€300,000 to €1.5M Civil Society Grant

Organization: Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Type: Grant

Location: Global

Deadline: October 9, 2026

Funding: Fully Funded

Agence Française de Développement, the French state development agency, runs an annual call that co-finances projects led by civil society organisations working on development and international solidarity. For 2026 it has merged its French and locally governed CSO calls into one, offering grants of €300,000 to €1,500,000 for three year projects to be financed from 2027. Applicants are registered organisations rather than individuals, and they must bring at least 10 to 20 percent of the project budget themselves. **What you get:** - An AFD grant of €300,000 to €1,500,000 towards a three year project - AFD covers up to 80 percent of the total project budget for French CSOs, and up to 90 percent for locally governed CSOs - Indirect costs covered up to 14 percent of direct costs - A new 2026 budget line of up to 20 percent of direct costs for organisational adaptation and transformation, covering things like restructuring, fundraising strategy, compliance systems and feasibility studies. It is not automatic and its relevance has to be demonstrated - Projects meeting the criteria can be put forward for Support Fund for Feminist Organizations (FSOF) certification **What you'll do:** - Submit a project intention sheet of at most six pages through AFD's OSCar portal, alongside three years of audited financial statements, activity reports, board composition and up to date articles of association - Design a three year project in a priority theme: education and employment, health and the One Health approach, sustainable agriculture, gender equality or human rights - Build a mandatory partnership with other civil society actors, with joint objectives, shared responsibilities and, where possible, budget delegated to local partners - If shortlisted in mid December 2026, write the fuller CSO Initiative Note (NIONG) between 1 December 2026 and 15 June 2027, which opens a four to six month AFD appraisal **Key dates:** - Call opened: Wednesday 29 July 2026 - OSCar account creation requests due: Tuesday 15 September 2026 - Project intentions close: Friday 9 October 2026 at 6:00 pm Paris time - Shortlisting notified: mid December 2026 - CSO Initiative Note (NIONG) window for shortlisted projects: 1 December 2026 to 15 June 2027 - Financing awarded for the 2027 programme year **More information:** - Full terms of reference, methodological guide Part 1, project intention sheet and OSCar authorisation form download from the AFD call page, in English and in French - Submission is only through the OSCar portal at oscar.afd.fr. Project intentions sent any other way are not considered - OSCar technical support: oscar_admin@afd.fr - The page is published in English, French and Spanish, and all three carry the same dates

Agence Française de Développement (AFD)Grant

€300,000 to €1.5M Civil Society Grant

Oct 09, 2026 18:00:00 CET

Opportunity type

Grant

Funding

Fully Funded

Location

Global

Deadline

Oct 09, 2026 18:00:00 CET

About this opportunity

What you get:

An AFD grant of €300,000 to €1,500,000 towards a three year project
AFD covers up to 80 percent of the total project budget for French CSOs, and up to 90 percent for locally governed CSOs
Indirect costs covered up to 14 percent of direct costs
A new 2026 budget line of up to 20 percent of direct costs for organisational adaptation and transformation, covering things like restructuring, fundraising strategy, compliance systems and feasibility studies. It is not automatic and its relevance has to be demonstrated
Projects meeting the criteria can be put forward for Support Fund for Feminist Organizations (FSOF) certification

What you'll do:

Submit a project intention sheet of at most six pages through AFD's OSCar portal, alongside three years of audited financial statements, activity reports, board composition and up to date articles of association
Design a three year project in a priority theme: education and employment, health and the One Health approach, sustainable agriculture, gender equality or human rights
Build a mandatory partnership with other civil society actors, with joint objectives, shared responsibilities and, where possible, budget delegated to local partners
If shortlisted in mid December 2026, write the fuller CSO Initiative Note (NIONG) between 1 December 2026 and 15 June 2027, which opens a four to six month AFD appraisal

Key dates:

Call opened: Wednesday 29 July 2026
OSCar account creation requests due: Tuesday 15 September 2026
Project intentions close: Friday 9 October 2026 at 6:00 pm Paris time
Shortlisting notified: mid December 2026
CSO Initiative Note (NIONG) window for shortlisted projects: 1 December 2026 to 15 June 2027
Financing awarded for the 2027 programme year

More information:

Full terms of reference, methodological guide Part 1, project intention sheet and OSCar authorisation form download from the AFD call page, in English and in French
Submission is only through the OSCar portal at oscar.afd.fr. Project intentions sent any other way are not considered
OSCar technical support: oscar_admin@afd.fr
The page is published in English, French and Spanish, and all three carry the same dates

Who can apply

Applicants are organisations, not individuals. There is no age criterion anywhere in the call
The CSO must have been founded at least three years before the grant is awarded, with a proven and sustained track record of implementing projects
Non-profit, apolitical and independent, with no majority control of the board by public bodies, local authorities or for-profit companies
Annual accounts audited by a statutory auditor or local equivalent and approved by the general assembly
Minimum annual organisational budget of €238,000. The average annual project cost may not exceed 70 percent of the CSO's annual budget over the last three years
Core purpose must include development aid and international solidarity. Organisations whose main purpose is international exchange and influence, reflection on issues, or producing intellectual material are not eligible
French CSOs: associations under the 1901 Law or Alsace-Moselle local law, French unions, or foundations recognised as being in the public interest, with registered headquarters and management in France
Locally governed CSOs: associations or NGOs including unions, constituted under the law of a country eligible for official development assistance on the OECD DAC list, with headquarters and management in that country
Locally governed CSOs must also already have received financing at least once, for a completed project, from an AFD Group entity (CSO-I, Operations Directorate, Expertise France, Proparco, FFEM, FID or an FSOF intermediary fund) at any amount, or from a French embassy at more than €100,000 a year
Co-financing is mandatory and disqualifying: the applicant must bring at least 20 percent of the total budget (French CSOs) or at least 10 percent (locally governed CSOs)
Minimum total project budget of €500,000 over three years, with the AFD request between €300,000 and €1,500,000
Project duration is fixed at three years. Projects of any other duration are not accepted
Partnership with other civil society actors is mandatory for both French and locally governed CSOs
One project intention only per CSO, including as lead of a consortium of partner CSOs
Ineligible legal forms include corporate, hospital, university, partnership and scientific cooperation foundations, endowment funds, and bodies that redistribute financing without directly implementing development activities
Ineligible activities include academic and scientific exchanges, youth exchanges, archaeology, French language activities, volunteering as the sole focus, projects to launch a CSO, research or evaluation alone, logistics and shipping, conferences or seminars alone, infrastructure above 40 percent of budget, and religious or political propaganda
French CSOs must submit their documents in French. Locally governed CSOs may submit in French, English or Spanish
CSOs must comply with AFD's requirements on fraud, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing
Registered non-profit civil society organisations, not individuals. On one side, French associations, unions and public interest foundations headquartered in France. On the other, locally governed CSOs registered in a country eligible for official development assistance on the OECD DAC list. Youth led organisations are welcome, and amplifying young people's voices as agents of change is one of the call's cross-cutting priorities, but the organisation itself must be at least three years old, hold an annual budget of at least €238,000 and, if locally governed, have already been financed at least once by an AFD Group entity or a French embassy.

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Good to know

+EUR 300,000 to EUR 1.5 million from France's development agency
+Free to apply, confirmed across the 20-page terms of reference, the 26-page guide and the French original
+Not French-only. The terms of reference, the guide, the intention sheet and the account form are all published in English, and locally governed organisations may submit in French, English or Spanish
+Not restricted to French NGOs. French and locally governed organisations across the aid-eligible country list apply through one merged call

Worth checking yourself

!There is a hard gate 24 days before the headline deadline: if your organisation does not already have an OSCar account you must request one by 15 September, and without it 9 October is unreachable
!Your organisation must bring its own money: 20 percent of budget for French organisations, 10 percent for locally governed ones, and falling short disqualifies the application
!The eligibility floor is high: three years in operation, a minimum EUR 238,000 annual organisational budget, audited accounts and a minimum EUR 500,000 project budget
!Locally governed organisations must already have been funded by an AFD Group entity or a French embassy
!Closes 9 October at 6pm Paris time

Sources checked

AFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApplyOSoscar.afd.frOfficialAFafd.frApplyAFafd.frApply

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