EU seeking Proposals to Support Regional Thematic Networks of Civil Society Organisations

Deadline: 23 May 2019

The European Union (EU) is seeking proposals to Support regional thematic networks of civil society organisations, support to a regional network for women’s rights and gender equality and support to small scale projects promoting cooperation between communities and citizens from Serbia and Kosovo.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this Call for Proposals are:

• To enhance the capacities of civil society to be effective and accountable independent actors able to engage constructively with governments on key societal challenges, including on issues relevant to the priorities laid down in the Commission communication to the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on “A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans” (hereafter the Western Balkan Strategy);
• To enhance CSO focus on women’s rights and gender equality, thereby making CSOs, governments and EU Delegations and Office in the region more aware of the gender dimension of all their activities, and more able to act on them; and
• To support cooperation and normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

Lots

Indicative allocation of funds by lot:

• 1: ROMA integration
• 2: Protection, antidiscrimination and/or inclusion of vulnerable groups
• 3: Promotion of women’s rights and gender equality
• 4: Media freedom and pluralism
• 5: Enhancing CSOs’ engagement in public administration reform
• 6: Enhancing CSOs’ engagement in protection-sensitive migration management
• 7: Innovative solutions to promote youth employment and environmental sustainability
• 8: Enhancing CSOs’ role in initiatives supporting connectivity
• 9: Enhancing CSOs’ role in the digital agenda
• 10: Reconciliation and inter-cultural dialogue
• 11: Small scale projects promoting cooperation between communities and citizens from Serbia and Kosovo

Size of Grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 600,000.00 except for Lot 3 where the minimum amount is EUR 1,200,000 and for Lot 11 where the minimum amount is EUR 200,000.00
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000.00, except for Lot 3 and 7 where the maximum amount is EUR 1,500,000.00 and Lot 11 where the maximum amount is EUR 400,000.00.

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 civil society organisation (CSO) or representative network of CSOs working on one or more thematic areas of relevance to this Call for Proposals and
    • for all Lots- except Lot 10 and 11: be established in an IPA II Beneficiary under the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance. (For lot 10 – see exception below. For Lot 11: be established either in Kosovo or Serbia) and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with their co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
    • have as a minimum one year (i.e. 12 months) experience in the field of the lot under which the concept note/full application is submitted. In case the lead applicant is a network of CSOs, this applies also to its members and
    • be registered since at least March 2017. In case the lead applicant is a network of CSOs, at least two members of the network must be registered since at least March 2017.
    • Exceptions:
      • As an exception to the requirement of being established in one of the IPA II beneficiaries and exclusively for actions under Lot 10, CSOs from EU Member States may act as lead-applicants.
      • 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, applicants 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 (e) of the General Conditions of the grant agreement.
      • As an exception to the requirement of being a civil society organisation (CSO) or representative network of CSOs and exclusively for Lot 11, local authorities from Kosovo and Serbia may act as lead applicants.
  • The lead applicant must act with co-applicant(s) as specified hereafter.
• 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.
  • Mandatory co-applicants:
    • For the actions submitted under all the Lots, except Lot 10 and 11: CSOs or CSOs networks from a minimum of four (4) different IPA II Beneficiaries different from the IPA II Beneficiary where the Applicants are located. This means that Applicants and Co-applicants must thus as a minimum represent CSOs or CSOs networks from at least five (5) different IPA II Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans and Turkey. Except for lot 11 networks covering the whole of the Western Balkan region and Turkey are encouraged.
    • For the actions submitted under the Lot 10: in case the lead-applicant is from an EU Member State, the co-applicants must as a minimum represent CSOs or CSOs networks from a minimum of five (5) different IPA II Beneficiaries in addition to the applicant from the EU Member State.
    • For the actions submitted under the Lot 11: CSOs, CSOs Networks and local authorities from Serbia and Kosovo. Applicants and Co-applicants must thus represent CSOs,CSOs networks and local authorities from ONLY the above-mentioned two IPA II Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans (i.e. minimum one lead-applicant and one co-applicant). Additionally for Lot 11, for the action to be considered relevant under this Call, a particular attention must be devoted to creating a constructive inter-cultural and inter-ethnic partnership among applicants and mandatory co-applicants.
• 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-tiersubsidiaries). 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

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR, an on-line database via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2G2RKKx and download the guidelines.