EU announces Demonstration Projects on Efficient Use of Water

Deadline: 4 June 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Demonstration Projects on Efficient Use of Water”.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is the promotion of efficient use of water in urban and rural areas, in order to adapting and enhancing resilience to the water-related impacts of climate change.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is to identify, test and showcase innovative technical and institutional solutions that have the potential to be scaled up and that lead to the efficient use of water in the Southern Mediterranean region.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Promoting water efficiency measures in line with water national strategies and plans.
• Facilitating the regulation and distribution of water among different uses.
• Protecting conventional water resources (notably against uncontrolled tapping).
• Promoting the use of renewable and non-conventional water resources and their distribution.
• Promoting measures leading to the reduction of water losses and to water saving in urban or rural areas.
• Optimising water financing and related instruments with emphasis on innovative mechanisms at local level.
• Promoting governance measures leading to water savings in industrial processes, that can include as examples, but not limited to, innovative regulatory, fiscal, institutional measures.
• Supporting the implementation of the Water, Energy, Food Security and Ecosystem Nexus. Where relevant and in view to having a fully integrated approach, activities linked to sustainable irrigation, land protection and crop management may be addressed.
• Controlling the use of poor quality water (untreated wastewater) for secondary activities, in particular supplementary irrigation.

Size of Grants

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

• Minimum amount: EUR500,000
• Maximum amount: EUR1,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person
    • be non-profit-making
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation and
    • be established in a Member State of the European Union  or one of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) South partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel , Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine , Syria and Tunisia) or a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 or a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA);
    • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of the grant agreement.
    • This obligation does not apply to international organisations
    • 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.
  • When the applicant is not established in the country(ies) where the action takes place, there is an obligation to have at least one local partner in each country where the project is to be implemented. The local partner(s) must be fully involved in the preparation and implementation of the project.
  • Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations.
• 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.

How to Apply

• The application procedure consists of two phases:
  • Concept notes
  • Full applications
• The concept note together with the declaration by the lead applicant must be submitted at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2IuCmtm and download the guidelines.