You are cordially invited to apply for the Online Kathmandu Democracy Forum (KMDF) for an opportunity to present a monitoring paper about the impact of COVID-19 on democracy in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and human rights. The reports will be focused on human rights and democracy and the civil society response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to democracy in respective countries.

1. Target countries: Asia and the Pacific region – South, Southeast, Northeast, North, Southwest and Central Asia and the South Pacific.

2. Type of monitoring report : national or thematic (multi-countries, sub-regional or regional)

3. National monitoring report is expected to cover the government and civil society response to the COVID-19 in terms of the SDGs, human rights and democracy from the civil society perspective.

4. Thematic (International) monitoring report is expected to deal with topics related to the COVID-19 in terms of the SDGs, human rights and democracy from the civil society perspective such as migration, media freedom, human security / sustaining peace, exclusion, gender equality, environmental justice, etc.

5. Finance: A modest compensation will be provided for successful applicants as financial assistance for the research conducted to develop the monitoring paper.

6. Applicants can be a civil society organization, an individual affiliated to a CSO that is interested and able to carry out the project.

7. Guidelines for the monitoring report will be provided for successful applicants during the orientation and training session.

The Asia Democracy Network (ADN) is civil society led multi-stakeholder’s platform dedicated to bringing all aspects of society in Asia together to promote and defend democracy as a collective. A diverse group of civil society democracy advocates came together in 2012 calling for the need for a democracy advocacy network that intersects sectors and themes under the large umbrella of democracy to strengthen solidarity and unity in Asia. The call became a reality in 2013, when the ADN officially launched in Seoul, Korea. ADN consists of over 300 civil society organizations as members of ADN spanning in all countries of Asia and partners with democratic international, inter-governmental, and government institutions with the aim to create Asia’s democracy narrative to progress democracy and human rights in Asia.

The Community of Democracies (CoD) is a global intergovernmental coalition comprised of the Governing Council Member States that support adherence to common democratic values and standards outlined in the Warsaw Declaration. Since its establishment in 2000, CoD has gradually developed from a conference initiative into a global intergovernmental coalition of democratic states and a multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue and discussion.