European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights CBSS – Maldives

Deadline: 09-Sep-21

European Commission is inviting proposals for European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights Country Based Support Scheme (CBSS) to contribute to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and respect of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in third countries worldwide.

In pursuing this aim, the EIDHR strongly emphasises the role of civil society organisations. It also offers independence of action, which is a critical feature of cooperation with civil society organisations at national level.

Other specific features of the EIDHR include great flexibility and increased capacity to respond to the rapidly evolving reality in third countries.

On the basis of the EIDHR Regulation, the European Commission has drawn up and adopted a Strategy Paper which is the basis for the implementation of the EIDHR.

The specific objectives and priorities of the EIDHR for the period 2014-2020 are the following:

• Support to Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders in situations where they are most at risk
• Support to other EU Human Rights Priorities with main focus on protecting human dignity including abolition of the death penalty, eradication of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, support to a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation and prevention activities, protection and promotion of children’s rights, protection of women’s rights, fighting discrimination in all its forms, fighting against impunity, promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief, promotion of economic, social and cultural rights, promotion of the respect for international humanitarian law
• Support to Democracy
• Support to EU Election Observation
• Support to targeted key actors and processes, including international and regional human rights instruments and mechanisms

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is the enhancement of democracy and human rights in the Maldives.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is to preserve the acquis and further promote and protect Freedom of Expression (FoE) in the Maldives, with a specific focus on Media Freedom and Development.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Fight against hate speech, fake news and disinformation, in particular in the social media sphere- Promotion of the right to information and support to its effective use by journalists and the general public; support to investigative journalism
• Protection of journalists and activists against harassment, intimidation and violence (including digital safety/data protection and fight against impunity in case of abuses/rights’ violations)
• Improve quality of journalism, including support to the professionalization of journalists and organization of the sector, ethics/code of conducts and self-regulation as well as overall media education and digital literacy
• Support innovation in journalism/media, including disruptive digital journalism, digital start-ups and citizen/civic tech initiatives
• Promotion of media pluralism and independence, as well as human rights, democratic values and gender equality through the media are key cross-cutting dimensions.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 435,489.000.
• Indicative allocation of funds by geographical distribution: EUR 435,489.000
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR 200,000.000
  • maximum amount: EUR 435,489.000
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
  • Minimum percentage: 70 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
  • Maximum percentage: 95 % of the total eligible costs of the action.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person [or an entity without legal personality]
  • be non-profit-making
  • be a civil society organisation, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions, organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level
  • 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.

Co-applicant(s)

• Where the lead applicant is not Maldivian, it must act with minimum one Maldivian co-applicant.
• 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.

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.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3zkUQER