EU Call for Proposals: Supporting Civil Society to Protect the Rights of Marginalised Groups in Zambia

Deadline: 17 February 2017

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a programe entitled “Supporting civil society to protect the rights of marginalised groups” with an aim to support civil society, democracy activists and human rights defenders in third countries working on human rights (political, civil, economic, social and cultural), and democratisation.

Priority Issues

• Increase non-discriminatory access for people with disabilities to health, education, social, justice, and other essential services; enable the implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act and the National Policy on Disability, as well as the enactment and implementation of the new Mental Health Bill;
• Reduce levels of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in access to basic services and access to justice;
• Reduce levels of discrimination and stigma based on HIV status and other illness in access to basic services, in particular to health care services;

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall EUR 150,000.00 and EUR 250,000.00.

Location

Actions must take place in Zambia.

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 12 months nor exceed 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person or a natural person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as defined by Article 11(2) (a), (b) or (c) of Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union’s instruments for financing external action:
    • civil society organisations, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level;
    • public-sector non-profit-agencies, institutions and organisations and networks at local, national, regional and international level;
    • national, regional and international parliamentary bodies, when this is necessary to achieve the objectives of the EIDHR and the proposed measure cannot be financed under another Instrument; 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
  • have previous experience in providing support to the sector mentioned under priority issues
• International public-sector organisations set up by international agreements, specialised agencies set up by such organisations and other organisations assimilated to such international organisations are not eligible under this call for proposals.
• Note: no nationality restrictions apply to applicants, co-applicants and, if any, affiliated entities in line with the provision set in CIR regulation Article 11.1.
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations listed in section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide;
• 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.
• The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s). However, non-Zambian applicants must act with at least one local co-applicant and must include a component in the activities under the action to capacity building in favour of the local co-applicant, be it in terms of EU procedures or/and operational matters.
• If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as the Coordinator in Annex E3h1 (Special Conditions). The Coordinator is the main interlocutor of the Contracting Authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.

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.