EU announces CFPs for Human Rights and Democracy Promotion through Civil Society in Armenia

Deadline: 25 May 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a Call for Proposals to support civil society in promoting and protecting human rights, access to justice, labour rights, civic participation and wider democratic reform in Armenia, particularly for more vulnerable population groups.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:

Lot 1: Support human rights organisations and other civil society actors in joint monitoring of and reporting on the implementation of justice sector reform and police reform with a view to increase public awareness & debate and to improve service delivery and access to justice for citizens;
Lot 2: Support human rights organisations and other civil society actors in joint actions to further strengthen social and labour rights protection, raising awareness of international and European labour standards and monitoring the implementation of social protection issues and labour rights reform in Armenia with a view to increase public awareness and debate and to improve social protection and labour rights protection;
Lot 3: Support civil society organisations in establishing meaningful, structured platforms that engage citizens and civil society actors in effective dialogue with government and increase their influence at all stages of policy cycle.

Priorities

Furthermore, priority will be given to actions that:

Reflect a Rights-Based Approach;
Ensure the inclusion, participation of and providing a voice to youth, people or groups in a vulnerable situation, minorities, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, poor, elderly, homeless people etc. and particularly to those facing such situations in the Marzes;
Increase awareness of COVID-19 impacts and consequences for Armenian society including new, additional needs and social protection and labour rights –social and economic rights- concerns arising from the global health crisis;
Increase awareness of environmental and climate-change related topics of relevance to the beneficiaries, workplaces, a sector and promote recommended practices (technical and behavioural) in line with EU and international recommendations such as the EU Green Deal;seek complementarity and create synergies with actions undertaken through other programmes financed by the European Union or other development partners in Armenia;
Promote user-driven and innovative dialogue platform solutions;
Invest in sustainable dialogue platform solutions and policy engagement results.

All lots must:

Promote collective actions through supporting stakeholders’ partnerships between local and central CSOs, CSOs and relevant authorities, media professionals, and when appropriate, private sector actors as applicable for specific themes;
Promote participation of the general population in civil society, including through membership, volunteerism, support for civil society and involvement in civil society activities, in particular at the local and regional level,
Promote formal/informal civic education on key topics incl. traditional and innovative/online means such as meetings and seminars, coaching and mentoring, curricula development, training programmes, workshops and conferences;
Reinforce CSOs as trusted and professional partners;
Support initiatives by local initiative groups, multi-stakeholder groups, civil society organisations and other community based initiatives, including at the grassroots level and support them in increasing their capacities and ownership to perform their roles, including surveys, documentation and advocacy;
Strengthen links between CSOs throughout Armenia, promote regional and country wide thematic civil society networks, improve coalition building for advocacy capacity;
Coordinate and explore synergies with a number of other EU funded actions.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1,600,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
Size of grants:
- Lot 1
  - Minimum amount: EUR 400 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 800 000
- Lot 2
  - Minimum amount: EUR 300 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 400 000
- Lot 3
  - Minimum amount: EUR 300 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 400 000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months. For Lot 1 and Lot 2, the duration cannot exceed 48 months. For Lot 3 the duration cannot exceed 36 months.

Location

Actions must take place in the following country(ies)/regions: Armenia. Some targeted interventions can take place in the EaP region or in EU member states.

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;
- Non-governmental organisation with a human rights mandate or documented experience with implementing rights-based interventions;
- Be established in Armenia;
- 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)

It is obligatory that at least two (2) co-applicants are involved in the action.
If the lead applicant is established in Yerevan, at least one co-applicant must be established and functioning in other regions of Armenia than Yerevan.
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 itself.

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.