Call for Proposals: Civil Society Voices in Gender, Water, Energy and Climate Change (Lesotho)

Deadline: 30-Aug-2024

The European Commission (EC) has launched a call for proposals to strengthen civil society as an actor for gender equality and climate justice and its enabling environment in Lesotho.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues 

• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Strengthen civil society action for the promotion of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and ensuring freedom from all forms of gender-based violence including within the LGBTIQ+ community;
  • Strengthen civil society action and citizens’ engagement to advocate for, define, and monitor policies and programmes relating to access to safe water and sanitation and clean energy for all, especially people living in vulnerable situations, in order to contribute to the fight against climate change.
• The Outputs to be delivered by this action are:
  • Gender transformative policies, strategies and legislation are developed with the participation of civil society in an inclusive manner;
  • The enabling environment for civil society in Lesotho is strengthened and a strategic framework for civil society engagement at national level is in place;
  • The participation of CSOs, including youth and women’s organisations and independent media, in the domestic policies of Lesotho in the domain of gender, water, energy and climate change and in international processes is reinforced;
  • CSOs active in the field of gender, water, energy and climate change are equipped with increased project management knowledge, human rights-based approach, gender mainstreaming (including disaggregated indicators) skills and technical capacities for improved and consistent engagement.
• The call is divided in two Lots:
  • Lot I: Promotion of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and ensuring freedom from all forms of gender-based violence, including within the LGBTIQ+ community
  • Lot II: Governance, advocacy, monitoring & participation for safe water, sanitation & clean energy access, especially for the most vulnerable populations, to contribute to the fight against climate change

Cross Cutting Issues

• Gender equality: Gender equality constitutes a fundamental human rights principle and a common value of the European Union through integrating the objectives of the third EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III), with a specific focus on the goal outlined in the NDICI- GLOBAL EUROPE on strengthening strategic dialogue on gender equality and women’s empowerment with CSOs, including women organisations, and the LGBTIQ+ community. The design of the action should give particular attention to gender mainstreaming to ensure a reinforced role of women as actors of change. Whenever possible, GAP III gender-sensitive and sex disaggregated indicators and gender-analyses to inform the design of future actions shall be developed for all target groups. This priority will be taken into consideration when evaluating proposals.
• Disability: Civil society is a vital actor in promoting and defending the rights of marginalized people facing discrimination. As per the EU Strategy of the Rights of Persons with disabilities (2021- 2030), the EU supports CSOs to ensure that representatives of persons with disabilities can participate in all relevant processes through specific and inclusive structured dialogues, at EU, partner countries and global level. This action will be of relevance for the inclusion of persons with disabilities as organizations specifically representing, and/or as part of their mandate targeting, the rights of people with disabilities. Engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities is an important principle of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and so is recognising the intersectionality of disability inclusion.
• Human Rights-based approach: The European Consensus on Development commits the EU and its Member States to implementing a rights-based approach (RBA) to development cooperation, encompassing all human rights. The RBA implies that target groups are considered as ‘rights-holders’ with legal entitlements, and government institutions are not mere service providers but ‘duty-bearers,’ who are under an obligation to deliver on people’s human rights. In line with RBA, development cooperation should contribute to the development of the capacities of ‘rights-holders’ to claim their rights and ‘duty-bearers’ to meet their obligations. Actions must therefore incorporate the five working principles of the RBA approach – (i) applying all rights; (ii) participation and access to decision-making; (iii) non-discrimination and equal access; (iv) accountability and access to rule of law; and (v) transparency and access to information, in each step of the project cycle.
• Business and Human Rights: The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights16 should be applied by beneficiaries and associates participating in the action, where relevant. In 2016, the EU adopted Council Conclusions on Business and Human Rights, reiterating its support for the implementation of the UNGPs both within and outside the EU, and recognising that corporate respect for human rights is indispensable to realisation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
• Youth participation: The European Union recognises youth as key actors of development and an integral part of the solution to promote peace and security and sustainable development. The EU work for and with youth is guided by the Youth Action Plan (YAP) in European Union external action for 2022-2027, the first ever policy framework for a strategic partnership with young people around the world. However, young people are far too often excluded from policy and decision-making processes on issues that affect them and their future. CSOs shall promote young people’s rights; facilitate their engagement in social, civic, political life. The Action at hand will seek to support youth organizations’ capacities and participation, as well as the capacities for youth inclusion of CSO partners at large, in a gender sensitive and responsive way, taking into account the different barriers and obstacles for male and female youth. It furthermore seeks to contribute to strengthening youth engagement in policy dialogue.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2,300,000.
• Size of grants 
  • Lot I: Total: EUR 1,600,000
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 575,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 800,000
  • Lot II: Total: EUR 700,000
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 575,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 700,000

Duration 

• The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 48 months.

Types of Activity 

• Lot I
  • Activities may include, but not limited to:
    • Establish of a funding mechanism (e.g. through financial support to third parties) that provides diversified types of support tailor-made to the size and capacity of women civil society actors and/or community groups, responding to emerging needs;
    • Provide capacity building for local CSOs and/or communities (project management, M&E, financial capacity development, institutional strengthening, human rights-based approach, gender mainstreaming, public expenditure tracking etc.);
    • Organise evidence-based research, data collection and advocacy activities in the field of gender equality, gender-based violence and/or economic empowerment.
• Lot II
  • Activities may include, but not limited to:
    • Establish of a funding mechanism (e.g. through financial support to third parties) that provides diversified types of support tailor-made to the size and capacity of civil society actors and/or community groups working in the mentioned sectors, and responsive to emerging needs;
    • Provide capacity building for local CSOs and/or communities (project management, M&E, financial capacity development, institutional strengthening, human rights-based approach, gender mainstreaming, green mainstreaming, public expenditure tracking etc.);
    • Organise evidence-based research and advocacy activities in the field of access to safe water, sanitation and clean energy, including at community level and/or for the most vulnerable.

Location 

• Actions must take place in the following country: Lesotho (nation-wide or in selected districts)

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s) 
  • 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 such as: non-governmental organisations, organisations representing indigenous peoples, women’s and youth organisations, local traders’ associations and citizens’ groups, cooperatives, employers’ associations and trade unions (social partners), organisations representing economic and social interests, organisations fighting corruption and fraud and promoting good governance, civil rights organisations and organisations combating discrimination, local organisations (including networks) involved in decentralised regional cooperation and integration, consumer organisations, environmental, teaching, cultural, research and scientific organisations, universities, philosophical and non-confessional organisations, the not-for-profit media and any non-governmental associations and independent foundations, and
    • be established in a Member State of the European Union, or in the Kingdom of Lesotho or in any other country and territory as referred to in art. 28 of NDICI-GE Regulation 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
  • International public-sector organisations set up by international agreements, specialised agencies set up by such organisations and other organisations assimilated to such international organisations (i.e. the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies); and United Nations agencies are not eligible under this call for proposals as lead applicant, but can be eligible as co-applicant.
• 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.
  • In addition to the categories, the following are however also eligible:
    • international (inter-governmental) organisations as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation
  • 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 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 EC.