By the NGOs.ke Editorial Team.
Can a Kenyan women’s organisation get UN peacebuilding money without waiting for a call for proposals? Possibly, yes. As of October 2026, the UN Women-hosted Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) runs a Rapid Response Window that, according to its own page, accepts applications “all year round with no deadline.” It offers two routes: Direct Support of up to US$30,000 for up to six months, and Short-Term Grants of up to US$100,000 for up to six months. Both are for work that increases women’s influence on peace processes, and both exclude international NGOs as applicants.
WPHF Rapid Response Window at a glance
| Item | Direct Support | Short-Term Grants |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Up to US$30,000 | Up to US$100,000 |
| Maximum duration | 6 months | 6 months (high-impact projects may request up to US$50,000 more for 3 extra months) |
| Form of support | Services rather than a cash grant | Grant, channelled through an INGO partner of the window |
| Legal registration | Not required | Required (registration abroad may be accepted where security risks block it locally) |
| Deadline | None; rolling and demand-driven | |
| How to apply | Email WPHF-RRW@unwomen.org with the relevant English-language form | |
What does the Rapid Response Window actually fund?
The window targets strategic, short-term and urgent initiatives that increase women’s influence on national, regional or international peace processes. That covers ongoing, upcoming or stalled Track 1 (official) and Track 2 (unofficial or civil-society) processes, and the implementation of peace agreements. The page does not list specific eligible activities, so applicants should read the call for applications that WPHF links from it before drafting.
The fit is narrow on purpose. This is not general women’s empowerment funding, and it is not a livelihoods or service-delivery grant. If your work is a community dialogue that is feeding into a county or national peace process, or a push to get women into a negotiation that has stalled, it may qualify. A training course with no link to a process probably does not.
Who can apply, and who cannot?
For Short-Term Grants, WPHF names local or national women’s rights organisations and youth-focused or young women-led organisations, with legal registration. Coalitions and consortiums may apply if the lead organisation meets those criteria. For Direct Support, the net is wider: local or national women’s rights organisations or coalitions, and, notably, individual women peacebuilders, informal delegations and informal women’s groups or movements, because legal registration is not required.
Excluded from both routes are international NGOs, government bodies, political parties, local authorities, UN agencies, private-sector entities, and universities, think tanks and research institutions. In practice that means a Kenyan applicant should be women-led or women-focused at its core, not a project arm of a larger international organisation.
Is Kenya eligible?
The Rapid Response Window page says eligibility covers all countries eligible for official development assistance (ODA). Kenya appears on the OECD Development Assistance Committee list of ODA recipients, so on the face of the published rules Kenyan organisations are not ruled out by geography. The page does not name Kenya specifically, and it does not say how WPHF weighs a Kenyan peace process against others, so confirm directly with WPHF-RRW@unwomen.org before investing weeks in an application.
How do you apply?
- Pick the route. If you are unregistered, a coalition or an individual peacebuilder, Direct Support is the only one open to you. If you are a registered women’s rights organisation, you can consider Short-Term Grants.
- Download the form. WPHF publishes a Direct Support Application Form and a Short-Term Grants Concept Note Application Form on the window’s page; the templates were updated in April 2025, so check you have the current version.
- Tie the request to a named process. Say which peace process or agreement you are trying to influence, what is stalled or about to happen, and why the next six months matter.
- Email it. Send the completed form to WPHF-RRW@unwomen.org. The page does not state a review timeline, so ask about it in your first message.
If you are preparing the wider documentation a funder like this expects, the safeguarding and board-governance basics on this site apply here too; see our safeguarding policy guide for Kenyan NGOs.
How does this compare with other rolling funds?
Urgent Action Fund Africa and the Rufford Foundation also accept applications year-round, as we set out in our guide to rolling grants for Kenyan NGOs. The WPHF window is larger in ceiling, but narrower in subject and slower in structure, because Short-Term Grants pass through an INGO partner. Fixed-deadline alternatives are listed in our Commonwealth Foundation grants guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a deadline for the WPHF Rapid Response Window?
No. WPHF says applications are open all year round and the window is demand-driven.
Can an unregistered women’s group in Kenya apply?
Under the published rules, the Direct Support route does not require legal registration and accepts informal women’s groups and movements. Short-Term Grants do require registration.
How much can we get?
Up to US$30,000 in services under Direct Support, or up to US$100,000 as a grant under Short-Term Grants, each for a maximum of six months.
Do we receive the Short-Term Grant directly?
No. WPHF says the grant is channelled through an INGO partner of the window, which may also offer technical and strategic support.
Can an international NGO apply?
No. International NGOs are excluded from both routes, along with UN agencies, government bodies, political parties and universities.
Source and further detail: the WPHF Rapid Response Window page. The page was last modified in May 2025, so confirm the current terms with WPHF before applying.
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