EU announces Programme to Support Youth and Culture in the Southern Neighbourhood

Deadline: 28 May 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for its Programme to Support Youth and Culture in the Southern Neighbourhood.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is:
  • The overall objective of the Youth and Culture programme is to promote youth and culture as vectors of democratisation, inclusive economic growth, regional integration and resilience in ENP South countries.
    • Component 1 Objective 1: To promote the active participation of young people in building inclusive and democratic societies.
    • Component 2 Objective 2: To enhance the role of culture as a vector for employment and resilience in the Southern Neighbourhood.
  • Providing financial support to third parties across the region for specific activities described below will be an important tool in achieving this objective.
  • Note that youth is defined for this call as the age group between 18-30 years of age.
• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Under the Component 1 “Youth” Objective 1:
    • Specific objective 1: supporting the effective development of regional youth networks and their inter-action with policy-makers while contributing to regional dialogue thus supporting resilience and promoting stability.
    • Specific objective 2: developing the unique ability of youth to engage in regional dialogue and transform the Sustainable Development Agenda into concrete innovative action that supports the sustainable use of natural resources and promotes climate change mitigation and adaptation in the region;
    • Specific objective 3: engaging youth and regional institutions in protecting and safeguarding their tangible and intangible cultural heritage and promoting cultural diversity as a vital element of preventing violent extremism.
  • Under the Component 2 “Culture” Objective 2:
    • Specific objective 1: Promote a more democratic access to culture, targeting, in particular, remote areas and least-favoured segments of the population.
    • Specific objective 2: Promote culture as a vector for employment and employability.
    • Specific objective 3: Promote culture as a vector of social cohesion, democratisation, and tolerance, promote cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue for peaceful inter-community relations.

Program Lots

• Lot 1: Youth – Active Participation of Young People in Building Inclusive, Democratic Societies (All three or at least two of the Specific objectives specified under the Component 1 – Youth)
• Lot 2: Culture as a Vector for Employment in the Southern Neighbourhood (Specific objective 2 of the Component 2 – Culture)
• Lot 3: Culture as a vector of democratisation, tolerance, and resilience in the Southern Neighbourhood (Specific objectives 1 and 3 of the Component 2 – Culture)

Size of Grants

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

• Lot 1:
  • Minimum amount EUR 3 000 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 6 250 000
• Lot 2:
  • Minimum amount EUR 1 000 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 2 000 000
• Lot 3:
  • Minimum amount EUR 3 000 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 4 000 000

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 the rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation
    • 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)
    • This obligation does not apply to international organisations
    • 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.
    • 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 and
    • be an organisation or be in a partnership of organisation(s) with a proven experience in awarding, managing and monitoring the implementation of grants, including coaching of grantees and on-the-job aiming at strengthening their project management capacities.
  • Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • The Lead applicant has to be in a partnership with at least two co-applicants (in addition to the Lead applicant). Co-applicants (lead and co-applicants) must be based in at least two different countries of the ENI South region.
  • The partnership should involve organisations which have proven and complementary experience in the relevant areas of the programme.
  • The partnership will have to demonstrate strong management capacities, in particular to implement grants and preferably financial support to third parties, and to monitor and coach the third parties. The lead applicant and co-applicants will have to demonstrate their expertise in the field of support to civil society organisations, youth empowerment, culture, cultural heritage, environment and climate change, prevention of violent extremism, entrepreneurship, as well as their experience implementing operational actions and capacity building activities in the region.
  • It is recommended not to involve more co-applicants than is needed. All co-applicants must be carefully chosen and play a strategic and an active role in the activities proposed. All proposals must demonstrate the value-added that all co-applicants bring to the programme and its activities
  • 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.
• 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/2Gm7hqx and download the guidelines.