LiftFund

LIFT’s programme in Rakhine is guided by LIFT’s strategy 2019-2023 which aims to strengthen the resilience and sustainable livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups in Myanmar, particularly women, internally displaced people and returnees, migrants, smallholder farmers, landless people, people with disabilities and those vulnerable to trafficking and forced labour.
LIFT seeks to contribute to this through three outcomes:

• Improved nutritional status, particularly for women and children
• Increased household income and assets, with greater control by women
• Reduced vulnerability of households and individuals to shocks, stresses and risks

Rakhine State is one of the least developed areas of Myanmar, with an estimated 78 per cent of people living on less than USD 1.25 a day. According to UNICEF, nearly 50 per cent of children under five suffer from stunting. Unemployment rates are three times the national average and labour force participation is the lowest in the country, with just under 59 per cent of the population aged over 15 economically active, compared to 67 per cent nationally.
The LIFT Rakhine Programme for 2021-23 will explicitly and intentionally contribute to LIFT’s strategic shifts in Rakhine, in particular:

• Strengthening civil society as a key agent of durable change: promoting local leadership to strengthen and increase capacities, networking, research, advocacy and service delivery. Increased communication between civil society organisations, international actors and the Government will also be promoted.
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment: promoting gender-responsive policies and programmes, equal participation so that women’s voices are heard, increased stakeholder capacities and understanding of gender issues and support for women to take up leadership roles within their communities.
• Conflict sensitivity and social cohesion: emphasizing conflict mitigation and strengthening (or rebuilding) social cohesion as a step towards peace-building.
• Identification and local ownership of durable solutions: empowering internally displaced persons and host communities and promoting people-centred approaches in decision-making that impact access to essential services and livelihoods.

Read more details about this call for concept notes including objectives, intervention areas, target groups, and operating principle. The proposed activities should start by mid-2021 and end before 30 December 2023. All applicants need to ensure that their concept notes are gender-sensitive in line with LIFT’s Gender Strategy.

Answers to questions (first round) submitted are published here.  All the answers to questions received by 18 December are available here. 

Proposals can be submitted on or before Monday 15 February 2021, 13:00 Myanmar time (GMT+6:30h) by sending an email to lift.proposals.mmoc@unops.org, with the subject line: CfP/LIFT/2020/1/Rakhine- "Organisation Name".

Due to the evolving situation in Myanmar and the need for organisations in Rakhine to assess and reflect, we have extended the deadline for LIFT's Call for Concept Notes by three weeks to the 5 March 2021.

The proposal evaluation procedure is as follows:

Except for the due date of concept note submission to LIFT, the dates provided above are only indicative and will be updated if necessary. 
Please direct any enquiries to lift@unops.org.