The Grants of the Haki Ni Yetu project were meant for community-based organisations and other grassroots civil society groups in rural Kenya, operating outside Nairobi or in informal settlements in Kenya. 

We provided grants for human rights work in two categories:  Rights, Governance and Accountability Grants(anchor) for more experienced civil society actors and Civic Action and Community Empowerment Grants(anchor), tailored for community-based organisations (CBO) or other grassroot civil society groups.

The Haki Ni Yetu project organised a total of 5 calls for Grants during the project, 2 for Rights, Governance and Accountability Grants and 3 for Civic Action and Community Empowerment Grants. The calls were a success, and we received over 1200 applications. Through the calls Haki Ni Yetu project was able to award a total of 66 Grants and support organisations working on human rights in Kenya.  

There are no more open calls planned for the remaining project period ending in 2026. 

Women- and youth-led organisations and civil society groups led by marginalised groups themselves were particularly encouraged to apply for funding. Over 90% of the financial support was awarded to such civil society groups. 

The grants schemes were part of the EU-funded project Haki Ni Yetu.

Rights, Governance and Accountability Grants

Under the Rights, Governance and Accountability Grants, Haki Ni Yetu targeted community-based organisations (CBOs) in Kenya with established structures and a track record in defending human rights. The consortium organised two open calls, that received almost 800 applications. In total, 22 grants were awarded to organisations working on human rights across Kenya from Turkana and Marsabit, to Busia, Homa Bay, Garissa and Kwale, in 21 counties.  

Some details and results of the Large Grants 

Total number of grants under the core themes addressed by the project: 

• Democracy and Rule of Law – 6 grants 
• Gender Equality and Non-discrimination – 9 grants 
• Business and Human Rights – 7 grants 

You can read more about the themes under the project-page: https://kios.fi/en/haki-ni-yetu/project/ 

First grants were awarded in June 2024, and implementation started in July 2024. The last grants will continue implementation until August 2026. 

As of January 2026, under this grant scheme, the Haki Ni Yetu supported grantees had organised over 190 trainings on human rights, trained 158 civil society organisations, reached over 5100 rights-holders and engaged a total of 660 duty-bearers. 

Funding was either project-based and/or core support for strategic organisational capacity-building. KIOS provides mentoring and coaching support to the awarded grantees throughout the grant implementation period. 

An evaluation team evaluated the proposals according to pre-established criteria and decisions about grants were made by the Large Grants Committee (KIOS Board of Directors). 

Grant Details: 

• Amount: 15,000-60,000 euros per grant 
• Duration: Up to 12 months, some projects are still on-going 

There will be no more open calls for this Grant scheme during the current project cycle. For any future open calls, see https://kios.fi/en/apply/ 

Results and success stories from Grantees will be shared here: https://kios.fi/en/tag/haki-ni-yetu/ 

Civic Action and Community Empowerment Grants (CACEG)

Civic Action and Community Empowerment Grants (CACEG) were tailored low-threshold funding to small community-based organisations (CBOs) or other grassroot civil society groups in Kenya. Through our Grant calls we received 404 applications through 3 grant calls (note calls combined different counties) and have been able to provide funding for 44 projects for human rights work at grassroots in Busia, Embu, Isiolo, Kakamega, Kericho, Kilifi, Kirinyaga, Kisii, Kwale, Laikipia, Migori, Narok, Siaya, Taita-Taveta and Turkana counties. The grants ranged from 500- 4000 euros, and the implementation period was mainly 3-6 months. At the moment, most grants are on-going or starting actions, but the projects from first open call to Migori and Isiolo have finalised their projects.  

Grant activities under the CACEG Grant scheme are for example events, group action, training and capacity-building, advocacy or community awareness-raising. Institutional capacity development components could also be considered and integrated as part of the overall grant. The selected organisations worked on grassroot level for example on social audits, prevention of gender-based violence, advancing women’s rights in the mining sector, engaging youth in human rights work, land rights and environmental issues and business and human rights issues. 

Altogether 3 grant calls were organised. First in July 2024 for Isiolo and Migori, where organisations were asked to first submit an Expression of Interest, followed by full proposal phase for selected organisations. Second call was organised as an open call for proposals targeting Busia, Embu, Kakamega, Kilifi, Kirinyaga, Kwale, Siaya and Taita-Taveta counties in December 2024. Third call was organised as a restricted call targeting organisations in Bungoma, Kericho, Laikipia, Narok and Turkana counties that had previously participated the Training and Capacity Building Workshops organised by Haki Ni Yetu project in these counties.

After each call the selected shortlisted proposals went into the Due Diligence phase. After that the final projects were selected for co-creation phase. The final grant decisions were made by an independent ‘Small Grants Committee’ following a transparent process and procedure.

Haki Ni Yetu provides mentoring and coaching support to the awarded grantees throughout the grant implementation period. 

There will be no more open calls for this Grant scheme during the current project cycle. For any future open calls, see https://kios.fi/en/apply/.  

Results and success stories from Grantees will be shared here: https://kios.fi/en/tag/haki-ni-yetu/ 

This page is funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the KIOS Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.