The Swedish Institute (SI) 2023 Creative Partnerships Program, Sweden

The Swedish Institute is pleased to launch a new initiative, the Creative Partnerships Programme, which will grant funding to Swedish organisations and their international partners in civil society, culture and the media. The programme will support projects which aim to promote democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

Creative Partnerships is a new initiative which replaces the Creative Force programme. It is open to Swedish organisations and their partners in our target countries. Projects funded by the programme should help to create better conditions for democratic development and respect for human rights and freedom of expression in the countries covered by the programme.

Creative Partnerships is open to projects in the following countries (by region):

• Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
• Eastern Europe: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. Important: we will not grant funding to projects with Belarus which involve the state, regional or municipal sectors.
• MENA: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia
• Western Balkans & Türkiye: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye

Projects should be carried out mainly in the target country(s). However, in countries where the political situation makes this impossible, project activities may take place in Sweden or a third country.

• Table of Content
• About Swedish Institute
• Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program
• Aim and Benefits of Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program
• Requirements for Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Swedish Institute

The Swedish Institute is a public agency that encourages interest and trust in Sweden around the world. We operate in the fields of culture, education, science and business in seeking to strengthen ties and promote development. We build up lasting relations between Sweden and other countries with a view to enhancing Sweden’s attractiveness. We build up lasting relations between Sweden and other countries with a view to enhancing Sweden’s attractiveness. To this end, we disseminate information, develop skills, promote cultural exchange and cooperation, and provide funding... continue reading

Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program

Application Deadline	15 Feb 2023
Country to study	Sweden
School to study	Swedish Institute
Type	Entrepreneurs
Sponsor	Swedish Institute
Gender	Men and Women

Aim and Benefits of Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program

There are two types of funding

Creative Partnerships awards funding to projects which:

• aim to strengthen democracy, human rights and/or freedom of expression in one or more of the programme’s target countries.
• aim to strengthen the professional capacity of people who are in a position to bring about change in the organisations or sectors they work in.
• involve the project partners in knowledge exchange, network building and/or the development of innovative methods.
• are sustainable. This means that the methods and results of the projects live on and continue to be used after the project has formally ended.
• are firmly rooted in the partner country and reflect needs which have been identified and formulated locally rather than by the Swedish partner.
• do not have a profit motive.

Seed funding

This type of grant is available for preparing or planning a cooperation project (see below). You and your international partner(s) can apply for up to SEK 200,000 for a project which you must complete within 12 months from the starting date.

Cooperation projects

This type of grant is available for larger projects which aim to bring about an exchange of knowledge with the partner organisation and/or the wider target group or strengthen their professional capacity. You and your international partner(s) can apply for up to SEK 2 million for a project which you must complete within 24 months from the starting date.

Requirements for Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program Qualification

• Swedish organisations (legal entities) from civil society and the public or private sectors. You must apply with a partner in one or more of the target countries listed above.
• Your organisation must be registered as a legal entity in Sweden.
• Your organisation must have been registered in Sweden for at least two years.
• Your project partner may represent civil society or the public or private sectors in the target country. Formal or informal cultural actors, networks of journalists or other types of media organisation also qualify as partners.

Who are the programme’s target groups?

The target group of your project should be agents of change, opinion makers and drivers of democratic development in the target country. These can be influential leaders in civil society, the business sector, education, culture, the media and public administration. They should specifically be people who are in a position to bring about change in the organisations or sectors they work in.

Your project’s target group can be found:

• in your partner organisation in the target country.
• in other organisations/networks which participate in the project.

Interview date, Process and Venue for Swedish Institute Creative Partnerships Program

. Has your application been successful?

• We publish a list of the successful applications on this website approximately two to three months after the Call has closed.
• The dates given in the timeline above are only approximate.

Important: The project cannot formally start before we have made our funding decisions. You will not receive funding for any activities which take place before that date.

FAQ

If you have any questions, please refer first to the FAQs below. If you do not find the answer there, you can contact us at creativepartnerships(at)si.se.

Application Deadline

February 15, 2023

How to Apply

Interested and qualified? Go to Swedish Institute on si.se to apply

1. Call for applications opens

We have one Call for Applications per year which is open from December to February (exact dates will vary).

The exact dates are shown in the timeline above.

2. Write your application

You write your application directly in our online application portal, see link further down. There you will find a form where you register and then write the application. You can save and then return to your application as many times as you need.

In addition you must submit a number of mandatory attachments. Make sure they are all correct and complete before you submit your application. Below you will find links to the templates you must use:

• Activity plan (same template for seed and cooperation projects)
• Budget seed funding
• Budget cooperation projects
• Memorandum of Understanding (same template for seed and cooperation projects)

Contact us at [email protected] if you need accessible documents.

You must also send proof of the following:

• Authorised signatory for the Swedish organisation
• The Swedish applicant organisation’s Swedish bank account (not necessary if you have Swedish plusgiro/bankgiro).
• The Swedish applicant organisation’s registration number.
• If you have a “enskild firma” we need to see that you have “F-skattbevis”.

You will find more information about this in the application portal under Checklist. See also FAQ 14 below.

The templates for the mandatory attachments are in English. You and your project partner should write the application together in Swedish or English. Choose the language which is easiest for both of you.

If you are interested in seeing all the application questions without going into the portal, you can find them here in this test application for cooperation projects.

Link to the application portal

3. Submit your application

When your application is ready in the portal and you have uploaded the mandatory attachments (see Step 2) you can submit the application. The deadline is 23.59 (Swedish time) on 15 February 2023. Make sure you start in good time; the portal stops accepting applications at 23.59. We cannot accept applications submitted by email.

If you have filled in anything incorrectly or have missed something the portal will indicate this when you click on submit.

When you have submitted the application, an email will be sent automatically to the email address you gave in the portal. This is the address we will use to communicate with you. If you do not receive an email within 10 minutes, check your spam. We may need to get in touch with questions about your application. If you do not reply, your application may be disqualified. We would therefore encourage you to add the Swedish Institute to your contacts to make sure that emails do not end up as spam.

For more details visit: Swedish Institute website.