EU Call for Proposals: Enhancing CSOs’ Contribution to Governance and Development Process in Vietnam

Deadline: 31 January 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Enhancing CSOs’ Contribution to Governance and Development Process in Vietnam” to enable and enhance Civil Society Organizations’ engagement as an efficient actor of governance and development process in Vietnam.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to increase CSOs’ capacity and establish an enabling environment for civil society in Vietnam to address issues relating to youth engagement, tackling climate change and CSOs’ response to the new development perspective in Vietnam.

Program Lots

The program is divided in to three lots:

• Lot 1: Engaging youth in political, economic and social life in Vietnam
  • Indicative priorities and focus areas:
    • Actions that facilitate and promote equal opportunities for youth leadership at all levels of decision making.
    • Actions that facilitate and promote economic empowerment and skills development for youth.
    • Actions that facilitate and promote an increased engagement and participation of youth in promoting gender equality.
• Lot 2: Enhancing CSOs’ engagement in tackling climate change and mitigating its adverse effects in Vietnam
  • Indicative priorities and focus areas
    • Actions that facilitate and promote initiatives enhancing urban climate change resilience and climate-sensitive urban planning and building.
    • Actions that facilitate and promote grassroots civil society organisations in monitoring of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and PFES (Payment for Forest Environmental Services).
    • Actions that facilitate and promote the collaboration with private sector  in addressing the challenges emanating from climate change.
    • Actions that facilitate and promote the preservation and exchanges of indigenous knowledge for effective climate change adaptation.
    • Actions that raise public awareness on the causal nexus – climate change, energy savings, environmentally-friendly lifestyles and consumption habits.
• Lot 3: Reinforcing CSOs’ capacity in the new development perspective in Vietnam
  • Indicative priorities and focus areas:
    • Actions that facilitate CSOs’ initiatives in promoting CSR (corporate social responsibility) and CSV (creating shared values).
    • Actions that promote CSOs’ initiatives in accessing and facilitating the diversification of CSOs’ financing source, including the importance of accessing alternative sources of funds and developing new funding models (i.e: accessing social investment, using subsidiary businesses to fund programme work, or developing new social enterprises).
    • CSOs’ initiatives that promote and enhance CSOs’ role in the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in accordance with the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between EUR 450 000 and EUR 600 000.

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 Civil Society Organisations   and
    • be established in Vietnam or a Member State of the European Union
    • ‘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’ and
    • 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
    • EU Member State’s organizations must act with at least one Vietnamese co-applicant.
  • International organisations are NOT eligible under this call for proposals.
  • 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 (grand daughter 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/2Lfk6na and download the guidelines.