EU-Kyrgyzstan: Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO-LA) Thematic Programme

Deadline: 29 September 2017

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for its “Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO-LA) Thematic Programme AP 2017” to enhance local CSOs’ and LAs contributions to governance and development processes promoting social development and inclusive and sustainable growth in Kyrgyzstan.

The Programme is divided in to three lots:

• Lot 1: “CSOs’ actions to enhance social development” by improving populations’ access to (and benefit from) social services;
• Lot 2: “CSOs contribution in promoting inclusive and sustainable growth” aiming at improving the livelihoods of rural populations, particularly disadvantaged groups, through CSO initiatives;
• Lot 3: Strengthening the capacity of LAs as promoters of local development.

Size of Grants

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

• Lot1 and Lot2:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 400 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 625 000
• Lot3:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 220 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 250 000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • For Lot1 and Lot2:
      • be a legal person
      • be non-governmental and non-profit-making
      • be Civil Society Organisation constituted and legally established  in the Kyrgyz Republic, and must have been registered for at least five years at the time of the submission of an application (International organisations are not eligible )
      • 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
      • has an appropriate and sufficient experience in implementation of activities in the field of development of the kind covered by this programme: applicant must have completed at least two projects of such development activities during the last five years at the time of the submission of an application.
    • For Lot3:
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be Local Authority (Ayil Okmotu) constituted and legally established  in the Kyrgyz Republic
      • 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.
    • 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.
  • For Lot1:
    • Co-applicant(s) can be the Civil Society Organisation constituted and legally established in the Kyrgyz Republic
    • Co-applicant(s) can be the Civil Society Organisation constituted and legally established:
      • in the EU Member States and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area
      • in the EU partner countries eligible for Union funding under the European Neighbourhood Instrument established by Regulation (EU) No 232/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘European Neighbourhood Instrument’) including the Russian Federation; and
    • In this case, the proposed action shall respond to an initiative emanating from the local actor(s) ensuring their involvement during all the stages of the implementation of the action. This should be clearly demonstrated in the application;
    • Any co-applicant under Lot 1 must have been registered for at least three years at the time of the submission of an application.
  • For Lot2 and Lot3:
    • Co-applicant(s) can be the Civil Society Organisation constituted and legally established in the Kyrgyz Republic and must have been registered for at least five years at the time of the submission of an application; or
    • Co-applicant(s) can be Civil Society Organisation constituted and legally established in any of the EU Member States and must have been registered for at least five years at the time of the submission of an application. In this case, the proposed action shall respond to an initiative emanating from the local actor(s) ensuring their involvement during all the stages of the implementation of the action. This should be clearly demonstrated in the application;
    • Co-applicant(s) can be Local Authority (Ayil Okmotu) constituted and legally established in the Kyrgyz Republic.
• 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 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.

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.