EU Call for Proposals: EIDHR Country Based Support Scheme for Bangladesh 2018-2019

Deadline: 29 March 2019

The European Union is seeking proposals for its “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Country Based Support Scheme for Bangladesh 2018-2019”.

The global objective of this call for proposals is to support and strengthen civil society organisations, democracy activists and human rights defenders working on critical human rights and democracy issues in Bangladesh.

Priority Areas

economic, social and cultural rights
freedom of expression
accountability, oversight and transparency and the fight against corruption

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

minimum amount: EUR 520,000
maximum amount: EUR 533,000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person and
  - be non-profit-making and
  - be a specific type of organisation such as: civil society organisations, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level; or
  - public-sector non-profit-agencies, institutions and organisations and networks at local, national, regional and international level and
  - be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Bangladesh or in any eligible country as stipulated in the CIR. Pursuant to Commission Implementation Rules (CIR) Article 11 Eligibility under EIDHR, no nationality restriction applies to lead applicants and, if any, to co-applicants and affiliated entities. However, where the lead applicant is not registered in Bangladesh, it must act with minimum one co-applicant registered in Bangladesh and
  - 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 and
  - comply with relevant legislation to be able to implement the Action, and
  - have a proven background and a minimum of 3 years of experience within the last 5 years in the one priority area of the application.
- The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s). However, to be eligible, an action must include at least one local organisation, as lead applicant or co-applicant. Where the lead applicant is not registered in Bangladesh, it must act with minimum one co-applicant registered in Bangladesh.
Co-applicant(s)
- 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 himself.
Affiliated entity(ies)
- 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 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.