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.
• Complement ongoing local governance, reconciliation and development initiatives supported by government and other donors.
The overall objectives of work under this opportunity are to:

1. 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 Galkayoto strengthen trust, cooperation, and joint action on shared community
   priorities.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Strengthen linkages between civic actors, traditional elders, local authoritieson both sides, and businesses to improve cooperation, responsiveness, and
   mutual understanding around shared challenges and opportunities affectingthe city’s residents.
5. 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.
6. 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, contextappropriate, and peace-sensitive approaches.
7. 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.
8. 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 resultsoriented, 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.

Submit a Concept Note (max 8 PowerPoint slides)
Key Dates:
• Pre-Bid session: December 17, 2026 at 14:00 (EAT)
• Submit clarification questions by: January 2, 2026
• Concept Note submission deadline: January 20, 2026 at 14:00 EAT
Clarification questions should be submitted only through the CEF Website –www.somalicef.org. No phone or in-person inquiries will be accepted.
To download the Call for Concept Note document and Concept Note Template, go to CEF Website on www.somalicef.org under Opportunities page