Deadline: 19 December 2017
The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for its “Civil Society Organizations and Local Authorities (CSOs-LAs) Thematic Programme” to enhance CSOs’ & LAs’ capacities and contributions in governance and development processes in Sierra Leone, strengthening decentralisation and local development processes, and contributing to poverty reduction and the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in accordance with a Territorial Approach to Local Development (TALD).
Objectives
- Improved quality of teaching and learning (primary, junior secondary, vocational) and better access to education for children at risk of marginalisation, specifically girls.
- Reinforced democratic governance, improved transparency, inclusiveness and accountable decision-making, including improved participation of citizens in particular strengthening the voice of girls and women.
- Increased gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in local development processes as well as in decentralised decision-making and local government.
- Enhanced managerial, organisational and technical capacities of Sierra Leonean CSOs and CBOs.
- Strengthened administrative and operational capacities of local authorities to carry out their legal mandates, including through collaborative efforts between local authorities.
Size of Grants
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Lot 1: For CSO Actors:
- Minimum amount: € 400,000
- Maximum amount: € 1,200,000
- Lot 2: For Local Authorities:
- Minimum amount: € 500,000
- Maximum amount: € 1,000,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Lead applicants:
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be legal persons
- be non-profit-making
- be specific types of organisations such as: non-governmental organisations, public sector operators, or a consortium thereof
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Sierra Leone
- be Local Authority or Association of Local Authorities from Sierra Leone or from a Member State of the European Union
- Eligible applicants with a nationality other than that of Sierra Leone must act together with at least one Sierra Leonean organisation acting as a co-applicant,
- 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.
- for Lot 2; only Local Authorities or Association of Local Authorities from Sierra Leone or from a Member State of the European Union are eligible to apply.
- Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Co-applicant(s)
- Actions proposed by CSOs originating from the European Union must be based on an initiative of local actors and should ensure their involvement during all stages of the implementation. Applications must demonstrate expected benefits and added value of the partnership in responding to identified local needs. In view of the need for local capacity development, the European actors should foresee and integrate capacity building activities for local actors as one of the key components for the action. The Evaluation Committee will attach particular importance to the “quality of partnership”.
- 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.
- 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, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
- Entities affiliated to applicant may hence be:
- Entities directly or indirectly controlled by an applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by an 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.
How to Apply
- The application procedure consists of two phases:
- Concept notes
- Full applications
- In the first instance, only concept notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application.
Eligible Countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK and Sierra Leone.
For more information, please visit Europeaid and download the guidelines.
