ToR: Sub-Grant Opportunity for Emerging CSOs on Advocacy and Advancing Access to Justice for Vulnerable Groups

Background

Access to justice is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of the rule of law. Despite existing legal guarantees, many vulnerable and marginalized groups continue to face significant barriers in accessing timely and quality legal aid services, particularly at the pre-trial stage of the criminal justice process. These barriers include lack of awareness, financial constraints, limited institutional capacity, and geographic inaccessibility.

Emerging Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can play a vital role in expanding access to justice by delivering community-based legal aid services and advocating for the protection of vulnerable groups. However, many emerging CSOs face challenges related to institutional capacity, technical expertise, case management systems, and structured service delivery. To address these gaps, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) call for Emerging CSOs to identify and support capable organizations committed to providing legal aid services and advocating for vulnerable populations.

The selected CSOs will receive structured technical and financial support aimed at strengthening their ability to deliver quality, accountable, and sustainable legal aid services. The selection will be conducted through a transparent and competitive process to ensure fairness, accountability, and alignment with the project’s objectives.

Objective of the Call

The objective of this Call is to competitively select emerging CSOs with the commitment and potential to advance the right to access to justice for vulnerable groups and to strengthen their institutional and operational capacity through targeted technical support.

Scope of Support Available

Selected CSOs will receive tailored technical and institutional support, which may include: .

• Technical assistance in designing and implementing legal aid activities aligned with the project objectives.
• Customization and provision of legal aid service guidelines and tools.
• Coaching and mentorship to strengthen governance, internal systems, reporting, and accountability mechanisms:
• Provision of financial support (sub-grants) to implement approved activities in line with the project objectives.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Be legally registered at the Federal level as a civil society organization under applicable national laws and operating in Ethiopia. Additionally, the organization should provide a recent official audit report and activity report.
• Be an emerging or relatively young organization (e.g., operational for a limited number of years, preferably less than four years).
• Demonstrate a strong interest in legal aid and access to justice.
• Demonstrate engagement, experience, or programmatic focus on human rights and/or vulnerable groups.
• Have basic organizational governance structures (board, leadership, internal procedures).
• Demonstrate willingness to undergo capacity strengthening and comply with project reporting requirements.
• Applicants who can demonstrate prior experience in access to justice, legal aid, and human rights–related work.
• Provide at least one testimonial or letter of recommendation from a credible partner, donor, or relevant institution attesting to the organization’s capacity and integrity.
• Preference will be given to emerging CSOs that have the capacity to implement activities in newly established regional states of Ethiopia and have designated focal persons.