EU Call for Proposals: Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO-LA) Thematic Programme for Sudan

Deadline: 24 October 2017

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for “Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO-LA) Thematic Programme Sudan”. The global objectives of this call for proposals are as identified by the EU country roadmap for engagement with CSO:

To promote an enabling environment for CSOs in Sudan
To promote a meaningful and structured participation of CSOs in policies and programmes
To increase local CSOs’ capacity to perform their roles as independent development actors more effectively
Support efforts increasing sustainability of CSO work

Programme Lots

The programme is divided into two lots:

Lot 1: Civil Society Organizations
Lot 2: Local Authorities in Development

Priority Issues

Projects that:

Are implemented by local applicants as lead applicant;
Ensure participation and address the needs of the poorest section of the population in Sudan, particularly marginalised and vulnerable groups, such as extremely poor populations, women, children, conflict-affected populations, IDPs, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities or others out of the reach of mainstream services and excluded form policy-making;
Target deprived and remote areas outside Khartoum and other state capitals, including conflict- affected areas, rural areas, areas difficult to access or far away from service hubs, areas which do not receive development support by LAs or international donors etc.;
Include sub-grants for cooperatives or other types of grass-roots organisations for the benefit of the target groups: In light of this, applicants are highly encouraged to propose financial support to third parties through a sub-granting scheme. This sub-granting scheme has to approved by the Delegation before signing the contract and has to reported on by the beneficiary(ies).
Include a capacity building component for the applicant and/or the co-applicant(s) and/or the beneficiaries with a view to strengthening their capacity in areas such as organisational or project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, identifying target communities’ needs, advocacy, networking/coordination etc., based on a thorough organisational capacity assessment.

Size of Grants

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

Lot 1 Civil Society Organizations:
- minimum amount: EUR 300,000
- maximum amount: EUR 2,000,000
Lot 2 Local Authorities:
- minimum amount: EUR 300,000
- maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant: In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- If it concerns the CSO component:
  - be a legal person
  - be non-profit-making
  - be a national or international non-governmental organisation, community based organisation, institution and network thereof at local, national, regional and international level or a third level academic institution
  - be established in a Member State of the European Union, the European Economic Area (EEA) or in Sudan
  - 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;
  - not be a political party
  - be able to demonstrate to have regularly carried out activities in the field of development of the kind covered by this programme, proving their capacity to manage activities of a scale corresponding with the size of the grant requested
- If it concerns the LA component:
  - be a legal person
  - be non-profit-making
  - be a local authority, national association of local authorities or public sector operator
  - be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Sudan
- 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. Maximum recommended number of co-applicants to be involved in the action is four.
- 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 applicant may hence be:
      - Entities directly or indirectly controlled by an applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by an 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.