European Commission Grants to Strengthen Civil Society Organizations in Mauritius and Seychelles

Deadline: 15-Nov-22

The European Commission (EC) has announced a call for proposals to Strengthen CSOs and support their actions aiming at promoting Climate Actions, Good Governance, Gender equality, and women, Girls, and Youth Empowerment in both the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles.

The objective and priorities of this Call for Proposals are in line with the expected results of the 2021-2024 Multiannual action of the thematic programme for Civil Society Organizations:

An inclusive, participatory, empowered, and independent civil society and democratic space in partner countries, and
An inclusive and open dialogue with and between civil society organisations.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in both the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles as independent actors of good governance and development in their own right. The following two specific objectives and outputs are expected to contribute to the achievement of the global objective:

Specific Objective 1: To encourage alliances between CSOs (including grassroots women and youths organizations) to develop a more inclusive, participatory, empowered and independent Civil Society in favor of Climate action, Good Governance and Gender equality and Women, Girls’ and Youth Empowerment.
- Output 1: A More inclusive, participatory, empowered and independent Civil Society in favor of Climate action, Good Governance and Gender equality and Women, Girls’ and Youth Empowerment.
Specific objective 2: To develop the capacity of CSOs so that they can better lobby and advocate in favor of climate actions, good governance and gender equality and Women, Girls’ and Youth Empowerment.
- Output 2: Strengthened capacity of CSOs to better lobby and advocate in favor of Climate action, Good Governance and Gender equality and Women, Girls’ and Youth Empowerment. By focusing on grassroots, women and youth CSOs, it is expected that their capacity to participate and engage in the above listed sectors are enhanced.

Priorities

Proposals must address one or more of the following priorities of the Call for Proposals

Priority 1: Climate change
- The EU has made climate change a central element of its external policy. It works with global and local partners to advance climate action and build resilience against the effects of climate change. In its bilateral relations with the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles, the EU supports their respective efforts through expertise and funding to help them take bold action against global warming. In addition, given their acute vulnerability as Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), focus will be on supporting adaptation actions.
- Under this priority, CSOs could for instance submit proposals (not exhaustive) contributing to:
  - Design and implementation of strategies to fight climate change, within the framework of the Nationally Determined Contributions, in key sectors such as agriculture, energy, urban development, coastal zones.
  - Energy transition through promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.
  - Waste management through recycling and upcycling of waste including plastic waste.
  - Reduction of biodiversity loss.
  - Increasing usage of eco-sustainable practices in agriculture.
  - Reducing pollution.
  - Improving carbon sequestration.
  - Promoting circular economy and nature based solutions.
  - Sustainable land use and protection of endangered species.
  - Concrete involvement of the local community in climate action including restoration of forests, rivers and their ecosystems.
  - Developing their capacity to mainstream fight against climate change, disaster risk reduction and environmental sustainability.
Priority 2: Good Governance
- Good governance is at the core of EU development priorities as it contributes to unbiased decisionmaking, public accountability and control and promotes ethical behavior by public entities. Good governance also influences how national objectives are set and achieved, how risk is monitored and addressed and how performance is optimized. In its bilateral cooperation with both the Republic of Mauritius and the Seychelles, the European Union is supporting their respective efforts in improving good governance by providing them with specific expertise and funding to fight against corruption and money laundering.
- Under this priority, CSOs could submit proposals (not exhaustive) aiming at:
  - Financial good governance through the fight against fiscal evasion, corruption and money laundering.
    - Advocate for and monitor a transparent management of public funds and public accountability.
    - Promoting good governance and institutional strengthening, also by curbing cronyism.
    - Improving trust in representative democracy.
    - Improving Business environment.
    - Enhancing the democratic process.
    - Nurturing the respect for the rule of law by monitoring the implementation of public policies, by promoting transparency (e.g. of public procurements).
    - Supporting CSOs and citizens to participate in open and inclusive budgeting processes. .
Priority 3: Gender equality and Women, Girls’ and Youth Empowerment
- Gender Equality is one of the EU priorities as reflected in its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 that presents policy objectives and actions to make significant progress towards a gender-equal Europe. The key objectives of this strategy are ending gender-based violence; challenging gender stereotypes; closing gender gaps in the labour market; achieving equal participation across all sectors of the economy; addressing the gender pay and pension gaps; closing the gender care gap and achieving gender balance in decision-making and in politics.
- Under this priority, CSOs could for instance submit proposals (not exhaustive) contributing to:
  - Raising awareness and educating the public on gender equality and equity in a bid to preventing and combating gender stereotypes and sexism.
  - Supporting girls and women with disabilities to encourage them to pursue their education and join the labour market.
  - Protecting the rights of migrant women and girls.
  - Encouraging partnership with the media to ensure gender-sensitivity reporting.
  - Empowering CSOs on reporting on gender issues (including LGBTQIA+) based on international and regional treaties, conventions and protocols.
  - Addressing gender-based violence (e.g. through setting up of permanent shelters for women and men and people of any gender who need a place of safety in times of crisis).
  - Developing awareness and capacity of women and children to protect them from online frauds and cybercrime.
  - Designing targeted and comprehensive campaigns and activities to encourage more men to get involved in the functioning of their family units.
    
    Supporting the development of a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education specifically designed for children and adolescents and addressing child sexual abuse, child pornography and teenage pregnancy among others.
  - Promoting youth empowerment and facilitating their integration in the labour market through entrepreneurship skills development and digitalization.
  - Promoting a healthy lifestyle among youths (e.g. through access to mental health facilities, access to sexual and reproductive health education and services, support to the fight against substance abuse …)
  - Encouraging the adoption of a human rights-based approach with a focus on youth rights and inclusion.
  - Developing their capacity so that their interventions towards gender equality, youth inclusion and fight against all forms of child abuse are more impactful.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is 3,311,000 EUR.
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Lot 1 – The Republic of Mauritius:
  - Minimum Amount: 300,000 EUR.
  - Maximum Amount: 1,000,000 EUR.
- Lot 2 – Republic of Seychelles:
  - Minimum Amount: 100,000 EUR.
  - Maximum Amount: 311,000 EUR.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant:

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Be a legal person, Be non-profit making,
- Be a specific type of organization such as a non-governmental organization, an association, a federation, a foundation, a cooperative a trade union, a media organization,
- Be established in a Member State of the European Union or the Republic of Mauritius (for Lot 1) or the Republic of Seychelles (for Lot 2).
- 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.
Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations; Lead applicants, co-applicants, affiliated entities and, in case of legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over the lead applicant, the co-applicants and the affiliated entities are informed that, should they be in one of the situations of early detection or, personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the early detection and exclusion system, and communicated to the persons and entities concerned in relation to the award or the execution of a grant contract. In this respect, provisionally selected lead applicants, co-applicants and affiliated entities or those placed in the reserve list are obliged to declare that they are not in one of the exclusion situations through a signed declaration on honour. For grants of EUR 15,000 or less, no declaration on honour is required.

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