Grant Funding for Capacity Building Organisation(s) for the Community Sponsorship Scheme

Descriptions

The Home Office's Resettlement Asylum Support and Integration directorate (RASI) is seeking bids for grant funding to encourage the expansion of the Community Sponsorship scheme (Apply for community sponsorship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) by building capacity for community groups wishing to participate through the focussed provision of training and support. The Government is proposing to award funding of up to £500,000 a year from 1 April 2022 via a competition. Subject to the current government Spending Review, the intention would be to award a grant agreement(s) for 2 years with an option to extend for a further year dependent on performance against critical success factors. It is expected that funding awards will be supplemented by philanthropic investment secured by the successful bidder(s) to enhance delivery of the outcomes. Bidders will be able to submit proposals to deliver a combination or all the following five (5) outcomes identified to help build capacity in the Community Sponsorship scheme across the United Kingdom: 1.Support community groups to prepare and deliver high-quality resettlement and integration support for refugees throughout their Community Sponsorship journey. 2.Provide training which addresses the needs of groups and relevant stakeholders, including local authorities. 3.Help increase the numbers and diversity of Community Sponsorship groups and catalyse the growth of the scheme. 4.Support the evaluation of the Community Sponsorship scheme to inform a better understanding of what works and why. 5.Connect people and organisations and cultivate opportunities for partnering with others nationally and internationally to increase awareness, participation, and growth of community sponsorship schemes. Bidders must be able to demonstrate; •expertise and experience in refugee resettlement and integration; •expertise in delivering training and support; •experience of working with central and local government; •an ability to engage with and mobilise a broad and diverse range of community groups including faith groups, and 'whole of society' actors; and •an ability to secure philanthropic funding to enhance the delivery of the stated outcomes. All applications must be submitted electronically via Home Office's online e-sourcing portal, for which bidders must be registered. The competition for this grant funding will launch w/c 25 October 2021 with a deadline for full and final proposals of 22 November 2021. Registration will close on 18 November 2021. Once registered on the Home Office e-sourcing portal interested organisations will be able to register their interest for the competition from w/c 25 October 2021 by emailing RASIcommercialgrantsteam@homeoffice.gov.uk. The attached document under "More Information" gives further detail on the registration process.