Call for Proposals: Capacity Building for Proficient and Highly Motivated Civil Servants to Strengthen their Skills and Capacity to Manage the EU Integration and Negotiation Process

Deadline: 26 June 2019

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals for its program entitled “Capacity Building for Proficient and Highly Motivated Civil Servants to Strengthen their Skills and Capacity to Manage the EU Integration and Negotiation Process”.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the development of an effective, efficient and transparent public administration in Albania, able to support the progress in the priority areas linked to the EU accession.

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:

• To improve the professional capacity and expertise of civil servants of category III and category IV of the state administration, independent institutions and local government unitsin key sectors of the Albanian public administration by providing the confirmed civil servants with the opportunity to undertake practical training and internships in EU Member States schools and public administration. This will further enable them to support the Albanian Government in meeting the obligations and challenges arising from the EU Integration Process and other strategic commitments at national and international level.
• To develop sustainable mechanisms aimed at supporting the career development of the skilled young civil servants, enabling them to significantly contribute to the efficiency and innovativeness of the Albanian public administration and to the main reforms.This project calls for a special focus on new civil servants (civil servants of Category III and Category IV of the state administration, independent institutions and local government units that have from 3 to 8 years’ experience in the civil service) from posting upon completion of the program, as well as in their subsequent career, so as to make the best use of the enhanced capability that they represent. Also identified is the encouragement of networking and esprit de corps among alumni.

Size of Grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 600,000
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000.00

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: public Universities / advanced Education training institutes, public sector operator (such as Ministries, Public Agencies” Official Councils and Committees involved in the field of Public Administration),local authority, Schools of Public Administration of Member States;
    • be established in a Member State of the European Union
      • Note: For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. 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, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12.2 of the General Conditions to 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 and
    • be experienced in training delivery and internshipsfor different civil servants target groups at international level and be able to demonstrate their technical expertise and capacity to manage activities responding to the size and type of the project for which the grant is requested;
    • be experienced in implementing other capacity building programmes in EU member states;
  • Note: Entities who have participated in the preparation of the call are not eligible.
  • The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
• 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.
• Affiliated entities
  • 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.

How to Apply

• The application procedure consists of two phases:
  • Concept notes
  • Full applications
• The concept note together with the declaration by the lead applicant must be submitted at the address given on the website.

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