CFPs: Strengthening Participatory Democracy & Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia

Deadline: 24-Nov-22

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is launching a call for proposals to co-fund local initiatives developed by local authorities in Georgia which have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Congress in December 2021 in the framework of the project “Strengthening participatory democracy and human rights at local level in Georgia”.

The grants will fund local initiatives designed to strengthen the mainstreaming of human rights principles, equality, and diversity in local life and political action as well as to enhancing inclusion of underrepresented communities with the special focus on IDPs, PwD, minorities, and other vulnerable groups.

Means of Action

• Adopting relevant measures to increase gender equality and the inclusion of underrepresented groups, with a special focus on minorities, IDPs and other vulnerable groups.
  • Develop, implement, and monitor strategies, action plans, measures (including methodologies and tools) and/or policies to
    • increase in the participation of underrepresented groups (i.e. minorities, youth, women, etc) in local decisionmaking;
    • raise citizens’ awareness on human rights and/or gender equality as well as on local authorities’ relevant services, including non-judicial grievance mechanisms;
    • apply gender budgeting, engaging local gender equality councils and municipal gender advisors in policy and budget planning and implementation;
    • Introduce, pilot, and evaluate the effectiveness of new or revised data collection methods, including disaggregated in terms of gender and social determinants (e.g. age, ethnicity, etc.).
• Adopting relevant measures to prevent and combat discrimination, enabling equal participation and representation in local decision-making, and considering different sensibilities and needs.
  • Develop, implement, and monitor strategies, action plans, measures (including methodologies and tools) and/or policies to
    • strengthen the capacities and effectiveness of thematic councils (e.g. Gender Equality Council, Disability Council, etc);
    • encourage representatives of vulnerable groups (i.e. minorities) to participate in the thematic councils;
    • support the development of informal fora for dialogue on human rights at the local level;
    • develop and/or review internal anti-discrimination policies, codes of ethics, and/or codes of conduct.

Funding Information

• The Council of Europe intends to award up to 10 grants to the target local authorities for a maximum amount of 20 000 GEL (twenty thousands) each. The indicative available budget under this call for local initiatives is 200 000 GEL (two hundred thousands).
• The implementation period of the projects should start on 17 January 2023 and shall not extend beyond 31 August 2023.

Target Stakeholders

Projects should target in particular the following key stakeholders:

• Local authorities (local elected representatives and/or municipal staff)
• Citizens
• Other relevant stakeholders at local level

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
  • be a local authority member of the Forum of Exchange on Human Rights developed in the framework of the project.
  • be entitled to carry out activities described in its project proposal in the respective municipality.
  • have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its additional own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions).
  • have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal.
  • have a bank account.
• Multiple applications are not allowed and shall lead to the exclusion of all applications concerned.

For more information, visit https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/call-for-proposals-for-local-initiatives-on-mainstreaming-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-in-local-public-life-in-georgia