WHO CAN APPLY?:FREE STEM FUND AIMS TO provide direct grants to:
Registered and unregistered initiatives, groups, cGEOGRAPHIC FOCUS
During this first round of funding, FREE STEM will fund work in the following regions:
AFRICA
pacific
ASIA
latin america
middle east
caribbeanollectives, and organisations focused on the rights on girls, women, transgender and non-binary people.
The FREE STEM Fund specifically focuses on narrowing the gender gap in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
FREE STEM leverages shared governance and participatory mechanisms to design a fund that is tailored to the needs and gaps within the STEM sector. We also leverage grassroots STEM expertise and voices by investing in projects that prioritise girls, women and other underrepresented groups’ access to STEM opportunities. The Fund will use holistic approaches that take into account their enabling environment, with the objective of narrowing the gender STEM-gap and increasing the number of women, transgender and non-binary role models and STEM changemakers
Thematic PARAMETERS
FREE STEM will fund proposals to ensure girls, women, transgender and non-binary people are widely represented in, and empowered to thrive in and advance the STEM sector. In particular, it is envisioned that FREE STEM will support proposals that take into account the following:
ADVOCACY & AWARENESS: Advocate for equal opportunity in STEM fields while raising awareness about the diverse opportunities and benefits for girls, women, transgender and non-binary people in STEM fields at both an individual and community level.
SAFETY: Improve girls’, women’s, transgender and non-binary people’s access to safety by addressing gender-based violence*, freedom of movement and digital security in STEM fields and in the community.
*This includes emotional, psychological and physical violence
CONFIDENCE & LEADERSHIP: Expand girls’, women’s, transgender and non-binary people’s soft skills, representation, voice, and decision-making within STEM.
HEALTH & WELLBEING: Increase access to mental and physical wellbeing services such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, proper nutrition, family planning, mental health, social wellbeing and providing access to key (health-related) services for girls, women, transgender and non-binary people within the STEM field.
ROLE MODELS & NETWORKS: Create STEM role models and provide girls, women, transgender and non-binary people with a support network, including through mentorship programmes.
STEM CAREERS: Develop STEM skills that will allow girls, women, and non-binary people to become an integral part in the STEM career market in academia, industry and entrepreneurship.
EDUCATION & TRAINING: Increase girls’, women’s, transgender and non-binary people’s access to and support in STEM subjects and training, such as digital literacy and STEM subject tutoring.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION: Ensure girls, women, transgender and non-binary people can access financial information, products and services that enable them to create a future in STEM.
TIME & ACCESSIBILITY: Ensuring girls, women, transgender and non-binary people have the logistical and infrastructural means to pursue opportunities in STEM.
*The disproportionate burden of unpaid work on women and girls leads to significant time poverty. This makes it difficult to attend school or other training opportunities, take part in paid work and participate in social and community-building activities and access parental related rights and benefits.
Applications should cover 1 of the 9 parameters.