Deadline: 31 May 2017
The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organizations for a programme entitled “Mayors for Economic Growth pioneer projects” to contribute to the improvement of local prosperity in the Eastern Partnership region by encouraging local authorities to implement their local economic development plans in close cooperation with the business and the civil society communities and in line with the principles of good governance and sound financial management.
Aims
- Investing into local comparative advantages to stimulate business development (eg. encouraging the formation of new or innovative enterprises; supporting the growth of particular clusters of businesses; supporting informal and newly emerging businesses aimed at improving local value chain etc.).
- Investing in physical (hard) infrastructure and in soft infrastructure to improve business environment (educational and workforce development, institutional support systems including local business, councils, chambers of commerce, business associations).
- Attracting external investment and increasing the local access to finance.
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 300.000
- Maximum amount: EUR 600.000
- Lot 2
- Minimum amount: EUR 500.000
- Maximum amount: EUR 1.000.000
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Lot 1 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova)
- be a legal person
- be non-profit-making
- be a specific type of organisation such as: local authority
- be established in one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia or Moldova) 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
- Lot 2 (Ukraine)
- be a legal person
- be non-profit-making
- be either:
- A locality with a size under 150 thousand inhabitants from Ukraine;
- An amalgamated territorial community (hromada) from Ukraine represented by its respective council or executive committee in accordance with the Law of Ukraine № 157-VIII “On voluntary amalgamation of territorial communities (hromadas)”
- be established in Ukraine
- 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
- Eligible local authorities can jointly apply (one as lead applicant and the other/s as co-applicant/s). But each action proposed must target local authorities or groups of local authorities in one country only.
- Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations
- The lead applicant must declare that the lead applicant himself, the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity (ies) are not in any of these situations.
How to Apply
- The application procedure consists of two phases:
- Concept notes
- Full applications
- In the first instance, only concept notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application.
For more information, please visit Europeaid and download the guidelines.