Call for Proposals: Support to Civil Society in Eswatini

Deadline: 05-Jun-24

The European Commission is seeking proposals for a funding opportunity to contribute to an inclusive and equal participation of CSOs in Eswatini, in particular CSOs active in promoting an enabling environment for women and youth and vulnerable groups, and to an inclusive and open dialogue among civil society, local authorities and the private sector.

The EU recognises the multiple roles played by civil society organisations as actors of governance and development and the contribution they provide to democratic governance and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The EU’s joint communication on the Global Gateway calls for dialogue with civil society to ensure that a “fully inclusive approach” is taken and that those most affected have a voice through adequate public consultations and civil society involvement. At the same time, local authorities are playing a key role in fulfilling the Global Gateway strategy and ensuring its effectiveness and sustainability at the local level.

Activities under this action will support informed, inclusive and constructive participation of civil society in policy dialogue with partner-country actors and the EU, as well as civil society’s role as efficient implementing partner, advocate, and watchdog. The country CSO Roadmap serves as the EU strategy to engage meaningfully and continuously with civil society and is a strategic tool to ensure complementarity between different initiatives supporting civil society.

Objectives

• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
  • To support the role of CSOs in the promotion of fundamental values, good governance, policy development and the protection of human rights through tailor-made capacity building initiatives and establishing of collaboration platforms/networking.
  • To strengthen capacities of civil society and grass-root organizations across all its dimensions in EU priority areas: to engage in gender equality, youth and people with disabilities social inclusion, empowerment and human rights.
  • To establish a funding mechanism (eg through financial support to third parties) that provides different types of support tailored to the size and capacity of civil society actors.

Priorities

• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • Priority 1: Supporting the role of CSOs in policy dialogue at national level and in the implementation and monitoring of national development plans and programs. Improving capacities and abilities of local civil society partners to uphold and promote an enabling environment for policy dialogue and influence at national level.
  • Priority 2: Strengthening the capacities of local CSOs to address gender equality (tackling gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence), people with disabilities (inclusion, participation) and youth inclusion (economic, social, political), especially local women and youth CSOs.
  • Priority 3: Put in place an innovative and differentiated funding mechanism for civil society organizations in Eswatini, through the financial support to third parties (which will represent at least 60% of the action’s budget). To that end, the action will adopt a differentiated approach according to the different types of CSOs (size, level of capacity, mission, etc.)

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3,000,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Size of grants:
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 2,900,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 3,000,000
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
    • minimum percentage: 60% of the total eligible costs of the action
    • maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action
  • The balance (ie the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the contracting authority) must be financed from sources other than the general budget of the Union or the European Development Fund.

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 specific type of organisation such as: international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation and/or International Non-Governmental Organisation, and
    • be established in a Member State of the European Union, or any other country eligible under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI – Global Europe).
      • This obligation does not apply to international organisations.
    • 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
    • have at least three (3) years’ experience in sub-grant management, and
    • have at least five (5) years’ experience in participatory and sustainable capacity building addressing local civil society organisations.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • The lead applicant may act individually or with 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 themselves.
  • 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.

For more information, visit European Commission.