Creative Force

• Seed Funding is available for small projects or to prepare a larger project for which you plan to seek funding later.
• Your project must last no longer than 12 months from when your funding is granted
• You can apply for up to SEK 100,000.
• We recommend that you obtain seed funding before applying for a grant for a collaborative project. This is particularly important if this is your first application to Creative Force or if you want to work with a new international partner.

A Collaborative Project must:

• Be based on an exchange of knowledge or best practice between partners. It should offer opportunities for developing new methods or techniques.
• Aim to communicate, influence opinion and encourage a dialogue about the issues which the project works with.
• Have sustainable goals. This means that the methods and results of the project should continue to have an effect after the project has finished.
• Last no longer than 24 months from when the funding is granted.

To strengthen human rights, freedom of expression and democracy in the target countries.

The target group of your project should be agents of change and opinion makers in the target country. These should work through the arts or the media to help strengthen democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

Examples of Creative Force target groups are cultural workers and journalists; other representatives of media organisations; human rights defenders; women’s rights groups, youth organisations; others who work to achieve positive change in society.

Final beneficiaries are groups and/or individuals in the target countries who are directly and positively affected by the project.

Examples of final beneficiaries are women, children and youth as well as minority groups in especially vulnerable positions such as LGBTQ individuals or people with disabilities.

We mean the likelihood of the project’s results living on and spreading further when your project has ended.

See the timeline above (under ‘How to apply’) for step-by-step instructions.

1. Yes. We can simultaneously grant you at most one (1) seed project and one (1) collaborative project per CF region/Call.
2. Yes. You can simultaneously apply to more than one of our CF regions. We can grant you at most one (1) seed project and one (1) collaborative project per region/Call.

Important: if you have an ongoing Creative Force project (seed or collaborative) please see FAQ 27 below.

Yes you can, but please note the following:

• You must submit a separate application per region.
• Each application must have its own main partner organisation.
• The programme goals vary from one region to another, so make sure you adapt each separate application to the goals for that specific region.

No.

Unfortunately we cannot help you find a partner. You are welcome to use our social media channels to search for a partner.

• Creative Force on Facebook
• Creative Force on Instagram

Contact the following to order a Certificate of Registration (registreringsbevis):

• If you are a company (including enskild firma): Bolagsverket
• If you are a non-profit association (ideella föreningar): Skatteverket
• If you are a foundation (stiftelser): Länsstyrelsen
• If you are a public sector organisation: SCB

This link will take you to our assessment criteria.

No.

No. You cannot apply separately for expenses of this kind. They are, however, included in grants awarded for Creative Force projects.

• A more pluralistic civil society.
• Improved conditions for democratic accountability to the people.
• Freer and more independent media.
• Stronger rights and greater respect for/recognition of vulnerable groups such as children and LGBTQ persons as well as ethnic and religious minorities.
• Greater awareness and reduced levels of discrimination and intolerance.
• Women and men increasingly have equal power to shape society and their own lives.

We pay the grant to the Swedish applicant organisation. The procedure differs slightly depending on which type of funding we have granted you:

Seed Funding
You will receive all the money in one payment when you have returned the signed Agreement to us.

Collaborative projects which last up to 12 months 

• We will pay 90 per cent of the grant when we have received the signed Agreement from you.
• We will pay the remaining 10 per cent at the end of the project when we have received and approved your written report, financial report and audit.

Collaborative projects which last longer than 12 months 

• We will pay 50 per cent of the grant when we have received the signed Agreement from you.
• We will pay a further 40 per cent when we have received and approved your interim report.
• You will be paid the final 10 per cent when we have received and approved your final written report, financial report and audit.

If you need to make any changes during the course of the project you must contact the Swedish Institute in advance:

• Changes to project activities: fill in Revised activity plan and send it to creativeforce@si.se.
• Changes to the budget: fill in Revised budget form and send it to creativeforce@si.se.

Yes, on the following conditions:

• You have been granted funding for a collaborative project
• The amount you want to transfer is over SEK 100,000

You must draw up an agreement between you and your partner and send a copy to the Swedish Institute before you make the transfer. Please use this template  Agreement transfer of funding

Please note that if you make this type of transfer we require a separate local audit of this money at the end of the project.

We do not require a local audit if you transfer funds to your project partner for expenses which have already arisen – on condition that they can provide you with invoices or receipts for these costs.

At the end of the project you must send us 1) a written report, 2) a financial report and 3) a certification of financial report. The Instructions for financial reporting will help you with the financial report.

You will find the deadline for final reporting in your Agreement with the Swedish Institute. Use the appropriate forms below. Write to creativeforce@si.se if you need the form for projects granted in any other year.

• Written report for seed funding Africa & MENA 2021
• Written report for seed funding Eastern Europe & Türkiye 2021
• Written report for seed funding Russia 2021
• Financial report Creative Force (all regions)
• Certification of financial report (all regions)

Send your written report and the signed financial report and certification of financial report to creativeforce@si.se.

And last but not least, don’t forget to send us photos and videos from your project.

If your Collaborative Project lasted up to 12 months
At the end of the project you must send us 1) a written report, 2) a financial report and 3) an audit. Please read the Instructions for financial reporting and Audit Instructions.

Make sure you send the following to your auditor: 1) audit instructions, 2) your Agreement with SI, and 3) the project’s agreed budget (the latest version if there have been approved changes during the project).

You will find the deadline for final reporting in your Agreement with the Swedish Institute. Use the appropriate forms below. Write to creativeforce@si.se if you need the form for projects granted in 2019 or 2021.

• Written report for collaborative projects Africa and MENA 2020
• Written report for collaborative projects Eastern Europe & Türkiye 2020
• Written report for collaborative projects Russia 2020
• Financial Report Creative Force (all regions)

Send your written report and the signed financial report and audit to creativeforce@si.se.

And last but not least, don’t forget to send us photos and videos from your project.

If your Collaborative Project lasts over 12 months:
Step 1: You must send us an interim report by the deadline given in your Agreement. After this we will pay the next installment of the grant. Use the following forms for your interim report:

• Interim report
• Interim financial report
• Certification of financial report

Email these documents to creativeforce@si.se.

Step 2: At the end of the project you must then send us 1) a written report, 2) a financial report and 3) an audit. Read the Instructions for financial reporting and Audit Instructions.

Make sure you send the following to your auditor: 1) audit instructions, 2) your Agreement with SI, and 3) the project’s agreed budget (the latest version if there have been approved changes during the project).

You will find the deadline for final reporting in your Agreement with the Swedish Institute. Use the appropriate forms below. Write to creativeforce@si.se if you need the form for projects granted in any other year.

• Written report for collaborative projects Africa & MENA 2020
• Written report for collaborative projects Eastern Europe & Türkiye 2020
• Written report for collaborative projects Russia 2020
• Financial Report Creative Force (all regions)

NB: Contact us at creativeforce@si.se if you need a written report form for a project which was granted funding in 2018.

Send your written report and the signed financial report and audit to creativeforce@si.se.

And last but not least, don’t forget to send us photos and videos from your project.

We do not need an audit if we have granted you Seed Funding.

If you have received funding for a Collaborative Project (over SEK 100,000) you must send us an audit carried out by a qualified, external accountant as part of your final reporting (see FAQ above).

Read these detailed Audit Instructions and send them to your accountant.

If you have more than SEK 1,000 left at the end of the project you must repay the Swedish Institute.

Do not make any repayment until we have approved your final report. We will send you payment instructions.

If you want to apply for funding in a different CF region: Yes

(The CF regions are: 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. MENA, 4. Eastern Europe & Türkiye)

If you want to apply for funding in the same CF region, the following applies:

• You have an ongoing seed project and you want to scale it up by applying for a collaborative project: You are welcome to submit a new application. However, you must have completed the seed project before we make our funding decisions. That means that you must send in your final report for the seed project by 28 February. NB: this deadline applies irrespective of the deadline for submitting your final report in your contract with SI.
• You have an ongoing collaborative project and you want to apply for a new collaborative project: You are welcome to submit a new application. However, you must have completed the collaborative project before we make our funding decisions. That means that you must send in your final report for the collaborative project by 28 February. NB: this deadline applies irrespective of the deadline for submitting your final report in your contract with SI.
• You have an ongoing seed project and you want to apply for a new seed project: You are welcome to submit a new application. We will pay special attention to your organisational capacity when we assess your application.
• You have an ongoing collaborative project and you want to apply for a new seed project: You are welcome to submit a new application. We will pay special attention to your organisational capacity when we assess your application.