Strengthening Diversity, Combating Racism, Engaging Locally

With a Regranting scheme, we support people on the ground throughout Germany who oppose racism and are committed to the recognition of diversity.

Germany is a diverse immigration country. At the same time, the rejection of diversity and racially discriminatory and marginalizing ideas are increasingly normalized and made more socially acceptable in public discourse. It must be countered everywhere directly and locally! With the action-fund ViRaL, we seek to support people who are committed to opposing these tendencies in their environment with courage and creativity, but who so far lacked the resources to do so. We promote anti-racist projects in urban and rural areas, in Western and Eastern Germany, and contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge and strategies to strengthen the recognition of diversity. ViRaL combines both a financial grant of €5,000  and an accompanying year-long tailored program to empower the grantees to grow, professionalize and implement their project idea with impact. ViRaL started in March 2018 and ends in September 2019. For the first edition, we selected 10 projects out of 180 applications.

"Racism is a category of discrimination that affects people in all places and is experienced at all times. The same must apply to our anti-racism work", says Charlotte Bechert, project assistant at ViRaL. The action-fund ViRaL aims to:

• support anti-racist projects in the very places where they seem to be failing
• allow informal groups to receive support
• encourage new persons to engage in anti-racist action
• reach people who have not been actively engaged in the fight against racism
• promote societal education on racism and the recognition of diversity
• make various methods, actors and areas of application in everyday life visible

The ViRaL action fund focuses above all on cooperation with smaller civil society actors that have recognized the problem of racist exclusion and discrimination in their immediate surroundings and want to develop concrete solutions for overcoming them. ViRaL attaches a particular importance to the local anchoring of projects, that is, the conception of the problem of racism in its local context and its embedding in and cooperation with local structures. ViRaL seeks to reach out with anti-racist counter-narratives to people who have have not yet dealt with the topic, as well as to provide resources and support to those who are targeted by racism and exclusion.

ViRaL combines both a financial grant of €5,000  and an accompanying year-long tailored program to empower the grantees to grow, professionalize and implement their project idea with impact. Within that program, ViRaL supports grantees by sharing our network and infrastructure and offering specifically tailored support and mentoring. Grantees can gain access to legal, technical and financial advice, anti-racist and diversity consulting or communication trainings. Along with local trainings for the grantees, the program invests in digital learning and knowledge dissemination formats (e.g., webinars, podcasts) to produce content that is accessible to anyone on the web. 

The ViRaL action fund is a re-granting and micro-granting instrument.

Citizens For Europe, with its broad network and reputation in civil society, acts as an intermediary between those who will receive funding and large donors. With its structure, it also enables the promotion of informal groups. In addition, Citizens For Europe mobilizes its expertise and network as a civil society player to help monitor the content and strategy of the projects.

In contrast to subsidies with a broad target group, the ViRaL action fund makes it easier for us to check the impact of the funded projects and the fund itself. The funded projects have clearly defined target groups from their immediate environment and are usually anchored themselves in the communities to be reached.

"We focus on tangible change at the local level. Successful local alliances or projects show that positive change can be achieved. In the medium term, a similar dynamic can be established on a national or European level.” says Lucile Gemähling, project coordinator for the action-fund.

The documentation of the projects’ progress plays a central role in our funded projects. We promote the projects using video, images and texts on social media. Thus, the parties involved increase their visibility and multiply the enlightenment effect of their work.

For further information please visit our website https://aktionsfonds-viral.de/ or contact us at viral@citizensforeurope.org