EU Funding Call for Strengthening CSO-LA and Media to Foster Growth through Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth with a Focus on Rural Areas

Deadline: 14 June 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organizations for a program entitled “Strengthen CSO-LA and media to promote accountability and to foster inclusive growth/decision-making through economic empowerment of the women and youth with a focus on rural areas”.

Objectives

‘Promotion of accountability‘ by strengthening the capacity of the CSOs-LA and the media to perform their roles in the fight against corruption and to build partnerships with relevant stakeholders and institutions (like the Anti-Corruption Commission amongst others) in order to prevent corruption, including in rural areas.
‘Fostering inclusive growth and inclusive decision-making through economic women and youth empowerment‘ by strengthening the capacity of CSOs-LA to perform their roles in promoting gender equality and women empowerment and in giving a voice to the youth, reinforcing the role of women and youth as actors of development, by opening for them new economic opportunities and by encouraging their participation to decision-making particularly in rural areas.

Priorities

‘Promotion of accountability‘, the proposed action aims to Contribute to poverty reduction and inclusive growth in Eswatini by supporting Eswatini’s anti-corruption and accountability institutions, by increasing their ability to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption cases and by contributing to spreading the culture of transparency and democratic values among the Civil society organizations (CSO), media and the general public. The project will not only provide direct support to critical functions in the accountability chain and improve the cooperation between different institutions, it will also tackle the crucial aspects of political culture of acceptance of corrupt practices and will aim to create behavioural change among the wider public.
‘Fostering inclusive growth and inclusive decision-making through economic women and youth empowerment‘ working with civil society organisations, the project seeks to develop sustainable opportunities for women/youth development and for their empowerment particularly in rural areas. The project focuses on supporting women/youth to overcome barriers that stand in their way of business success, improved livelihoods and participation to community development, civic life and decision-making. It may incorporate initiatives to increase access to finance, promote entrepreneurship and employability skills particularly for rural women and youth. It may exploit opportunities in employable sectors like agro-processing, tourism, and other promising sectors to demonstrate the role of women/youth as actors of development and civic life.

This call for proposal aims at achieving the following results:

civil society organisations and citizens including women and youth are developing their capacities to participate as actors of democratic governance, development and poverty reduction, notably in rural areas
partnerships are built with Eswatini institutions (like the Anti-Corruption Commission, education and training institutions, etc.) enabling civil society organisations and citizens to make structured contributions to inclusive governance and inclusive and sustainable economic development particularly in rural areas
media in Eswatini is becoming stronger at informing on the fight against corruption, on gender equality and women empowerment, on giving a voice to the youth in a way that respects the rights-based approach and the legislation of Eswatini
women and youth have their rights better respected and promoted, women and youth are empowered and recognised as actors of governance and economic development notably in rural areas
civil society organisations and citizens are developing their capacities to prevent, monitor and address gender-based discrimination, and to promote the rights of the youth and there is progress in terms of implementation and compliance with the provisions of the international and regional instruments that have been signed and ratified by the country in relation to gender equality and women empowerment and in relation to the rights of the children and youth.

Size of Grants

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

minimum amount: EUR 450,000.00
maximum amount: EUR 471,750.00

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 specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation and
  - be established in any country. 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, you 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 of General Conditions of the grant agreement.
  - This obligation does not apply to international organisations 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
- When the lead applicant is not established in eSwatini, it must act with at least one co-applicant established in eSwatini.
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 are mandatory as follows:
  - If the lead applicant is established in a member state of the European Union and other eligible countries (except Eswatini), a minimum of one eSwatini organisation as co-applicant is required (i.e. the lead applicant and one eSwatini co-applicant).
  - If the lead applicant is an organisation established in Eswatini, no co-applicant is required.
  - 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.
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 (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.