Call for Proposals: Thematic support program for CSOs in the Union of the Comoros

Deadline: 31-May-21

The European Commission is calling proposals to support program for civil society organizations in the Union of the Comoros.

The European Union (EU) recognizes the essential role that civil society organizations and local authorities play in the fields of sustainable development, good governance and the promotion of human rights.

Several communications have been published by the Commission in recent years, in order to promote the participation and engagement of these actors in partner countries.

Objectives

The general objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the promotion of the participation of Civil Society Organizations in the process of governance and sustainable development in the Union of the Comoros.
Particular attention will be paid to the following aspects:
- Support for multilateral approaches and to innovative partnerships that maximize synergies and the ‘ use of experiences and capabilities of different stakeholders;
- Promotion of innovative forms of interaction s between CSOs and local authorities in the development and implementation of public policies at local, for good governance and the sustainable development through joint efforts.
The objectives of the program are :
- LOT 1 – contribute to the fight against climate change (action s d ‘ adaptation and / or attenuation)
- LOT 2 – Promote the participation of women and young people in decision-making and their protection

Priorities

(LOT1): implement projects on activities that allow a better understanding and integration of climate change in everyday life and that ‘ strengthening of a resilience of the natural environment and the most vulnerable to the effects of changing population climate.
- The art types ‘ shares corresponding to these priorities include:
  - Implement communication and awareness in favour of the protection of ‘ environment (protected sites, beaches, coastline, forests etc …) that can lead to improvements in the capacity of communities to cope with effects of climate change;
  - Promoting the participation of local stakeholders in the ‘ Climate Action ( “think with ‘ globally, act at local” ), including in the framework of the World Convention of Mayors for Climate and ‘ energy;
  - Enabling the transition towards a circular economy, climate resilient and low emissions thanks, among other things, the ‘ effective use of sustainable resources and consumption and production, including the sustainable management of chemicals and waste;
  - Contribute to capacity building for mainstreaming climate change, disaster risk reduction and environmental sustainability, as well as the pursuit of green growth into national and local development strategies
  - Promoting approaches ecosystems or nature in order to ‘ provide sustainable solutions to address the challenges related to ‘ climate change mitigation and the ‘ adaptation to it, using ecosystem services to reduce emissions greenhouse gases and conserve and develop carbon sinks, as well as to build resilience to the effects of climate change;
  - Implement actions favourable to the ‘ energy efficiency (improved stoves and ovens);
  - Implement activities aimed at stabilizing and protecting the coastline and soils;
  - Implement agricultural practices and techniques for adapting to climate change (improved seeds, irrigation, soil defence and restoration (DRS);
  - Implement actions Community to the ‘ improving the management of ‘ water, soil, vegetation cover (mangrove forest, villagers grove etc;
  - Implement income-generating activities in favour of ‘ a community vulnerable to climate change by taking into account the change in behaviour.
LOT2 : implement projects focusing on activities to promote the participation of women and young people in decision-making and their protection:
- The art types ‘ shares corresponding to these priorities include:
  - Strengthen political dialogue on ‘ equality between men and women, the rights of ‘ man and women’s rights in order to ‘ empower women and girls;
  - Promoting the role of women and girls as an ‘ actors of development and change, for example:
  - Promote their economic and social rights and their empowerment;
  - Strengthen their voice and their participation in social, economic, political and civic life;
  - Guarantee their physical and psychological integrity;
  - To promote ‘ equal ‘ access to and control of women to resources, the ‘ productive employment, decent work, to ‘ equal pay and financial services;
  - Strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships, including inclusion of stakeholders “non – conventional” (which were less involved until ‘ now) in the process : Unions, media, financial actors, religious and traditional authorities, etc;
  - Include systematic gender perspective in the ” other” debates, relevant policies and initiatives : protection of ‘ environment, economic development, urban planning, migration, youth empowerment, access to new technologies, human trafficking;
  - Strengthen the capacity of CSOs to implement gender-responsive budgeting and planning ; capacity building and training of women’s organizations and CSOs active in the field of ‘ equality between women and men (on financial and administrative matters, the ‘ improving ‘ access to public procurement and calls for proposals, etc.);
  - Support CSOs working in favour of the ‘ gender equality and the ‘ empowerment of women to engage in political dialogue to advocate for the ‘ development of policies taking into account the gender dimension of ‘ alignment and respect international framework on rights of ‘ man and ‘ equality between men and women; and
  - Ensure the active participation of women and women’s organizations in decision-making processes at all levels , international, national and local.
  - Support CSO actions aimed at meeting the specific needs and aspirations of young people according to their age, in particular young women and girls,
  - Support the implementation of more effective and inclusive strategies for ‘ youth employment and opportunities for ‘ decent work;
  - Support organizations of young people and the provision of ‘ dialogues and recreational spaces for young people ( ” spaces for young people “);
  - Strengthening young people’s rights and their empowerment and their participation in public affairs, including by encouraging their participation in the economies, societies and local decision-making, including the ‘ middle youth organizations;
  - Protect women and young people, especially vulnerable adolescents, violence family and marital, sexual abuse, labour, early marriage and other forms of ‘ exploitation and hazardous conditions and indecent work.

Funding Information

The amount overall indicative made available under this call for proposals s ‘ amounted to 1 million euros.
Indicative envelope per lot:
- Lot 1: Action to contribute to the fight against climate change (action ‘ adaptation and / or mitigation) – 6,00,000 EUR
- Lot 2: Action to promote the participation of women and young people in decision-making and their protection – 4,00,000 EUR
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must be between the following minimum and maximum amounts :
- Lot 1 :
  - Mount minimum: 3,00,000 £
  - Mount max: 600 000 £
- Lot 2:
  - Mount minimum 3,00,000 EUR
  - Mount max: 400 000 £
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must be between the following minimum and maximum percentages of the total eligible costs of the action:
- Percentage minimum 75 % of the total eligible costs of the action
- Percent Maximum: 8 0 % of the total eligible costs of the action for non-local organizations and 9 0 % for local organizations (c ‘ is to say, the organizations created by an act under domestic law in the Union of the Comoros and compatible with the actions of this call for proposals)

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant

To be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

To be a legal person
have no profit
A partner to one of the following categories of organizations: non-governmental organization, international (intergovernmental) as defined in Article 156 of the Financial Regulation of the European Union
be established in a Member State of the European Union or in the Union of the Comoros or in another of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States,
This obligation does not apply to international organizations,
be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the ‘ work with or co-applicants and the entity or affiliates, and not act as an ‘ intermediate and
Make sure the capacity and the experience to carry out the subsidy: the applicant must have run as plaintiff at least a comparable project (in the field covered by this program and ‘ amount / at least funding equal to 50% of the amount of ‘ action proposed in the framework of this call for proposals) – this criterion s ‘ apply to potential plaintiffs.

Co-applicant (s)

A partnership with at least one established co-applicant (s) in the Comoros is a mandatory part of the action if the lead applicant n ‘ is not established himself in the Comoros .
Co-applicants participate in the development and implementation of the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those borne by the lead applicant.
Co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those which apply to the lead applicant himself.

Affiliated Entities

The lead applicant and its co-applicants 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.