EU seeking Proposals to Strengthen the Role of Civil Society in Protecting Human Rights and Improving Democratic Governance in Congo

Deadline: 25 March 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals to strengthen the protection of human rights and the promotion of good governance and democracy by Congolese CSOs, as well as to support the creation of an environment favoring participation citizen.

The specific objectives are:

1. To promote and protect the rights of vulnerable individuals and groups and of minorities.

In this area, priority actions are those:
- Aiming at promoting equality between women and men, defending the rights of women and combating all forms of discrimination and violence against women;
- Contributing to respect for the rights of children, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols;
- Aiming to promote and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples;
- Aiming to promote equal treatment and the integration of people living with disabilities in social, economic and political life;
- Targeting the improvement of conditions of detention and the social reintegration of prisoners;
- Aiming to promote and protect the rights of LGBTI people.

2. Contribute to respect for fundamental freedoms and human dignity

In this area, the priority actions are those:
- Aiming to combat torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, to combat the culture of impunity and / or to provide assistance (legal, psychological, etc.) to the victims;
- Contributing to respecting freedom of expression (offline and online), strengthening free access to information, and efforts to professionalize the media;
- Targeting the promotion and protection of freedom of thought and freedom of assembly and association;
- Aiming at strengthening the capacities of Human Rights Defenders, Environmental Defenders and their organizations.

3. Improving democratic governance, accountability and transparency

In this area, the priority actions are:
- Targeting support for participatory and representative democracy, civic and civic education and the promotion of democratic values and peace;
- Aiming at strengthening democratic governance through domestic observation of elections, informing citizens about the electoral process, as well as consolidating the capacities of CSOs in these areas;
- Aiming at the fight against corruption and impunity, as well as citizen analysis and monitoring of public policies;
- Contributing to the promotion of the active participation of young people in public debate.

Preference will be given to actions:

Who support the partnership between Congolese CSOs, and between Congolese and non-Congolese CSOs;
Which are supported by a partnership bringing together different types of civil society organization (namely trade unions, the media, professional associations, consumer organizations, cultural associations, etc.) representing the most vulnerable and marginalized groups:
- Which are presented and coordinated by Congolese CSOs as lead applicant, in order to encourage local ownership;
- Which focus on the most disadvantaged regions of the country or the entire national territory (in order to avoid actions which are concentrated exclusively in the main cities of the country);
- Who use local human resources by limiting the use of expatriate staff as much as possible;
- Who use innovative approaches and methodologies with the potential to be replicated on a larger scale, in particular the use of new communication and information technologies, social media, etc.;
- Which contribute to strengthening the dialogue and collaboration of CSOs with local and national authorities;
- Which are complementary to actions carried out by other programs of the European Union or by other international partners in the Republic of Congo.

Funding and Duration Information

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must be between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Minimum amount: 300,000 EUR.
- Maximum amount: 500,000 EUR
The initial planned duration of an action may not be less than 30 months nor exceed 48 months.

Geographic Location

Actions must be implemented in the Republic of Congo.

Eligibility criteria

Lead applicant

To be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

Be a legal person, or an entity without legal personality, or a natural person;
have no profit;
belong to one of the following categories: civil society organization;
be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity or entities, and not act as an intermediary.
Note: No nationality restrictions apply to applicants or affiliated entities in accordance with the provisions on eligibility for the EIDHR in Article 11 of the common rules and procedures for the implementation of Union instruments for the financing of external action (CIR).
The lead applicant established in the Republic of Congo may act either individually or with one or more co-applicants. The lead applicant whose place of establishment is not the Republic of Congo must act with at least one co-applicant established in the Republic of Congo.

Co-Applicant (s)

The co-applicants participate in the development and implementation of the action, and the costs they bear are eligible in the same way as those borne by the lead applicant.
Co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those which apply to the lead applicant himself.

Affiliated Entities

The lead applicant and his co-applicant (s) may act with one or more affiliated entities.
Only the following entities can be considered as affiliated with the lead applicant and / or the co-applicant (s):
- Only entities that have a structural link with the applicants (the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
- This structural link mainly encompasses two concepts:
  - control, within the meaning of Directive 2013/34 / EU on annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of business:
    - The entities affiliated to an applicant can therefore be:
      - entities controlled directly or indirectly by the applicant (first-tier subsidiaries or subsidiaries) or controlled by an entity itself controlled by the applicant (sub-subsidiaries or second-level subsidiaries), and this is valid for the other levels of control ;
      - entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they can be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
      - entities controlled, directly or indirectly, at the same level as the applicant (sister companies).
  - membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as, for example, a network, federation or association of which the proposed affiliated entity is a member, or the applicant is a member of the same entity (for example, a network, federation or association) than the proposed affiliated entity.