ICNL is part of the civil society consortium led by Freedom House implementing The Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund.  This fund, which is supported by 19 governments and two foundations, provides support to civil society organizations (CSOs) under threat or attack.  There are three categories of Lifeline assistance:

1. Through Freedom House and Front Line Defenders, Lifeline provides small, short-term emergency assistance to CSOs threatened because of their human rights work. Emergency assistance grants can address security, medical expenses, legal representation, prison visits, trial monitoring, temporary relocation, equipment replacement, and other urgently needed expenses. ICNL does not administer emergency assistance grants on behalf of Lifeline. To apply for Lifeline emergency assistance, please contact Freedom House or Front Line Defenders as described here.
2. Lifeline rapid response advocacy grants give local CSOs the resources to push back against restrictions on civic space.  Advocacy grants support short-term initiatives that identify civic space challenges, such as threats to freedom of association, assembly, and expression or attacks on civil society, and target key actors associated with the resolution of these threats.  Lifeline advocacy grants are highly flexible, and can support a wide variety of activities, such as community mobilization, policy and legal analysis, civil society coalition building, strategic litigation, awareness raising campaigns, and advocacy capacity building.
3. Lifeline resiliency grants are meant to provide support to CSOs at high-risk to avoid or mitigate the threats they face.  Resiliency grant activities may include developing, expanding, and/or bolstering protection networks and local support mechanisms; mapping and/or coordinating civil society access to pro-bono services and support; implementing joint protection strategies, contingency plans, and/or protocols; sharing protection and resiliency strategies nationally, regionally and/or internationally; supporting disrupted CSOs to safely reestablish and reorient their work; boosting at-risk CSO capacity to conduct organizational risk assessments; or providing protection training or legal technical assistance.

ICNL accepts applications for advocacy support and resiliency support on a rolling basis. A preliminary application for Lifeline support may be found here (as a form) or here (as a Word document).

For more information or to submit an application, please contact Lifeline@icnl.org. Please note that applicants will only be contacted regarding applications selected for further consideration.