Deadline: 28-Aug-23
The European Commission (EC) is inviting proposals to strengthen the participatory democracy and the EU accession and approximation process in North Macedonia by empowering civil society and media organisations to contribute actively in the sector reforms in view of the EU integration process.
The specific objective of this call for proposals is to provide support to civil society and media organisations in contributing towards the EU related reforms and, in particular, in the areas of environmental protection and climate change, freedom of speech and digital technologies, socio economic development and youth and advancing gender equality and women rights.
The IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme (CSF), is one of the main instruments of the EU to support civil society and media organisations in the enlargement context. Under IPA III and for the period 2021-2027, the overall objective of the CSF Programme is to strengthen participatory democracies and the EU approximation and integration process in the enlargement region through an enhanced contribution of civil society and media organisations. For this reason, the IPA III Multi-Country Civil Society Facility & Media Programme 2021-2023 for the Western Balkans and Turkey, identified priorities for further political and financial engagement with civil society and media organisations in the enlargement countries. The programme priorities are in line with the DG NEAR Guidelines for EU support to civil society in enlargement region 2021-2027 , which aims at achieving:
- a conducive environment for civil society to carry out its activities;
- strengthened cooperation and partnership between CSOs and public institutions;
- reinforced CSO capacity and resilience to carry out their activities effectively.
Priorities
- The priorities in this call for proposals were selected in accordance with the principles of complementarity and inclusiveness as well as to avoid overlapping of the donor assistance towards civil society in the country.
- The priorities of this call for proposals are:
Funding Information
- The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR3,690.000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
- minimum amount: EUR250,000
- maximum amount: EUR350,000
- Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 30 months nor exceed 36 months
Location: Actions must take place in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Eligibility Criteria
- Lead Applicant(s)
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person and
- be non-profit-making and
- be a civil society organisation or a representative network of CSOs working on one or more thematic areas of relevance to this Call for Proposals and
- be established in the Republic of North Macedonia or in a Member State of the European Union or in another IPA III beneficiary country, at least two (2) years before this call is launched
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
- Co-applicant(s)
- The lead applicant must act with at least two (2) co-applicants.
- Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
- Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant him/herself.
- Co-applicants must sign the mandate.
- If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
- In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.
- The lead applicant must act with at least two (2) co-applicants.
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Affiliated Entities
- The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
- Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
- Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
- This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
- Control on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
- Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
- Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
- Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
- Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
- Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.
For more information, visit European Commission (EC).
