European Commission: Support to Local Initiatives to Strengthen Agricultural Advisory Services and Local Food Promotion

Deadline: 31 January 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Support to Local Initiatives to strengthen Agricultural Advisory Services and Local Food Promotion” to improve relevance, availability, affordability and sustainability of the agricultural advisory services and information system and harness the market potential of local food (heritage).

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:

to support community driven agricultural connections and – advisory and information services providing more effective farm and rural business decision support, promoting market linkages, climate resilient farming and good agricultural practices – and
to strengthen the capacity of civil society, pro-entrepreneurial circles and business associations in launching a variety of initiatives to promote positive investment climate and urban mentoring in local agri – food systems and broadly in the agri – food regional economy in Azerbaijan, including outreach and awareness campaigns.

Size of grants

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

minimum amount: EUR 400 000
maximum amount: EUR 1 400 000

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person and
- be non-profit-making and
- be a specific type of organisation such as: EU Member State agencies, non-governmental organisation, community based organisations and business associations, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation and
- be established in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a Member State of the European Union, countries covered by the IPA regulation, the Eastern Partnership (EaP) or the European Economic Area
Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations.
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.
Affiliated entities
- 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.