EU announces CFPs to Strengthen Civil Society in Addressing Social and Economic Challenges and Increase the Voice of Youth in Pakistan Following the COVID-19 Outbreak

Deadline: 26 May 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals for strengthening civil society in addressing social and economic challenges and increasing the voice of youth in Pakistan following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

The global objective of this call for proposals is:

• Governance and development challenges in Pakistan are addressed through inclusive approaches that involve multiple stakeholders.

The specific objectives and outputs of this call for proposals are:

• Specific objective 1: The social and economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on communities is alleviated.
  • Output 1: Strengthened CSOs’ capacities and engagement in mobilising communities towards mitigating the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Specific Objective 2: The voice of youth in society is increased.
  • Output 2: Strengthened CSOs’ capacities and engagement on youth inclusion.

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

The proposed actions must address both of the above specific objectives.

Capacity building is integrated in the outputs of both specific objectives and must be targeted in a cross-cutting manner, aiming at strengthening the capacity of CSOs at different levels. This must include activities that promote the creation of space for exchange and networking to further facilitate the mainstreaming of civil society in all relevant aspects of policy dialogue, e.g. on issues of human rights, gender inclusion and collective advocacy in relation to the two specific objectives of the present call. Activities would likely include events and platforms of exchange on topics of common concern for civil society. At least 30% of the eligible direct costs of the action need to be devoted to capacity building.

The main targets of the proposed capacity building activities should be the beneficiaries of financial support to third parties. At least 30% of the costs of the action need to be devoted to financial support to third parties. Capacity building should also include the following (non-exhaustive) elements:

• Training for the staff/skills development. Academic institutions could be given a role in the implementation, for example, in capacity building activities by developing curricula etc.
• Development of systems to enhance the operational capacity of CSOs, including also M&E, reporting, risk assessments, Do No Harm and Conflict Sensitive Programming, ICT. Digitisation could be considered as a cross-cutting theme in implementation.
• Mentoring and strategic guidance around the development and implementation of internal governance and self-regulation, transparency and accountability (i.e. transparent management, governance systems, etc).
• Improved capacity of engagement with and outreach to media, government and general public, aiming at communicating and raising awareness on CSOs roles and contribution to Pakistan development.

Proposals should furthermore tangibly and measurably address gender inclusion and equality as a cross-cutting issue.

The proposed action should, where relevant, be consistent with and take into account COVID-19 response strategies of the NDMA of Pakistan and/or PDMA at provincial level.

Size of Grants

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

• Minimum amount: EUR 1 500 000
• Maximum amount: EUR 2 500 000

Location

Actions must take place in Pakistan.

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 42 months nor exceed 48 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • 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 (CSO) or associations of CSOs and
    • be established in Pakistan or a Member State of the European Union or in a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom  and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) not acting as intermediary and
    • Local CSOs established in Pakistan should be allowed by the relevant authorities to operate in Pakistan at the time of the award of the grant .
    • INGOS (established in any other eligible country than Pakistan) must have signed a MoU with the Ministry of Interior of Pakistan
    • International Organisations are not eligible to participate in the call.
• 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.
  • The proposed action needs to include at least one co-applicant legally established in Pakistan.
  • In addition to the categories, the following are however also eligible:
    • Local Authorities and/or associations of Local Authorities , which need to:
    • be established in Pakistan or a Member State of the EU/EEA  or the United Kingdom .
    • be constituted in accordance with the legislation in force in the country concerned.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3e9wzH3 and download the guidelines.