Promoting Gender Equality through EU Accession Process

Deadline: 30-Jul-21

Reactor – Action Research (Northern Macedonia), in partnership with the Albanian Women Empowerment Network (AWEN) from Albania, Rights for all from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) from Kosovo, Women’s Rights Center (WRC) from Montenegro, as well as the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation from Sweden through their office in Northern Macedonia, announce a call for grantswithin the project: “Promoting gender equality through the EU accession process”.

This European Union-funded project, co-financed by the Swedish International Cooperation and Development Agency, aims to promote gender equality in the Western Balkans through the EU accession process.

Objectives

The objective of this Call for Proposals is to support local (W)CSOs in furthering their capacities in areas where they need additional development, by using a “learning by doing approach. The Sub-granting process will seek to strengthen local (W)CSOs organisational, networking, research, monitoring and advocacy capacities.

The financial support for local CSOs through this sub-grant aims to:

Strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to interact more effectively with the authorities, EUD / EUK and other civil society organizations in the region, develop awareness of gender dimensions in the EU accession process, as well as their importance and impact;
Improving the accountability of governments and the EUD / EUC in implementing their commitment to gender equality and women’s rights during these processes.

Funding Information

The overall indicative maximum amount for all participating countries made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 450,000.00. The foreseen maximum amount per an individually awarded grant is EUR 15,000.00.
The planned duration of each project application must be at minimum 12 months and may not exceed 18 months in total.

Eligible Activities

The types of activities eligible for financial support will include (but not necessarily be limited to):

monitoring and reporting on gender related commitments of governments (with focus on local authorities) in reference to the EU Accession process, i.e. monitoring of the implementation of gender equality and women’s rights legislation and policy at the local/community level, as an important part of the EU Accession reforms,
doing advocacy towards relevant duty-bearers, based on monitoring findings,
conducting evidence-based local campaigns and awareness raising activities regarding women’s rights and furthering gender equality through the EU Accession Process at local municipal level, including media monitoring and awareness raising for an improved gender mainstreaming and overall equal inclusion of women and men in the community,
evidence-based campaigns and advocacy for empowering women and girls in all their diversity to participate in the political dialogue,
evidence-based advocacy for improved and gender sensitive public services (care sector, for ex.), etc.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply, the applicant must fulfil the following criteria:

Be legally registered and operating in one or more of the following six countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia;
Be non-profit;
Be a civil society organization;
Been active longer than a year;
Fulfil a mission that supports and relates to the proposed activities;
Have a clear vision of the change it wants to pursue with its initiative, which will contribute to furthering gender equality through the EU accession process; and
Be able to show evidence of their capacity and previous experience in managing projects of a similar size (in terms of budget and contract duration of the sub-granting activities);
Be directly responsible for preparation and management of the project;
Have the professional competences and qualifications required to successfully complete the proposed action;
Seek to reach marginalised, grassroots and/or vulnerable persons (e.g., persons suffering from discrimination, particularly women, persons with different abilities, LGBTQIA+ persons, and minority ethnic groups, among others); and
Have at least some experiences related to the proposed project activities, like for example:
If an organisation wants to include awareness-raising in its proposal, it needs to have at least some experience in raising awareness within the targeted communities;
If an organisation is interested in supporting policy and decision making, relevant prior experiences and expertise OR current participation to sectoral working groups or other relevant/similar bodies dealing with decision making and policy approximation will be considered a plus.