EU seeking Proposals for “Supporting to Civil Society Organizations in Zimbabwe”

Deadline: 14 May 2019

The European Union (EU) is seeking proposals from eligible organizations for its program entitled “Support to Civil Society Organizations in Zimbabwe” to enable Civil Society Organisations to meaningfully contribute to governance and development processes in Zimbabwe.

Objectives

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:

• To enhance the capacity of CSOs, including those promoting social inclusion ( gender equality and women’s and girls empowerment, youth, disability and the rights of marginalised groups) to meaningfully and constructively participate in policy, legislative and decision-making processes in the NIP focal areas, at community, regional and national levels to promote good governance, accountability, transparency and social cohesion.
• To enhance CSOs efforts to contribute to the development of a conducive operational environment for CSOs and promote access to and dissemination of information (including information from public entities) related to policy, legislative, decision-making and development processes.
• To increase the participation of CSOs in preventing, addressing and/or mitigating risks and vulnerabilities in communities, particularly of the most vulnerable members (this may include, among others, support to various capacities to improve access to basic services, infrastructure, value chains and market linkages, livelihood diversification and overall improved coping mechanisms ahead of shocks and stresses) .

Priority Areas

The priority(ies) of this call for proposals is/are:

• Capacity development ( technical, financial and administrative capacity of CSOs to effectively perform their mandate as development actors)
• Inclusive dialogue between CSOs and key stakeholders: Communities, government and private sector
• Strengthened accountability and transparency, including on gender equality
• Strengthened social cohesion

Size of grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 500,000
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000

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 a specific type of organisation such as: Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and their associations, local authorities, public bodies, public sector operators and their associations and
  • be established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country eligible for European Development Fund 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 demonstrated capacity and experience of at least three years in managing activities of a scale corresponding to at least half of the size of the grant requested and in the Civil Society sector in Zimbabwe
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations

Co-applicant(s)

The lead applicant must act with one or more co-applicants.

• 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 entity(ies)

• 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.

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 online via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2HSrxAX and download the guidelines.