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Program Overview
GCSS Partners
- Academy for Educational Development (AED)
- International Center for Not-For-Profit Law (ICNL)
- International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES)
- International Labor Rights Fund
- Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies
- Kettering Foundation
- Management Systems International
- Mercy Corps International
- Search for Common Ground
The GCSS Partnership is a USAID-funded five-year agreement that provides a variety of services to strengthen civil society, including program design, implementation, assessments, and evaluations. It was created to enable USAID to develop and implement a variety of short- and long-term civil society strengthening activities without having to go through a time-consuming bidding process.
IREX is one of 10 experienced organizations in a consortium headed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) that will be working on the project. Each partner was chosen for its expert capacity in one of the areas of civil society building.
The Partnership's Objectives
The GCSS Partnership promotes seven objectives:
- Establishing legal frameworks to protect and promote civil society
- Increasing citizen participation in policy processes and oversight of public institutions
- Increasing institutional and financial viability of civil society organizations (CSOs)
- Enhancing the free flow of information
- Strengthening democratic culture and gender equity
- Supporting anti-sweatshop initiatives
- Supporting conflict prevention and resolution
IREX's Role
IREX will be focusing on enhancing the free flow of information. In many countries, freedom of information is accepted in principle, but not in practice. For change to be lasting, media outlets and their related associations must commit their own aims and resources.
Press and speech freedom include four main elements, each of which IREX can approach through specific methods:
- Sound media law-a key information infrastructure need in most transitioning democracies
- The business side of speech and press freedom
- Public perception of journalists/journalists' sensitivity to the CSO sector
- Association-building for furthering the free flow of information
The Awards
There are two types of awards-Leader and Associate-available without further competition.
For short-term tasks, Leader Awards allow accelerated access to "working capital" already provided by USAID's Global Bureau's Center for Democracy and Governance. Example tasks include NGO assessments, activity design, training, technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation, seminars, and workshops.
For both short-term and long-term activities, Associate Awards may be negotiated. Each Associate Award has a separate activity description, budget, and reporting requirements. Examples include implementation of an NGO capacity building program, a media strengthening activity, a civic education program, a series of anti-corruption activities, or an exchange program for women. These awards may extend up to five years beyond the end date of the leader agreement.
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