Call for Proposals: Solidarity with Civil Society in Belarus

Deadline: 09-Jun-21

The European Commission is inviting eligible entities for its Solidarity with the Civil Society in Belarus programme to promote capacity development of local civil society in Belarus in promoting green growth and climate change mitigation measures, promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls and increasing voice of the youth in society.

Specific Objectives

Specific objective 1: Increase the participation of CSOs in tackling climate change and mitigating its adverse effects
Specific objective 2: Promoting gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment
Specific objective 3: The voice of youth in society is increased

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR3,000,000.
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Minimum amount: EUR300,000
- Maximum amount: EUR500,000
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
- Minimum percentage: 50% of the total eligible costs of the action.
- Maximum percentage: 90%of the total eligible costs of the action.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant:
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person
  - be non-profit-making
  - be Civil Society Organisation or an Association of CSOs
  - be established in Belarus or in a Member State of the European Union or in a country of the European Economic Area or in “ENI East” beneficiary country
  - 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):
- 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. If the lead applicant organisation is not established in Belarus, they must act with at least one co-applicant established in Belarus.
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.