EU seeking Proposals to strengthen Civil Society Organizations as Actors of Governance and Development

Deadline: 15 May 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals to strengthen non-governmental actors and promote cooperation between civil society organisations to contribute to social change and inclusive, sustainable development in Armenia.

The specific objectives of this call are:

Lot 1: Reduction of poverty, inequality and vulnerability, focusing on solutions addressing the causes and effects of poverty and inequality through enhancing civil society capacity to revitalize public discourse on inequality and poverty, to advocate for poverty (income and consumption poverty, education and learning poverty, health and nutrition poverty, etc.) reduction policies, to develop replicable services for tackling different dimension of poverty and to enhance capacity of vulnerable groups to manage economic and social risks, shocks i.e. Covid19 crisis.
Lot 2: Youth participation, focusing on strengthening the rights of young people and their empowerment and involvement in public affairs through enhancing capacity of young people and youth organisations to enable youth civic engagement through formal and non-formal education, to promote student democracy, to support youth dialogue with policy-makers and to advocate for youth-responsive policies.
Lot 3: Climate change adaptation,environmental protection and sustainable management of local resources, focusing on sustainable and green development through enhancing civil society capacity to monitor implementation of key environmental policies, to ensure access to environmental information, to raise awareness and advocate for conservation, environmental protection and relevant climate change adaptation measures in Armenia, to promote environmentally conscious practices, better management of community biodiversity, better management and maintenance of public spaces.

All actions under each lot should be gender sensitive and rights-based.The actions should address cross-cutting issues related to gender-equality, environmental practice, inclusion of people with disabilities and minority groups.

All actions should include an element of civil society capacity development.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR3 000 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
Size of grants:
- Lot 1:
  - Minimum amount: EUR 400 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 600 000
- Lot 2:
  - Minimum amount: EUR 300 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 500 000
- Lot 3:
  - Minimum amount: EUR 500 000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 700 000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 36 months.

Location

Actions must take place in the Republic of Armenia (at least in 3 marzes of Armenia), as recognised by the international law, and must directly benefit the Armenian society. However, some project activities may take place in EU member states and in the Eastern Neighbourhood region, such as participation in events, and attendance of meetings and conferences as long as they clearly contribute to the achievement of the project’s overall objective. Such cases need to be duly justified.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Be a legal person;
- Be non-profit-making;
- Be a non-governmental organisation;
- Be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Armenia;
- 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.

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 himself. In addition,
- Under Lot 2, at least one of the co-applicants must be a youth organisation.
- Under Lot 3, at least one of the co-applicants must be an environmental organisation.

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.