CFPs for EU National Resource Centre for Civil Society Organizations in Serbia

Deadline: 16-Sep-22

The European Commission (EC) is inviting proposals to strengthen the EU integration process in Serbia by empowering civil society to actively participate in policy decision making and by further stimulating an enabling environment for civil society.

Objectives

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is:

• to further strengthen the overall capacity of civil society, including their capacities for advocacy and monitoring of reforms and Serbia’s EU Integration process in all relevant sectors, enhancing their progress via tailor-made approaches, in line with their point of development in the life cycle, via an EU National Resource Centre throughout Serbia by regional presence where and as relevant;
• to increase the capacities of grassroots and informal groups for advocacy and monitoring of reforms and Serbia’s EU Integration process through flexible financial support to third parties (FSTP) mechanisms:
• coupled with the generic resource centre trainings provided in all sectors, when necessary; and
• with a focus on strengthening under-developed civil society in specific sectors and assisting to the transformation of informal groups into organised CSOs.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• To develop organisational capacities of civil society; and
• To increase the level and quality of participation of civil society in policy-making processes, including advocacy and monitoring of reforms and Serbia’s EU Integration process; and
• To strengthen and further develop grassroots organisations and informal groups by means of networking, coaching, mentoring and FSTP

Components

The EU National Resource Centre (EUNRC) will have three main components in its work:

• Trainings and relevant coaching / support to civil society: This component will comprise of trainings, when applicable, coupled with coaching and monitoring, assuring development of the beneficiaries, through measurable means of verification, up to 6 months after the provision of the training. It will also include self-study mock-up trainings made available to everyone interested via the website of EUNRC during the whole implementation period of this project and beyond.
• Development of sustainability of civil society in Serbia through strengthening their funding capacities: This component will map the current legislative framework including identifications of room for improvements. The EUNRC will provide capacity building to CSOs and informal groups to strengthen their funding through a wide range of options, while also taking the necessary steps to advocate for improvement of the legislative framework where applicable.
• Provision of FSTP: In order to strengthen the capacity of CSOs, grassroots and informal groups;
  • Provide FSTP coupled with trainings to support the learning process referred to in the first component, i.e. as defined in “Trainings and relevant coaching / support to civil society”, as appropriate;
  • Provide FSTP coupled with trainings, strong mentorship and monitoring in sectors of competition policies, consumer rights, agriculture, transport policies, urbanisation policies, rural development, food safety, fishery and tourism development, where the civil society is under-developed. Furthermore, identify other sectors where the civil society is under-developed and needs the most capacity building support, through a mapping exercise.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4,800,000. 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 4,500,000.
  • maximum amount: EUR 4,800,000.

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
  • a civil society organisation and
  • be established in the Republic of Serbia, 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.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the co-applicant must:
    • be a legal person, and
    • be non-profit-making, and
    • a civil society organisation, and
    • be established in the Republic of Serbia, or in a Member State of the European Union.
  • 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 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 coapplicant(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 https://bit.ly/39AEi3E