Ecuador

Asociación de Mujeres Municipalistas del Ecuador (Association of Municipal Women of Ecuador)

(AMUME)

$65,000 *
To strengthen the capacity of municipal councilwomen and female government officials to effectively perform their jobs. AMUME will maintain its call center which provides support to female elected officials with technical, political, legal or psychological advice, follow-on support and emergency assistance.

Asylum Access

$39,500 *
To empower refugees throughout Ecuador to advocate for their rights by participating in democratic processes. Asylum Access will bring its interactive, capacity-building “Know Your Rights” workshops and legal empowerment tools to the northern provinces to provide the refugee population with the tools and the psychological empowerment to claim their rights. By strengthening ties with dynamic, local community leaders, Asylum Access will lay the foundation for promoting long-term institutional reform.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

$160,225
To promote dialogue on pending reforms to help construct a stable foundation for the future of democratic policymaking in the country. By hosting discussion forums and producing weekly television and radio programs, CIPE will continue to work with the Ecuadorian Institute of Political Economy (IEEP) to promote discussion across ethnic and regional groups of the economic consequences of government-proposed legislative and constitutional reforms and will suggest market-oriented alternative policies.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

$158,529
To strengthen a network of leaders in Ecuador dedicated to reforming and improving democratic participation and create broadly supported public policy alternatives to root out corruption and reduce poverty. CIPE and its local partner Alianza Equidad (AE) will work with its leadership network to facilitate the creation of sound public policy proposals to reduce corruption, poverty, and inequality and will deliver them to the national government in the form of a National Agenda.

Centro de Educación y Promoción Popular (Center for Education and Popular Participation)

(CEPP)

$70,000
To promote communication and collaboration among Afro-Ecuadorian organizations. CEPP will support Afro-Ecuadorian leaders as they expand and consolidate the Consejo de Coordinación Política Afro del Ecuador (Council for Political Coordination for Afro-Ecuadorians), a unified consultative council created with support from CEPP that allows the diverse organizations representing Ecuadorians of African-descent to coordinate platforms and advocacy strategies.

Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (Ecuadorian Center for Environmental Rights)

(CEDA)

$60,000
To promote citizen oversight of and informed debate about the Constituent Assembly. CEDA will lead an initiative to monitor the Constituent Assembly, educate Ecuadorians about the debates and decisions therein, and promote informed discussion of the Assembly’s actions and the proposed constitution.

Centro Ecuatoriano de Desarrollo y Estudios Alternativos (Ecuadorian Center for Development and Alternative Studies)

(CEDEAL)

$45,000
To promote women’s leadership and combat discrimination. CEDEAL will work with the County Women’s Assembly to implement a community education program focused on democratic governance and human rights. CEDEAL and the Assembly will also support women as they create oversight committees to monitor local government.

Centro Sobre Derechos y Sociedad (Center for Rights and Society) (CIDES)

$49,882
To strengthen the organizational and leadership capacity of the Federation of Afro-Ecuadorians of Humedales. CIDES will evaluate the organization and the community’s needs and host a series of trainings and working meetings to help the Federation respond to these needs. CIDES will then support the Federation as it implements a leadership training program in the communities it serves to ensure the broad reach of the project.

Corporación Participación Ciudadana (Citizen Participation Corporation) (PC)

$35,000
To increase citizen, and in particular youth, participation in local government in the city of Guayaquil. PC will work with students, their families, and their teachers to develop organizations to monitor the education system and lobby for its improvement. PC will also work with students to increase youth participation in school and promote the inclusion of civic education in the classroom.

Fundación Acción para el Desarrollo Comunitario (Action for Community Development Foundation) (ACDECOM)

$64,292 *
To consolidate leadership skills and raise the public profile of Afro-Ecuadorian community leaders by promoting greater collaboration and partnership between Afro-Ecuadorians and local government officials. ACDECOM will provide training on civil rights and political advocacy to 12 community development groups and one community association, and will facilitate the implementation of a pilot radio project.

Fundación Esquel (Esquel Foundation)

$51,733
To increase the visibility of nonprofit legal-aid centers and to strengthen their technical, legal and organizational capacity. Fundación Esquel will provide eight nonprofit legal-aid centers in four major departments with training and technical assistance to help them respond to increasing demand for their services and promote and publicize their work.

Fundación Q'ellkaj (Q'ellkaj Foundation)

$76,170 *
To strengthen the leadership skills of members of the indigenous youth network and build their capacity to work collaboratively with the local government and business community. Working youth in five rural counties, Q’ellkaj will provide in-depth training to improve their business and entrepreneurial skills, further their understanding of the proposed changes to Ecuador’s constitution, and enable them to identify and respond to community needs.

Fundamedios

$42,500
To develop a network of journalists to monitor attacks on journalists and media outlets. Fundamedios will work with NED grantee Instituto Prensa y Sociedad-Perú (Institute of Press and Society-Peru) (IPYS-Peru) to develop this network, adapting the successful IPYS model to the Ecuadorian situation.

Grupo Faro (Lighthouse Group)

$55,000*
To increase the transparency of and citizen participation in local government. Working in two municipalities, Grupo Faro will bring together government officials and community leaders to monitor and improve the provision of public services, increase government transparency, and encourage active citizen participation in local government.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)

$350,000
To help increase the prospects for development of a sustainable, representative democratic system in Ecuador, NDI will implement a program to promote the constructive participation of marginalized communities in the current reform process. NDI will work in three marginalized regions to promote constructive civic dialogue and representative political parties in order to help channel citizen interests during the constituent assembly and eventually, the general elections to be held under Ecuador’s new constitutional system.

Transparencia Ecuador (Transparency Ecuador) (TE)

$49,860
To promote transparency and citizen participation in local government. Based on a successful model from Transparencia Venezuela, TE will develop a set of tools to measure municipal transparency and openness to citizen participation, evaluate local public policy programs and develop strategies for reform and improvement, and will test them in a pilot program in one municipality.