European Commission Grant Call for Nepal: Youth at the center of COVID Recovery

Deadline: 10 August 2021

European Commission has announced the applications for Youth at the center of COVID recovery in Nepal to support Nepal’s Green Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Communication outlines three priorities for EU support:

to promote a conducive environment for CSOs,
to promote the participation of CSOs in domestic policies, EU programming and in international processes, and
to increase local CSOs’ capacity to perform their roles more effectively

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to give youth a voice in shaping and engaging in Nepal’s post-COVID recovery and development process.
The specific objective of this call for proposals is: young people in Nepal become active citizens, agents of solidarity and positive change for communities across Nepal.
Aligned with the MIP priorities, and with a focus on recovery from the COVID crisis, this call for proposals will have three lots. Each lot has its own specific objective: (applicants are requested to address one lot only):
- Lot 1: To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in green growth, environmental protection and combatting climate change
- Lot 2: To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in gender equality and social inclusion initiatives promoting Nepal’s human capital;
- Lot 3: To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in democratic and governance processes and in the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights.

Priorities

The strategic priorities are:
- To increase youth participation, engagement, and leadership in democratic life including the protection and promotion of human rights, civic education
- To facilitate youth participation in policy making, planning, and monitoring, at the three levels of government
- To foster young people’s collective voluntary engagement, learning exchanges, solidarity and intercultural understanding
- To foster youth led social cohesion intra and inter communities, and inter generations.
- To empower young people to be architects of their own lives, build their resilience and equip them with life skills, livelihood options and enterprenneurship to cope in a changing world
- To harness young people’s creativity, communications skills and innovation capacity to be agents of change in their communities.
The methodological priorities to be followed are:
- To work in close collaboration with Local governments (at both Ward and Palika level) and Provincial Governments;
- To ssupport the ‘Youth Vision-2025’, especially under pillar 2 (employment and entrepreneurship) and pillar 4 (Mobilization, Participation and Leadership Development) including review and revision in the vision for the forthcoming periods;
- To introduce climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, as well as building resilience with relevant stakeholders at both strategic and operational levels;
- To foster inclusion at all levels of the policy making and action.
- To collaborate with all local actors including the private sector for youth led post COVID-19 response and development programme

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1.500.000.
Indicative allocation of funds by lot:
- LOT 1 – To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in green growth, environmental protection and combatting climate change: EUR 500.000
- LOT 2 – To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in gender equality and social inclusion initiatives promoting Nepal’s human capital: EUR 500.000
- LOT 3 – To promote the involvement of young Nepali people in democratic and governance processes and in the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights: EUR 500.000
Any requested EU contribution under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- minimum amount: EUR 400.000
- maximum amount: EUR 500.000
Any requested EU contribution under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
- Minimum percentage: 51 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
- Maximum percentage:
  - 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action (in case of Nepali lead applicant only) and
  - 75% of the total eligible costs of the action (in case of non-Nepali lead applicant)

Eligibility Criteria

Lead Applicant

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person officially registered at least three years before the call is launched;
- be non-profit-making
- be a specific type of organisation such as: civil society organization
- be established in Nepal, in a Member State of the European Union, or in any countries eligible under the Financing Instrument for development cooperation for the period 2014-202019
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicants and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary; and
- be allowed to implement activities in accordance with the Nepalese legal provisions.

Co-Applicant(s)

The lead applicant must act with at least two (2) co-applicants, but not more than five (5) co-applicants:
- If the lead applicant is Nepali, it must act with at least two (2) co-applicants, out of which at least one (1) Nepali co-applicant.
- If the lead applicant is non-Nepali, it must act with at least two (2) Nepali co-applicants.
- At least one (1) applicant (lead applicant or co-applicant) must be registered as a youth organisation, i.e. an organisation representative of youth and having a track record of dedicated actions on and with the youth
- At least one (1) applicant (lead applicant or co-applicant) must be registered as a women’s organisation, i.e. an organisation representative of women and having a track record of dedicated actions on and with women.
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.
Co-applicants must sign the mandate.
If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicants will become beneficiaries in the action (together with the coordinator)

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.