EU accepting Proposals to support Grassroots Civil Society Actors in Transitional Justice Initiatives in the Western Balkans

Deadline: 19 June 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a Call for Proposals to support grassroots civil society actors in transitional justice initiatives and confidence-building in the Western Balkans.

The global objective of this call for proposals is: support to local civil society initiatives in building sustainable capacities for effective development of transitional justice, dialogue and confidence-building actions at cross-border and regional level in the Western Balkans from a victim’s centred approach.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is: support to grass-roots spaces of dialogue in building sustainable transitional justice, dialogue and confidence-building capacities for the implementation of effective dealing with the past actions in the region, from a victim’s centred approach.

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

The primary priority is Transitional justice and peace-building, and the secondary priority is Mediation, dialogue and confidence building measures.
Despite the fact that neighbours have similar problems and the experience of one can easily be transferred to the other, the region has been characterised by the existence of limited interaction. Consequently, this call prioritises the regional cooperation and requires proposals to plan actions in, at least three of the five Western Balkans partners , with joint activities between civil society actors of the different territories.
Concerning targeted population groups, in addition to victims and their organisations emphasis will be given to work with women and youth.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

minimum amount: EUR 950,000.00 EUR
maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000.00 EUR

Duration

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

Location

Actions must take place in three or more of the following territories: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person
  - be non-profit-making and
  - be a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) or a legally constituted CSO platform, with more than 3 years of working experience on the subject addressed by the proposal
  - be established in a Member State of the European Union or other eligible territory as indicated in regulation n°236/2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union’s instruments for financing external action
  - 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)
- One local co-applicant per territory covered by the action is the minimum required.
- 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.
Affiliated Entity(ies)
- 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, 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.