EU announces Call for Proposals for “Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)” and “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)” in Benin

Deadline: 7 May 2019

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals for “Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)” and “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)” in Benin.

The general aim of this call for proposals is to strengthen the role of civil society as actors in the governance, development and protection of human rights.

Priorities

The call will be organized in three spots corresponding to the specific objectives listed above, and according to the following priorities:

For Lot 1 (Youth Employment):
- This call aims at supporting initiatives that are part of a process that combines the acquisition of skills, talents and professional integration of young people, taking into account their specific needs and local economic opportunities.
- These initiatives will be anchored in a logic of territorial development involving various types of local actors to ensure the sustainability of the supported actions (local authorities, formal and informal private sector, community and family actors, etc.).
- They should be based on a detailed analysis of the context, specifically highlighting the barriers to employment and business creation (for example: access to land, access to finance, etc.) and propose solutions to overcome them structured. They can also integrate a research-action dimension.
- Lastly, the actions will have to provide for original methods of participation of young people in the process, as full participants in their professional integration and not as mere beneficiaries of support.
For lot 2 (Sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls):
- This call targets actions that are part of multi-stakeholder and multisectoral approaches.
- The actions carried out must have a strong institutional anchoring.
- The actions should provide for original methods of participation of young people and parents in training and awareness-raising activities, whether in schools or in other appropriate settings, so as not to leave teachers and educators as the only active actors.
- Sensitization / training / discussion activities should use methodologies that are as top-down as possible in order to make the beneficiaries active (use of peers in the dissemination of information, use of young women and men as a model, sharing of experience , etc.).
For lot 3 (Promotion and protection of children’s rights):
- This call aims to support actions relating to the respect of the rights of children, from the rights relating to the civil status (actual delivery of birth certificates, availability of birth registers).
- Proposed actions should focus on an inclusive approach of all stakeholders (state actors, parent associations, etc.).
- The actions should contribute to a better knowledge of childhood conditions in Benin, by sharing data derived from the implementation of the proposed actions.
- The actions will have to present innovative approaches and methodologies with the potential to be replicated on a larger scale, including the use of new communication and information technologies, social media.
- The entire extent of the national territory is eligible for the purposes of lot 3 of this call for proposals. Actions targeting specific areas of intervention must present the reasons for the proposed choice.
- Preference will be given to actions:
  - which are presented by local organizations as the lead applicant for the purpose of promoting local ownership and decision-making.
  - who apply a rights-based approach (AFD) and the promotion of gender equality and equity.

Funding Information

For lots 1 and 2:
- minimum amount: 300.000 EUR
- maximum amount: EUR 500,000
For lot 3:
- minimum amount: EUR 200,000
- maximum amount: EUR 300,000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead Applicant
- LOTS 1 and 2:
  - To be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person and
  - be non-profit and
  - be a Civil Society Organization (CSO) constituted in accordance with the legislation in force in the country concerned
  - be established in the Republic of Benin or in a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area (EEA)
  - For British applicants: Please note that the eligibility criteria must be respected throughout the duration of the grant. Unless otherwise specified in the sectoral eligibility rules, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union during the grant period in the absence of an agreement with the EU, in particular to ensure that United Kingdom applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will no longer receive funding from the EU (while continuing, if possible, to participate) or they will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article [insert reference to the article of the contract grant allowing the termination of the said contract (modification of the beneficiary’s legal position)] ‘
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the entity or affiliated entities, and not acting as an intermediary
  - prove that he has regularly carried out for more than 2 years activities in the lot area for which the proposal was submitted;
- LOT 3
  - To be eligible for a grant under lot 3, the principal applicant must:
  - be a legal person and
  - be non-profit and
  - be a CSO (civil society organization) or belong to a network of CSOs and
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity (ies) and not act as an intermediary.
Co-Applicant (s)
- The co-applicants participate in the preparation and implementation of the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those borne by the lead applicant.
- Co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those applying to the lead applicant itself.
Affiliated Entities
- The lead applicant and his co-applicant (s) may act with one or more affiliated entities.
- Only the following entities may be considered affiliated to the lead applicant and / or the co-applicant (s):
- Only entities that have a structural link with the applicants (the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
- This structural link mainly encompasses two notions:
  - control within the meaning of Directive 2013/34 / EU on annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
  - Entities affiliated with an applicant may therefore be:
  - entities controlled directly or indirectly by the applicant (subsidiaries or first-tier subsidiaries) or controlled by an entity itself controlled by the applicant (sub-subsidiaries or second-tier subsidiaries), and this is valid for other levels of control;
  - entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Similarly, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
  - controlled entities, directly or indirectly, at the same level as the applicant (sister companies).
  - membership, that is, the applicant is legally defined as, for example, a network, federation or association of which the proposed affiliated entity is a member, or the applicant is a member of the same entity (for example, a network, federation or association) than the proposed affiliated entity.