Call for Proposals: Civil Society Fund Plus 2022 (Ethiopia)

Deadline: 18-Jul-22

The European Commission (EC) is inviting proposals for the Civil Society Fund (CSF) Plus 2022 to strengthen Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as actors of governance and development in their own right.

The CSO thematic programme in Ethiopia aims to support an inclusive, participatory, empowered, and independent civil society and democratic space and an inclusive and open dialogue with the civil society.

The specific objective of this CfP is accordingly: to strengthen capacity of local CSOs to engage in policy dialogue at national level and in implementation and monitoring of national development programmes and plans.

Priorities

• Actions must focus on working with local and grass roots CSOs and strengthening the capacity of local and grass root CSOs and their networks to engage in structured, evidence-based policy dialogue and effectively influence Government’s reform processes and nation-building interventions at Federal, Regional and lower administration levels;
• Actions must facilitate partnership opportunities amongst CSOs (including Women and youth organizations), building on existing networks, supporting emerging networks, and encouraging the building of coalitions and the creation of platforms to exchange knowledge and create momentum and collective positions on common issues of interest;
• Actions must support the creation of an enabling environment to ensure the development of a credible, accountable, independent, inclusive civil society sector with the capacity and space to act as an interlocutor between citizens and the state, and undertake strategic engagement with all levels of Government in order to reinforce the democratic process of the country.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 5,874,500 where at least EUR 3,750,000 will be reserved for sub-grants and at least EUR 500,000 will be reserved for management and capacity development activities of sub-grantees. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Only one grant will be awarded under this call.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 5,000,000
  • Maximum amount : EUR 5,874,500

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • be a legal person
  • be non-profit-making
  • be a civil society organization and/or their associations
  • be established in a Member State of the European Union or Ethiopia
  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
  • Lead Applicants not established in Ethiopia must demonstrate:
    • An established and effective partnership with Civil Society Organizations in Ethiopia (e.g. previous projects with local CSOs, Memorandum of Understanding with local CSOs)
    • That the proposed action is based on the initiative of local co-applicants ensuring their involvement during all the stages of the implementation of the action.
  • The lead applicant should meet the following criteria:
    • Has demonstrated experience in managing at least one EU grant above EUR 2.5 million in the past five years
    • Have at least 5 years of practical experience in working with and capacity building of local civil society organizations
    • Have experience in managing sub-granting schemes for CSOs. Sub-granting schemes under EU procedures will be positively assessed
• 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
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form
• 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

For more information, visit https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?ADSSChck=1654488468905&do=publi.detPUB&searchtype=QS&orderby=upd&orderbyad=Desc&nbPubliList=15&page=1&aoref=174862