Call For  Proposals 

Luena Scholars supports practical, community-led education projects in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contexts that remove concrete barriers to learning for children. We are particularly interested in small, locally designed interventions that improve access, safety, continuity, and learning readiness, and that can be implemented realistically within a $1500 microgrant.

Priority areas include projects that:

• Improve access to early childhood development (ECD), primary, or secondary education for children in low-income, underserved, or fragile settings, including rural, peri-urban, or informal communities

• Support marginalized or underserved children; including displaced or refugee children, children from host communities, migrant children, and other locally excluded groups, in enrolling, remaining in school, or re-engaging with learning

• Provide essential education inputs such as school supplies, uniforms, textbooks, desks, or exam and registration fee assistance, when clearly linked to school attendance, retention, or progression

• Promote literacy and foundational learning, particularly for early learners and girls, through community-based, school-linked, or remedial learning initiatives

• Strengthen community-based learning spaces such as libraries, reading rooms, after-school programs, homework clubs, or informal learning centers that provide safe, structured environments for children

• Support small-scale classroom repairs or learning environment improvements that make schools or learning spaces safer, more functional, or more inclusive (e.g. lighting, seating, basic weatherproofing)

• Improve safe and reliable access to school, including modest transport or coordination solutions that reduce distance, cost, or safety barriers in hard-to-reach or insecure areas

• Support practical parent or caregiver engagement that directly improves children’s attendance, retention, or learning continuity (e.g. school follow-up, supervision, home-based learning support)

• Pilot simple, low-cost, locally designed solutions that address clearly defined barriers to education and can realistically function within a microgrant budget, without creating parallel education systems

Clarifications

Projects must:

• Benefit a clearly defined group of children

• Be community-designed and community-managed

• Produce a tangible improvement in children’s access to learning or the learning environment

**Projects focused primarily on advocacy, awareness campaigns, policy engagement, or large-scale education programming are not eligible.

• Grant size: Up to USD $1,500

• Project duration: Up to 12 months

• Funding model: Projects must include at least 25% community contribution, provided through cash, materials, labor, or other in-kind support. Proposals without a demonstrated community contribution will not be considered.

Why do we require community contribution?

Community contribution is central to Luena Foundation’s approach. It demonstrates local ownership, shared responsibility, and long-term sustainability. Projects that are co-invested by the community are more likely to be maintained, protected, and used well after the grant period ends.

Examples of acceptable community contribution (minimum 25% of the grant amount, in addition to the grant):

• Volunteer labor (e.g. excavation, construction, outreach, follow-up)

• Locally sourced materials (sand, stone, timber, bricks, tools)

• Cash contributions raised within the community

• Use of community assets (land, meeting space, storage, transport)

• Time contributed by community health volunteers or local committees

• Community contribution may be a mix of cash and in-kind support, but it must be clearly described and realistically valued in the project budget.

This call is open only to small, locally led, community-based organizations. To be eligible, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

• Be a registered nonprofit, community-based, or grassroots organization, or a formally recognized community organization

• Have total annual organizational revenues of USD $50,000 or less

• Be locally led, with decision-making authority, financial control, and day-to-day management based in the community served

• Operate as an independent organization, not a chapter, program, field office, or fiscally sponsored project of a larger NGO

• Be directly responsible for project design and implementation (no pass-through or intermediary funding)

• Be able to contribute at least 25% of total project costs through cash, materials, labor, or other in-kind support

• Demonstrate basic accountability and transparency, including the ability to manage funds locally and report on activities

The following are not eligible:

• For-profit companies, including social enterprises registered as for-profit entities, businesses, or consultancies, even if the proposed project is charitable in nature

• Large public or private universities, research institutions, and academic centers

• Individuals or informal personal appeals

• Municipal, regional, or national government authorities (indigenous community councils or cabildos may be eligible when acting as community-based governing bodies, not as state authorities)

• Medium or large NGOs or INGOs

• Organizations that are part of, fiscally sponsored by, or operationally dependent on larger national or international organizations

• Projects managed primarily by external consultants or distant headquarters

** By submitting an application, organizations attest that they meet all eligibility criteria. Applications that do not meet these requirements will not be reviewed.

The following examples illustrate the scope, scale, and level of specificity expected for a Luena Scholars microgrant in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contexts. These examples emphasize community-led solutions that strengthen families’ and communities’ ability to keep children learning over time, rather than one-time or individual subsidies.

• Establishing a community-run literacy or remedial learning group for early learners or girls in an informal settlement in Jordan, using local facilitators and simple, age-appropriate materials.

• Providing backpacks, exercise books, pens, and basic school supplies to children in low-income neighborhoods in Tunisia where lack of materials is a documented barrier to school attendance.

• Supporting a parent-led school support committee in rural Morocco to help families collectively plan for and manage school-related costs, reducing dropouts due to financial pressure.

• Covering modest transport or access solutions (e.g. shared transport coordination or safe routes) for children in remote or insecure areas of Iraq to reduce distance and safety barriers to schooling.

• Purchasing shared textbooks and learning materials for an under-resourced informal learning center or accelerated education program serving displaced children in Lebanon.

• Equipping a community library or reading corner in a host community in Egypt with age-appropriate books, learning games, floor mats, and basic shelving.

• Supporting an after-school homework club or supervised study space for displaced or refugee children in Türkiye who are struggling to keep up due to overcrowded classrooms or language gaps.

• Making small-scale classroom or learning environment improvements (e.g. desks, lighting, partitions, or minor repairs) at a community school in Yemen to improve safety, dignity, and learning conditions.

Click HERE for more examples of projects we have funded