Call for Proposals to Strengthening Global CSO Umbrella Organisations

Deadline: 27-Feb-23

The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals to Strengthening Global CSO Umbrella Organisations to conclude a new generation of Financial Framework Partnership Agreements (FFPA) with Civil Society umbrella organisations under the new financial period.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen a limited number of representative, membership-based and actor-based global Civil Society umbrella organisations as leader and coordinator of a wider group of like-minded CSOs in order to maximize the effectiveness of their work as independent actors of good governance and development in their own right and as contributors to policy-making, including within multilateral and multi-stakeholders arenas.
• For the purpose of this call for proposals, actor-based global umbrella organisations are understood as associations/federations of regional and/or national networks/platforms of CSOs, and/or individual CSOs, which aggregate and work together to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. These umbrella organisations gather civil society organisations belonging to the same family of actors, such as, inter alia, non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, trade unions, women’s organisations, employers’ organisations, foundations, etc.
• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
  • To strengthen the capacities of CSO umbrella organisations for coordinated actions at global and regional levels;
  • To reinforce the capacities of CSO umbrella organisations to effectively represent and be more accountable to their constituencies at global, regional and/or national levels;
  • To reinforce the capacities of the members of the CSO umbrella organisations to be actors of good governance in their own right;

Lots under this call for proposals:

• The call for proposals is divided into different lots (4) per type of civil society actors. Financial Framework Partnership applications must target only one of the following lots:
  • LOT 1: proposals of global umbrella organisations of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents;
  • LOT 2: proposals of global umbrella organisations of civil society organizations with an overt youth participation and empowerment purpose, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents;
  • LOT 3: proposals of global umbrella organisations of cooperatives, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents
  • LOT 4: proposals of global umbrella organisations of women’s organisations, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents;

Cross-cutting issues

• Human Rights (Human Rights-based approach)
• Gender Equality
• Environment and climate change

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 56,000,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds
• Indicative allocation of funds by lot:
  • LOT 1 – Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Total available: EUR 35,000,000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of non-governmental organisations (NGOs);
  • LOT 2 – Civil society organizations with an overt youth participation and empowerment purpose Total available: EUR 3,000,000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of civil society organizations with an overt youth participation and empowerment purpose;
  • LOT 3 – Cooperatives Total available: EUR 8,000,000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of cooperatives;
  • LOT 4 – Women’s organisations Total available: EUR 10,000,000 proposals of global umbrella organisations of women’s organisations.
    • For lot 1 – Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
      • Minimum amount: EUR 3,000,000
      • Maximum amount: EUR 5,000,000
    • For lot 2 – Civil society organizations with an overt youth participation and empowerment purpose
      • Minimum amount: EUR 1,500,000
      • Maximum amount: EUR 3,000,000
    • For lot 3 – Cooperatives
      • Minimum amount: EUR 6,000,000
      • Maximum amount: EUR 8,000,000
    • For lot 4 – Women’s organisations
      • Minimum amount: EUR 3,000,000
      • Maximum amount: EUR 5,000,000
  • 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: 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action

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 representative, actor-based, membership-based global umbrella organisation2526 of civil society organisationsand
  • For LOT 1: be a global umbrella organisation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents;
  • For LOT 2: be a global umbrella organisation of civil society organizations with an overt youth participation and empowerment purpose , having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents28;
  • For LOT 3: be a global umbrella organisation of cooperatives, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations of on different continents;
  • For LOT 4: be a global umbrella organisation of women’s organisations, 29 having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations and/or national individual organisations on different continents;
  • Be established in
    • Member States, beneficiaries listed in the relevant Annex to the IPA III Regulation and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
    • Neighbourhood partner countries;
    • Developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD Development Assistance Committee, which are not members of the G-20 group, and overseas countries and territories;
    • Developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, and other countries and territories, when the relevant procedure takes place in the context of an action financed by the Union under the Instrument in which they participate;
    • Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the Strategic Plan and of any grant that might be financed under the Framework Partnership Agreement with the coapplicant(s) and members/affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
    • Under this call for proposals, International Organisations are not eligible.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s). Co-applicants should be members of the umbrella organisations. However, not all members of the umbrella organisation must be included as co-applicants. Only organisations with a clearly defined and significant role in the strategic plan of the umbrella organisation may be included as co-applicants in the Financial Framework Partnership application and the Action Grant application. The number of co-applicants included in the FFPA and the specific grant should be limited to ten (10). Co-applicants for the FFPA (first phase) will be equally considered as the co-applicants of the specific action grant (second phase).
  • Co-applicant(s) participate in designing and implementing the Strategic Plan, and the costs they may incur in the implementation of any grant related to the Financial Framework Partnership are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the applicant.
• Affiliated entities (Specific Grant Application phase only)
  • The lead applicant shall attach a complete list of the members of the umbrella organisation it represents to its FFPA form. There will be no affiliated entities for the purpose of the FFPA.
    • 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.