CFPs: Strengthening Zimbabwean CSOs ability to engage as Actors of Good Governance and Development

Deadline: 28-Mar-2024

The European Commission (EC) has launched a call for proposals to strengthen local civil society organisations’ ability to engage as actors of good governance and development in Zimbabwe.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

• The specific objective of this call for proposals is: to empower local civil society organisations in Zimbabwe to meaningfully advocate for and participate in governance and development processes.
• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • To strengthen advocacy for policy and legislative frameworks that protect human rights and promote an enabling environment for an inclusive and vibrant civil society in all sectors;
  • To strengthen the meaningful participation of CSOs, CBOs, women, youth and people with disabilities in public policy dialogues, development processes and in monitoring the development and implementation of the following priority policy areas at the local and/or national levels:
    • Good governance and citizens’ rights
    • Health
    • Natural resource governance
    • Youth
• This call for proposals will not prioritise service delivery through CSOs but service delivery components can be justified as part of the project contributing towards the specific objective of the call.
• The added value elements are:
  • Joint proposals based on partnerships with local (community anchored / locally driven) CSOs/CBOs.
  • Proposals benefitting and to be implemented with CSOs/CBOs operating in and representing remote areas of the country and marginalized communities living in poverty.
  • Proposals supporting the strengthening of the civil society ecosystem, including the creation of networks and opportunities for cross fertilisation of knowledge.
  • Proposals benefitting from local CSOs’ knowledge, empowering them, investing in their development and sustainability, as well as facilitating their access to funding.

Sectors or Themes

• Democratic participation and civil society
• Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3,700,000. 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 500,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 750,000

Duration

• The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 48 months.

Types of Activity

• Engaging in activities that enhance organizational capacities, governance, advocacy, leadership and other skills, and technical expertise.
• Encouraging active involvement of community members in decision-making processes and civic engagement initiatives.
• Assessing barriers for people in disadvantaged or vulnerable situations to express their citizenship and be meaningfully engaged in public affairs.
• Advocating for, and capacitating stakeholders to facilitate the inclusion in public affairs of people in disadvantaged or vulnerable situations.

Location

• Actions must take place in Zimbabwe (except for specific activities such as study tours, participation in events and attendance of CSO representatives to platforms, meetings, conferences, etc., given these activities clearly contribute to the achievement of the project’s specific objectives in Zimbabwe).

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 non-governmental organisation (civil society organisation)6 or an association thereof and
    • be established in Zimbabwe or a Member State of the European Union or any other eligible countries as stipulated in the NDICI-GE,
    • 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.
    • have demonstrable experience during the last three years in managing activities of a scale corresponding to at least half of the size of the grant requested as the applicant is applying for. Furthermore, if co-applicant(s) are involved, the lead applicant must demonstrate prior evidence of experience in being a coordinator of an action.
• 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 himself.
  • 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 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 EC.