EC announces a Call for Proposals to support Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)

Deadline: 23-May-24

The European Commission (EC) has announced the call for proposals for enjoyment of human rights and other fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities (PwDs) in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Objectives

• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Contribute towards ratification, domestication and implementation of the African Disability Protocol (ADP)/instruments in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe;
  • Capacitating grassroots and local Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to execute their mandates;
  • Promote implementation of rights of all Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and enhance effective voice/participation in advancing disability inclusion in national/regional development processes.

Priorities

• The priority (ies) of this call for proposals are as follows:
  • Working with local civil society organisations,
  • Strengthening capacities of CSOs/OPDs to actively engage in policy dialogue for the ratification of the ADP,
  • Collaborative engagements such as with CSOs/OPDs, think tanks/academia, national/regional human rights commissions, human rights defenders, the private sector, etc.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1,500,000. 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 1,500,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1,500,000.

Duration

• The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 30 months nor exceed 36 months.

Types of Activity

• The below list of activities is indicative and non-exhaustive. Applicants are encouraged to use innovative approaches and intervention methodologies. Coordination of activities and creation of synergies with on-going/past EU programmes and projects and with other non-EU funded programmes and projects need to be ensured.
• Examples of activities that may be financed under this Call include:
  • Movement building for local OPDs to effectively engage at regional levels;
  • Demonstration of concrete involvement of partner governments during the design and in the implementation phases of the action;
  • Supporting OPDs’ internal management systems including effectiveness and advocacy;
  • Support the design of laws and public policies & services that protect human rights of persons with disabilities – including advancing the implementation of specific articles of the ADP (e.g. right to access to justice, to education, to healthcare, and to independent living, etc.);
  • Support actors to strengthen accountability systems and increase civil society participation in processes that mainstream and domesticate UNCRPD recommendations and in ratification processes of the ADP.

Location

• Actions must take place in the following countries:
  • Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
  • In duly justified cases, certain activities may take place outside the target countries.

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 specific type of organisation such as: a civil society organisation (CSO) or a legally registered Organisation of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international levels, and;
    • be established in   either; i) a Member State of the European Union or; ii) in either Malawi, Zambia or Zimbabwe; or iii) in another country which is a eligible under the NDICI – Global Europe, 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)
  • 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 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 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.