4-6 weeks. Shortlisted applicants will have fifteen (15) days to submit full proposals. New grants will be awarded late 2026 – early 2027.
1. Basic information about the call
KIOS Foundation (Finland) launches this open call for expression of interest to support human rights work in Sri Lanka carried out by local civil society organisations. The call opens on 27 May 2026 and closes on 23 June 2026 at 23:59 Sri Lankan time.
The call is implemented by KIOS with financial support from its main donor, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Finland, as part of KIOS’ ongoing support for local civil society actors advancing human rights. The call is based on the KIOS Strategy 2025-2028 and is part of the implementation of the MFA-funded programme 2026-2029 Building Resilient Societies by Advancing Human Rights and Democratic Participation.
This call aims to support Sri Lankan civil society organisations whose work promotes and protects human rights, particularly of marginalised groups in vulnerable situations.
In particular, smaller and grassroots organisations with limited access to funding are strongly encouraged to apply. Grant proposals should be one year in duration. Number of grants from this call will be around 3-5 and the amount of each grant will be around 20 000-40 000 euros. Successful applicant organisations may have the opportunity to apply for new grants after the completion of the first grant.
2. Focus of the call
2.1 Geographical Focus
- Sri Lanka
This call is for human rights work in Sri Lanka.
2.2 Thematic Focus
This is a thematically limited call. The primary focus of the proposed action must fall under at least one of the following strategic thematic areas of KIOS:
1. Non-Discrimination and Gender Equality
Including, but not limited to:
- Women’s rights and gender equality
- Rights of LGBTIQA+ persons
- Addressing intersecting and structural discrimination
2. Democratic Rights and the Rule of Law
Including, but not limited to:
- Democratic participation and civic space
- Rule of law and access to justice
- Accountability, peacebuilding and post-conflict justice
- Participation of marginalised groups in decision-making
3. Responsible Business, Environment, and Human Rights
Including, but not limited to:
- Corporate accountability
- Environmental and climate justice
- The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
- Business-related human rights impacts
Applicants must demonstrate experience and relevance in the thematic area(s) selected. We encourage applicants to submit their proposals under the thematic area that best aligns with their work, experience and goals.
While proposals across all three thematic areas are welcomed and will be evaluated on their merit and potential impact, special consideration will be given to proposals focusing on the third thematic area (Responsible Business, Environment, and Human Rights).
2.3 Crosscutting objectives
The current KIOS Programme integrates three cross-cutting objectives: 1) gender equality and women’s rights, 2) security of human rights defenders, and 3) disability inclusion, which are considered highly relevant across all human rights work.
Despite the chosen thematic area of the proposed action, all proposals are therefore expected to meaningfully take these objectives into account and make sure that the proposed action does not have negative impacts on climate and the environment.
3. Who Can Apply?
3.1 Eligible Applicants
This call is open to:
- Sri Lankan civil society organisations working on human rights issues in Sri Lanka and based in Sri Lanka.
- Organisations should be formally registered or, in the case of smaller grassroots groups, able to demonstrate:
- active operations,
- basic administrative structures, and
- accountability mechanisms
Eligible applicants must be:
- Non-profit
- Independent of government
- Non-political
- Committed to non-violence and human rights principles
Organisations led by women, youth and marginalised groups are particularly encouraged to apply. The primary focus of the call is to support organisations outside Colombo, but the call is countrywide. Colombo-based organisations may be considered, if the proposed action is in other parts of the country.
Organisations that have previously received funding from KIOS may apply only after all prior KIOS-funded grants have been fully completed and reported.
3.2. Non-Eligible Applicants
KIOS does not provide funding to:
- Individuals
- For-profit entities
- Political parties
- Religious institutions
- Governmental bodies (national or local)
- International non-governmental organisations (INGOs)
4. Type of Work Supported
4.1 Types of Activities Supported
Typical activities funded by KIOS include (non-exhaustive list):
- Human rights awareness-raising to empower and mobilise rights-holders, especially marginalised and discriminated groups
- Capacity building of rights-holders and duty-bearers
- Human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting
- Advocacy, lobbying and campaigning
- Legal aid and assistance
- Public interest and strategic litigation
- Local, national, regional or international networking
Institutional development of the applicant organisation, including:
- Organisational security and safety of human rights defenders,
- Strengthening human rights-based approach (HRBA) integration,
- Leadership, governance and internal accountability,
- Financial, project and results management capacities.
Support to victims of human rights violations (e.g. legal or psychosocial support) may be included but cannot constitute the main activity as focus has to be on human rights work.
4.2 Types of Activities Not Supported
The following are not eligible for funding:
- General service delivery
- Infrastructure or construction, purchases of land or buildings
- Vocational or livelihood training
- Humanitarian assistance
- Academic research
- Scholarships or fellowships
- Conferences or travel as a sole activity
5. Grant Size, Budget and Self-Financing
The budget of the grant application should be realistic in relation to the local price level, the planned grant work/activities, the capacity, previous experience and overall annual budget of the applicant organisation.
Any grant applied for through this call must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- minimum amount: 20,000 euros
- maximum amount: 40,000 euros
The grant size depends on the proposed action, presented budget and the capacity of the applicant to carry out the activities. KIOS assesses the organisation’s absorption capacity by assessing the administrative proficiency and pays special attention to limit the size of the grant to what is considered that the organisation can manage. The applied grant amount should be realistic and meaningful and consider the applicant’s volume of operations.
As a general principle, the applied grant should not exceed 50% of the applicant’s annual budget. As an exception, KIOS may consider seed funding to newly established organisations and funding to organisations with no other financial resources, in which case the costs covered may exceed 50% of the applicant’s annual budget.
The applicant is expected to provide a self-financing share of a minimum of 10% of the total costs of the total budget of the proposed action. The self-financing share should be clearly included in the proposed budget. This means that if the total budget is 1000 euros, the grant can be a maximum of 900 euros and the self-financing must be a minimum of 100 euros. The self-financing can be in money or in kind. The contribution in kind can be, for example, a certain amount of voluntary work or the use of the organisation’s existing resources such as office space for the work/activities without an extra charge for the grant.
Salaries and other employment costs of the grant request must be specified in the budget. Please include information of any salaries that are co-funded by other donors.
The budget must be presented in the local currency (LKR) of the country.
Kindly see the KIOS guide for grant budgeting for further instructions.
6. Grant duration
Grants under this call are expected to be implemented within a fixed implementation period of one year (12 months).
7. Assessment Criteria
KIOS assesses the applications on the basis of the grant request’s substance and feasibility, and applicant organisation’s capacity to implement the proposed action. During the review of the applications the eligibility will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- The proposed action is a human rights initiative (it aims to and has potential to promote or protect human rights)
- The applicant has sufficient capacity and experience in carrying out human rights work
- Participation and ownership of rights-holders and beneficiaries is safeguarded
- Organisational capacity and integrity, including necessary administrative capacities
- Feasibility and contextual relevance of the proposed human rights work
- Ability to assess the proposed initiative and to show the capacity gaps among right-holders and duty-bearers, and the applicant organisation itself
- Capacity for risk management and ability to assess the security of human rights defenders and other risks related to the organisation’s work and operating conditions, ability to analyse the support needs to mitigate these risks
- The proposed budget is realistic and meaningful in relation to KIOS’ and applicant’s own budget
- The required recommendation letters are adequate together with feedback received from other donors and references
- Alignment with KIOS’ strategy and priorities of this call
8. How to apply
The application process is two-fold. After reviewing the applications for the Expression of Interest, shortlisted applicants will be requested to submit full proposals.
8.1. Application Form and Attachments
The application form for the Expression of Interest must be filled and submitted through the KIOS online application portal.
Before accessing the form, the portal requires registration. Kindly follow the following steps:
- Register for the online portal by selecting “Register as grant applicant here”. Your email address is your username.
- Confirm your registration through the link received in your email.
- After logging in, select “Make an application” and then “I want to make a new application”. Tick the correct grant call box and click the “Start” button.
Make sure you follow carefully the guiding questions under each sub-question in the online application. You can find more instructions behind the “?” sign. You may work on your application and save it to continue later. However, the online form is only accessible during the application period and applications cannot be submitted after the application period has closed. Note that it is not possible to modify the application after submission.
You should not submit more than one application. Sending more than one may lead to the rejection of all submitted applications.
The following documents should be submitted together with the application form for Expression of Interest:
- Two (2) Written References (use KIOS Reference Form)
- Budget for the proposed action (use KIOS budget template)
Only complete and submitted applications for this call of Expression of Interests are accepted for review. In case you encounter trouble in submitting any of the required annexes, kindly explain the reason clearly in the related field in the form.
The application form must be submitted by a competent authority of the applicant organisation, but multiple persons may contribute to the writing process.
The online system notifies the applicant by email when the application has been successfully submitted. By submitting the application form, the applicants agree – if shortlisted and awarded a grant – to accept the contractual conditions of the standard grant contract.
Please note that KIOS requires that the organisations receiving funding are committed to comply with the KIOS Code of Conduct (sent and signed in the Agreement phase by one authorised signatory person of the applicant organisation), especially with the promotion of human rights and human rights principles, to non-discrimination and the protection from all forms of sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment.
8.2. Submission of Full Proposals
Shortlisted applicants from the Expression of Interest stage will be requested to submit a full proposal through the same KIOS online application portal. Shortlisted applicants will have fifteen (15) days to submit full proposals.
The full proposal consists of additional information of the planned action, as well as relevant annexes that demonstrate the capability of the applicant to implement the proposed action.
The annexes to be submitted at the full proposal stage include:
- Applicant Organisation’s Annual Budget for the current financial year
- Applicant Organisation’s Statutes
- Applicant Organisation’s Registration Certificate
- Applicant Organisation’s Latest Annual Report (from the two previous years)
- Applicant Organisation’s Latest Audit Reports (from the two previous years)
- If available, policies regarding Code of Conduct, finance and administration, gender equality, and protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH)
8.3. Due diligence process
All shortlisted applicant organisations from the full proposal stage will be contacted by email for a thorough due diligence process. The due diligence process includes contacting stakeholders, the references provided in the application process, and past donors. All shortlisted applicant organisations will undergo background screening through Dilisense.
The due diligence process includes an in-person visit to the organisation’s office and may also include an online meeting with the applicant. More information on this will be provided to the shortlisted applicant organisations.
8.4. Call timeline
After the closure of the application period for Expression of Interest, KIOS evaluation team will start processing the applications submitted by the deadline. The applications for the Expression of Interest will be reviewed within 4-6 weeks, depending on the number of applications received. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by email to confirm interest in participating in the second phase – the full proposal stage. The shortlisted applicants will have fifteen (15) days to submit full proposals.
The shortlisted applicant from the full proposal stage will be contacted by email within 4-6 weeks of submitting the full proposal.
The due diligence process is planned to take place during August-October. The in-person visits are planned for September-October.
New grants will be awarded late 2026 – early 2027.
KIOS reserves the right to modify the tentative call timeline as necessary.
9. Use of AI
KIOS understands that the use of AI may be beneficial for some in preparation of their applications. However, for this application, KIOS is most interested in learning about the applicant’s deep contextual knowledge and experience in human rights work; which AI cannot capture as well as organisations working in the context would.
Hence, generic applications which are clearly made only or mostly using AI shall not be considered. As part of the application, applicants are required to disclose any use of AI.
10. Further Information
Detailed instructions are provided within the application form. Applicants are encouraged to follow all guidance carefully and ensure consistency between narrative sections and the budget.
In case you cannot find an answer to your question in these guiding documents, you may approach us through calls@kios.fi with the subject “Sri Lanka Open Call”. However, we cannot promise that we will be able to reply to all inquiries.