EU announces CFPs for Civil Society Organizations as actors of Governance & Development EU Solidarity with Russian Civil Society

Deadline: 29 June 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals for Civil Society Organizations as actors of Governance and Development EU Solidarity with Russian Civil Society – protecting vulnerable people and those disproportionately affected by COVID 19.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to support CSOs as actors of governance in their own right by strengthening their capacity to participate effectively in the achievement of the key dimensions of sustainable development – social, environmental and economic.
• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are the following:
  • Strengthen capacities of local CSOs to better respond to citizen’s needs;
  • Vulnerable groups and those disproportionately affected by the pandemic have improved access to socio-economic services;

Priorities

The action should address one or more of the following priorities:

• Supporting the improvement of CSOs organizational capacities and financial sustainability to ensure vulnerable groups and those disproportionately affected by the pandemic have continuous and uninterrupted access to quality socio-economic services;
• Strengthening socio-economic resilience to bring transformative change into the lives of vulnerable groups of the population and those disproportionately affected by the pandemic;
• Responding to climate change mitigation and adaptation to protect human health.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 6 000 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Size of Grants
  • minimum amount: EUR 400 000
  • maximum amount: EUR 600 000

Duration

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

Location

Actions must take place in the Russian Federation as recognised by international law. Nevertheless, punctual activities may, if duly justified in the description of the action, take place in EU Member States when they are directly related to situations arising in the Russian Federation and for the benefit of the population of the Russian Federation, e.g. a seminar or conference, study visit, an opening or closing of a campaign or other similar one-off event. Justification for such cases will be examined during the evaluation process.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicants

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a civil society organization
  • For-profit organizations may also be eligible in exceptional and duly justified cases and as long as the non-profit character of the proposed actions is observed. The validity of the justification will be examined by the Evaluation Committee.
  • be established in the territory of the Russian Federation, as recognised by international law, or in a Member State of the European Union or in a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA);
  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(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.

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 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, 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/2YUSzjC