Call for Proposals: Empowering Civil Society in Syria

Deadline: 02-Jul-21

The European Commission is calling for proposals for Empowering Civil Society to contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of communities in Syria.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of communities in Syria.
The specific objective of this call for proposals is:
- To build the capacity of civil society actors in Syria as reliable partners in local development processes, capable of proposing innovative ideas and approaches which address community challenges and promote sustainable and positive change in a participative manner.
- No specific thematic or sectoral priorities have been identified for this call in line with the expectation that applicants are best positioned to identify the most pressing needs of their communities as well as the most appropriate ways to address them.
- The focus of this specific objective is to build the capacity of local civil society actors, both registered and un-registered, as well as community-based initiatives and volunteers, by increasing their theoretical and practical knowledge of the full range of project management concepts and tools. These may include research and knowledge management, proposal design, fundraising, project cycle management, advocacy, communication and outreach, financial management and participative processes, as appropriate.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2,500,000.
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Lot 1: € 500 000
  - minimum amount: EUR 75 000
  - maximum amount: EUR 100 000
- Lot 2: € 2 000 000
  - minimum amount: EUR 300 000
  - maximum amount: EUR 500 000
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: 60% of the total eligible costs of the action.
- Maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action.

Expected Results

Civil Society is able to identify community needs and challenges in an inclusive, participative and transparent manner and design and implement effective responses.
Communities perceive civil society as a reliable and effective partner in influencing change in their communities.
Communities benefit from targeted interventions, which bring tangible benefits, improving stability and social cohesion.

In addition, all proposals should:

Seek to address the specific needs of vulnerable groups, especially youth and women and girls, and people with disabilities (PWD), and to include representatives of these groups in both the development and, where possible, implementation of interventions, thereby further contributing to the development of skills.
Seek to develop and support networks, both within their communities and with other communities for the purposes of knowledge sharing, advocacy and coalition-building.
Seek to prioritise interventions, which are evidence-based.
Focus on a learning-by-doing approach.

All proposals must:

Clearly demonstrate that proposed activities do not overlap with those supported or implemented by other actors and clearly set out how activities will be coordinated with other actors.
Fully integrate gender aspects into the proposal’s’ objectives, activities and objectively verifiable indicators (OVIs).
Include local conflict analysis and stakeholders mapping.
Include a risks analysis and related mitigating measures.
Clearly demonstrate how they will be able to implement the proposed activities given the current security situation in Syria and what further risk mitigation measures they propose.
Explain the arrangements they foresee in order to be able to receive EU funding inside Syria.
Clearly define the targeted beneficiaries; describe how the beneficiaries will be selected; and define the expected results and how these will be measured and monitored.
Demonstrate how the do-not-harm principle will be implemented.

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 a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, community-based initiative
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or the following European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) South partner countries (Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) or a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 or a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA), or Iraq ;
- 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
- be able to demonstrate at least two years of operational activities inside Syria;
- the co-applicant(s) must be fully involved in the preparation and implementation of the project

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. In addition, they must be registered in Syria or have offices inside Syria and work only on Syria.
In addition to the categories the following are however also eligible exclusively for Lot 2:
Entities without a legal personality
Co-applicants must sign the mandate
Applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measure at the moment of the award decision cannot be awarded the contract.

Affiliated Entities

The lead applicant and its co-applicants may act with affiliated entity(ies).
Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to coapplicant(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, 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.