Call for Proposals: Human Rights and Democracy Support in Jamaica

Deadline: 18-May-23

The European Commission (EC) is inviting proposals to support and strengthen civil society organisations, democracy actors and human rights defenders’ work on critical human rights and democracy issues in Jamaica.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to provide support to initiatives of civil society, democracy actors and human rights defenders’ organizations in responding to/when confronted by systematic, widespread and/or gross human rights violations and attacks to fundamental freedoms contributing to at least one of the following objectives and priorities for Jamaica.

Priorities

• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • Promotion of accountability in State Institutions (empowering human rights actors in the fight against impunity), particularly in cases of abuses of rights of citizens by agents of the State e.g. disproportionate use of force or arbitrary detention and poor detention conditions, and effective support to victims claiming their rights.
  • Protection and empowerment of individuals while building a resilient, inclusive and democratic society that provides human rights focused approaches to addressing unequal access to new technologies and opportunities.
  • Promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights especially for the most vulnerable such as those discriminated against based on gender, social status, disability, sexual orientation, and those regarded as being at risk of falling to illegal and criminal activities.

Cross-cutting priorities

• In accordance with the EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, a rights-based approach (RBA), encompassing all human rights, is applied to this call. The implementation of the five RBA principles of
  • legality, universality and indivisibility of human rights,
  • participation,
  • non-discrimination,
  • accountability, and
• transparency must be applied in each step of the project cycle from identification, formulation, implementation, monitoring to evaluation. Therefore, all proposals to be funded under this call for proposals must be designed and implemented in accordance with RBA principles.
• Gender equality is an integral part of the RBA, encompassing the promotion, protection and fulfilment of all human rights. Gender equality constitutes a fundamental human rights principle and a common value of the European Union (EU Treaties, EU Gender Action Plan 2016 – 2020). This commitment is to be reflected in the use of gender sensitive indicators and sex disaggregated data in the proposal and the logical framework of the proposal to the greatest extent possible. Gender Analysis on Jamaica  revealed a specific need for action in the areas of gender based violence as well as women empowerment.  Actions proposed shall therefore demonstrate how gender will be mainstreamed throughout the project cycle management.
• Youth inclusion, engagement and empowerment forms a critical part of the EU Youth Action Plan 2022-2027.  The EU undertakes and expects the Actions it supports to actively consult with youth who are affected by changes to ensure they have a voice in policy and decision-making, they are empowered to fight inequalities and are provided the opportunities to connect and exchange on matters that affect them.
• Indigenous people and Disabled populations:  Civil society is a vital actor in promoting and defending the rights of marginalized people facing particularly harsh discrimination. As per the EU Strategy of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2021-2030) and UN regulations in support of indigenous people, the EU will continue to support CSOs to ensure that representatives of indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities can participate in all relevant processes through specific and inclusive structured dialogues, at EU, partner countries and global level.
• Environmental Protection & Climate Change:  The EU has a long-term commitment to international efforts to tackle climate change and supporting partners in implementing their Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. Environment and climate policies and strategies are areas where CSOs are major players in EU international cooperation as advocates of ambitious measures, providers of expertise and support to local action, contributors to dialogue mechanisms and monitors of progress on the ground. The CSO programme will contribute to the EU’s commitment to dedicate at least 20% of the total expenditure to climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 660,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR 180,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 300,000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 18 months nor exceed 36 months.

Location: Actions must take place in Jamaica.

Eligibility Criteria

• 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 organization ,  including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations, and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level, and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation or international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation  and
  • be established in  a Member State of the European Union or any other eligible countries as stipulated in the basic act/CIR/NDICI-GE/INSC/IPA III/OAD ,  This obligation does not apply to international organisations 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 and
  • non-Jamaican organisations must act with at least one local 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.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate.
  • If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
  • In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.
• 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 EC.