EU announces CFPs for EIDHR Country Based Support Scheme & Enhance CSOs’ Contribution to Governance and Development Process in Sri Lanka

Deadline: 28 February 2020

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organizations to provide funding under the two programme lots:

LOT 1 – EIDHR CBSS 2019/2020 – Democracy and Human Rights

• The global objective of this call for proposals (for Lot 1) is the enhancement of democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is to preserve the acquis and further promote and protect Freedom of Expression (FoE) in Sri Lanka, with a specific focus on Media Freedom and Development.
• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • Protection of journalists and activists against harassment, intimidation and violence (including digital safety/data protection and fight against impunity in case of abuses/rights’ violations)
  • Monitoring/advocacy on legal developments and policy reforms related to FoE, right to information and media
  • Fight against hate speech, fake news and disinformation
  • Improve quality of journalism, including support to the professionalization of journalists, ethics/code of conducts and self-regulation, support to investigative journalism as well as overall media education and digital literacy
  • Support innovation in journalism/media, including disruptive digital journalism, digital start-ups and citizen/civic tech initiatives
  • Promotion of media pluralism and independence, multilinguism as well as human rights, democratic values and gender equality through the media are key cross-cutting dimensions for this lot.

LOT 2 – CSO-LA 2019/2020 – Enhancing the role of civil society organizations as actors of governance and development in Sri Lanka

• The global objective of this call for proposals (for Lot 2) is to enable and enhance Civil Society Organizations’ engagement as an efficient actor of governance and development process in Sri Lanka.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is to increase the participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in tackling climate change and mitigating its adverse effects in Sri-Lanka.
• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • Circular economy
  • Sustainable waste management
  • Protection/preservation of biodiversity and fragile ecosystems (coastal, forests, wetlands…)

Under Lot 2, although the geographic focus should be primarily on Sri Lanka, proposals which also include the Maldives in their scope of actions/proposed activities are strongly encouraged.

Size of Grants

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

• LOT 1:
  • minimum amount: EUR530,000
  • maximum amount: EUR570,000
• LOT 2:
  • minimum amount: EUR 300,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 710,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • LOT 1
    • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit-making and
      • be a civil society organisation, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions, organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level 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.
    • No nationality restriction applies to applicants, co-applicants and, if any, affiliated entities.
    • Projects submitted by applicants from Sri-Lanka are encouraged so as to promote local ownership and leadership. Eligible applicants with a nationality other than that of Sri Lanka must act together with at least one Sri Lankan organisation acting as a co-applicant.
    • International Organizations are not eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals.
  • LOT 2
    • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit-making and
      • be a Civil Society Organisation and
      • be established in Sri Lanka or
      • be established in the EU Member States
        • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise , if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of the General Conditions of the grant agreement’.
      • 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.
    • Projects submitted by applicants from Sri Lanka are encouraged so as to promote ownership and local leadership.
    • Where the lead applicant is not Sri Lankan, it must act with minimum one Sri Lankan co-applicant.
    • International Organizations are not eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals.
• Co-applicant(s) (For Lot 1 and Lot 2)
  • Where the lead applicant is not Sri Lankan, it must act with minimum one Sri Lankan co-applicant.
  • 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.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2EA3rYY and download the guidelines.