EU announces “Strategic Partnerships for Capacity Development of Civil Society Organisations in the Eastern Partnership”

Deadline: 5 September 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organizations for a program entitled “Strategic Partnerships for Capacity Development of Civil Society Organisations in the Eastern Partnership”.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen the role of CSOs as governance actors in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood.
• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposal are:
  • to establish a pool of framework partners that share’s EU’s vision on capacity development across the Eastern Neighbourhood and establish a framework of enhanced cooperation based on mutual interests and common general objectives;
  • to award specific grant agreements to a limited number of those framework partners, in order to increase capacities of CSOs and reinforce their role in the democratisation process in Eastern Partnership countries and the Russian Federation.

Program Lots

The program is divided into two lots:

• Lot 1: Capacity building of CSOs in at least 3 countries of the Eastern Partnership and the Russian Federation
• Lot 2: Capacity building of CSOs in Ukraine

Size of Grants

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

• For Lot 1:
  • minimum amount: EUR 750 000
  • maximum amount: EUR 1 400 000
• For Lot 2:
  • minimum amount: EUR 600 000
  • maximum amount: EUR 800000

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 civil society organisation and
  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
  • For Lot 1:
    • be established in :
      • EU partner countries eligible for Union funding under the European Neighbourhood Instrument established by Regulation (EU) No232/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the‘European Neighbourhood Instrument’) including the Russian Federation;
      • the EU Member States and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
    • have recent proven experience of at least 3 years (since 2015) in implementing CSO capacity building activities in at least three countries from the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine)  and the Russian Federation, including coaching and on-the-job training, aiming at strengthening strategic management, advocacy and communication capacities of CSOs, and
    • have recent proven experience(since 2015) in awarding and managing grants to CSOs, including the publication of calls for proposals, the definition of selection and award criteria, the evaluation of applications and the monitoring of implementation.
  • For Lot 2:
    • be established in:
      • Ukraine;
      • the EU Member States and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
    • have recent proven experience of at least 3 years (since 2015) in implementing CSO capacity building activities in Ukraine, including coaching and on-the-job training, aiming at strengthening strategic management, advocacy and communication capacities of CSOs, and
    • have recent proven experience (since 2015) in awarding and managing grants to CSOs, including the publication of calls for proposals, the definition of selection and award criteria, the evaluation of applications and the monitoring of implementation.
  • 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 Article 12.2  general conditions to the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement.
• Affiliated entities
  • The lead applicant may act with affiliated entity(ies).
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant:
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead 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

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR, an on-line database via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2R5EQ3u and download the guidelines.