EU announces Call for Proposals to support Civil Society in Lesotho

Deadline: 29 June 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a Call for Proposals to contribute to the EU’s support of the governance sector in Lesotho, and more specifically related to the capacity building of CSO’s and their ability to influence policy, public participation and democratic governance.

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is to promote human rights and support CSO’s as actors of governance and development.

Priority Areas

• Priority Area 1: Ensure that Security Sector Institutions act in Compliance with the Principles of Human Rights
  • Key Indicators:
    • Number of security sector issues taken up by civil society organizations at national level.
    • Number of information conveyance platforms established at local and national level on compliance of the security sector institutions.
    • Number of joint consultation and advocacy at national level involving both men and women from state authorities and communities.
    • Level of engagement with state authorities with civil society and the level of response or action by the State.
    • Increased knowledge within civil society on the rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and measures in place upon violation of such rights.
    • Number of trainings held for security sector institutions on principles of Human Rights.
• Priority Area 2: Ensure the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression of People in Institutions Participating in Decision Making Process, Legislative and Justice Sector Reforms.
  • Key Indicators:
    • Number of advocacy campaigns on international human rights treaties relevant to the rights to the freedom of speech and expression ratified by the State.
    • Proportion of information requests by the media responded to effectively by the State.
    • Proportion of received complaints on the right to freedom of expression investigated and adjudicated by the national human rights institutions and the proportion of these responded to effectively by the State.
    • Number of information sharing meetings, workshops organized for media houses by the private sector, the State and civil society.
    • Number of registered NGO’s involved in the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of speech.

Size of Grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 570,000
• maximum amount: EUR 1,710.000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 36 months nor exceed 48 months

Location

Actions must take place in the following country: Kingdom of Lesotho

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • 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: non-governmental organisation, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation and
    • be established in the Kingdom of Lesotho or in a country eligible as defined by the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement 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.
    • Note: A lead applicant or co-applicant not established in the Kingdom of Lesotho or an international organisation must apply together with a lead applicant or co-applicant established in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
• 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.
• 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, 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.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3bAhFqX