Serbia: Public Call to Support Local Governments in Strengthening Mechanisms for Gender Equality

Deadline: 12-Oct-20

Do you want more equality between citizens in your local community? Do you see the need for fellow citizens, especially young people to get involved in the dialogue on gender equality and the elimination of gender stereotypes? Do you have ideas on how to improve local good governance practices that contribute to gender equality? If yes, then apply now for this Public Call.

Through a public call under the slogan “To make equality a reality” , the Swiss PRO program will directly support up to 30 local governments to implement projects aimed at institutional strengthening of local mechanisms for gender equality. This initiative is part of the activities for the promotion and advocacy of gender equality in local communities, which are supported by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss PRO development program.

Objectives

• Contribute to the institutional strengthening of local GEMs in promotion and advocacy of gender equality in local communities.
• Contribute to improving the operational capacities of local GEMs to actively address gender equality policies and gender issues in the community.

Funding Information

• The total budget of this public call is 100,000 euros. The value of the grant per project is up to 3,300 euros.
• The duration of the project is from six to eight months.

 Duration of the Projects

• The implementation of the awarded project activities will last from 6 (six) to eight (8) months from the day the grant contract is signed.

Scope of the Intervention

The Programme will support a maximum of thirty (30) local GEMs’ projects (as lead applicants) focused on one of the following areas:

1.  Promotion of gender equality and the European Charter for Equality between Women and Men in Local Life:
   •  Effective inclusion of men in gender equality issues;
   •  Gender perspective in local institutions, organizations and media;
   •  Increasing the level of public awareness, especially of young people, about gender equality and eliminating gender stereotypes;
2. Improving the status of women in the local community in some of these areas:
   • Combating gender-based violence;
   • Improving women’s health;
   • Activities aimed at the issues of multiple discrimination and improving the quality of life of
     vulnerable, marginalized and women with disabilities
   • Economic empowerment of women
   • Improving the status of rural women
3. Improving women’s participation in the decision-making process:
   • Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at the local level;
   • Support for women’s participation in local communities;
4. Improving the knowledge and competencies of local GEMs:
   • The contribution of GEMs in strengthening gender attitudes in LGs’ activities;
   •  Support to networking activities of local GEMs to increase achievements and impact;
   •  GEMs’ capacity building (training, workshops, etc.).Unacceptable activities and costs

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for support, LG must fulfil the following criteria:

•  Be one of 96 local self-governments within the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia and the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia.
•  To have established and appointed an active GEM (Commission, Council, person nominated for gender equality issues) that will implement the project. LG submits the project proposal while the local GEM is in charge of the project implementation, i.e. the member of the GEM who has been appointed project manager.
• The project application/proposal must be in line with relevant national and local legislation and/or strategies (eg. laws, bylaws, strategies, action plans, etc.), and show a clear contribution to the achievement to the objectives of the national and local strategic documents and action plans for gender equality.
•  One applicant can submit only one project proposal.
•  One GEM can submit a project proposal in partnership with another GEM. In case of inter-municipal or inter-institutional cooperation or partnership between a GEM from one LG (as lead applicant) and another GEM from another LG (as project partner), the partnership must be formalized in writing (Partnership Agreement or Letter of Intent to conclude a Partnership Agreement), which will be signed by both parties, with a clear division of tasks and responsibilities. The total value of the project in that case must not exceed the sum of the individual projects when the GEMs are applying separately.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Projects that do not explicitly tackle the topics mentioned;
•  Development of planning and strategic documents;
•  Projects aimed at filling up any funding gaps from on-going activities;
•  Activities that can be more appropriately funded from other funding sources;
•  Activities where a substantial part of the budget covers recurrent costs and/or personnel costs;
•  Travel, catering and/or conference services costs not founded in project rationale;
•  Budget items already financed from other sources (other projects, other organizations – public or civil, etc.);
• Support to Local Self-Governments
• Strengthening Gender Equality Mechanisms
• Bank commission expenses;
•  Extensive hardware/software purchases without a true foundation in project rationale;
• Projects focused on research or promotional activities with no specific outcomes;
•  All costs originating before the project beginning or accrued after project closure.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2ZZnfQL