Call for Concept Notes to Support Civic Engagement around Peacebuilding and Joint Community Action in Galkayo (North and South)
About CEF
The Civic Engagement Facility (CEF), supported by Denmark, aims to expand civic space and strengthen collaboration between government, civil society, and the private sector around Somali people's priority issues. It provides catalytic funding to strengthen civil society networks, support innovative channels for civic engagement , and foster more inclusive citizen-government dialogue to drive collective action towards a people-centered governance agenda.
What We Want to Support
Initiatives that:
Strengthen Galkayo’s long-standing traditions of cooperation, civic initiative, and engagement across both sides of the city.
Encourage collective action around locally defined and shared priorities with practical, context-aware approaches that promote inclusive participation.
Support locally anchored systems of cooperation, where civic actors, traditional elders, community groups, businesses, peace committees, and local authorities on both sides of Galkayo work together.
Reinforce and expand Galkayo’s established practices of local dialogue, mediation, social solidarity, and community cooperation.
Encourage civic actors to adapt and apply these strengths to today’s realities, supporting collective action that deepens trust, sustains peaceful coexistence, and strengthens social resilience.
Recognize and uplift the vital role played by Community-Based (CBOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), informal civic networks, and peace structures as trusted and socially embedded actors central to sustaining cooperation across both sides of Galkayo.
Complements ongoing local governance, reconciliation and development initiatives supported by government and other donors.
The overall objectives of work under this opportunity are to:
Facilitate inclusive and collaborative dialogue among civic groups, traditional elders, women, youth, religious leaders, businesses, informal civic networks, peace structures, and local authorities across both sides of Galkayo to strengthen trust, cooperation, and joint action on shared community priorities.
Promote meaningful community participation in initiatives that enhance peacebuilding, joint community action, and cooperative action, ensuring that communities are engaged in identifying priorities and shaping approaches that reflect Galkayo’s realities.
Encourage community ownership by outlining appropriate, voluntary in-kind or cash contributions that reflect Somali norms of shared responsibility (Qadhaan/Qaraan), ensuring contributions are proportional, feasible, and supportive of joint civic action.
Strengthen linkages between civic actors, traditional elders, local authorities on both sides, and businesses to improve cooperation, responsiveness, and mutual understanding around shared challenges and opportunities affecting the city’s residents.
Enhance the inclusion and leadership of women, youth, and marginalized groups in civic engagement and cooperative community initiatives so that diverse voices meaningfully shape community outcomes.
Support joint actions that address shared pressures, including security concerns, rapid urbanization, population movements, environmental and climate shocks, economic strains, service-related challenges, and potential spillover effects from surrounding areas -through collaborative, context-appropriate, and peace-sensitive approaches.
Apply strong conflict-sensitive programming, ensuring that dialogue facilitation and joint actions are delivered in a neutral, inclusive, and impartial manner that strengthens trust, prevents misunderstandings, reduces the risk of tensions escalating, and shields Galkayo from potential spillover effects from surrounding areas.
Promote shared learning and practical knowledge exchange between civic actors on both sides of the city to strengthen collective problem-solving, adaptive responses, and social resilience.
The Process
The selected applicant or consortium will be invited to develop their full proposal, followed by a co-design process. During the co-design process, they will work closely with the CEF team to refine and align their proposal. The co-design phase will enable applicants to finalize their methodologies, timelines, deliverables, and performance indicators, ensuring that interventions are locally grounded, inclusive, and results-oriented, and that communities play an active role in implementation through in-kind and financial contributions.
Who Can Apply
Open to registered International and Somali Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) with the capacity to operate across both sides of Galkayo. CEF particularly encourages conflict-sensitive and innovative partnerships with locally rooted and trusted organizations.
Applicants must demonstrate proven experience and credibility in facilitating inclusive civic dialogue, peacebuilding, joint community action, and cooperative community initiatives within the Galkayo context.
Applicants should be able to work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders – including women’s groups, youth networks, civic actors, businesses, peace structures, traditional elders, religious leaders, and local authorities on both sides of Galkayo – to advance shared priorities and strengthen cooperation at the community level.
Consortia involving multiple organizations are encouraged where they add value, particularly when collaboration enhances coordination, inclusion, and collective action across both sides of the city.
CEF particularly welcomes concept notes that build on and reinforce Galkayo’s longstanding practices of dialogue, cooperation, and civic initiative, demonstrating context-aware, inclusive, and locally anchored approaches that contribute to trust-building, social harmony, and shared community priorities.
While CEF encourages broad participation, this call is geographically limited to Galkayo. Concept notes focusing on other regions will not be considered.
Minimum Requirements
Registered as a legal entity.
Tax compliant.
Applicant and partners not listed on UN/EU sanctions lists.
How to Apply
Submit a Concept Note (max 8 PowerPoint slides -see template below)
Key Dates
Virtual pre-bid session: 17 December, 2025 at 14:00 EAT
Join the call now
Submit clarification questions by: 5 January, 2026
Clarification questions should be submitted only through the form on the CEF Website. No phone or in-person inquiries will be accepted. Responses to clarification questions will be posted here on 7 January, 2026.
Concept Note submission deadline: 20 January, 2026 at 14:00 EAT
Once you click the below link to submit register to our grants application systems, please look for Call for Concept Notes to Support Civic Engagement around Peacebuilding and Joint Community Action in Galkayo (North and South)