European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) – 2020 Country based support scheme (CBSS) for Russia

Deadline: 31 July 2020

The European Union has announced a Call for Proposals for “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) – 2020 Country based support scheme (CBSS) for Russia.”

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to promote and protect the freedom of expression in Russia as a corner stone of healthy democracy and well-informed and pluralistic society.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is to provide support to Media Literacy initiatives to allow Russian citizens (with the particular focus on youth) to access the media, to have a critical understanding of the media and to be a responsible consumer of the media in order in order to play a more active role in the life of the society.

Indicative and non-exhaustive list of activities:

• Development of interactive creative tools and materials (online / offline) to educate people (with the focus on youth) to take responsibility for their own media consumption habits, exercise their judgment and differentiate between opinions and facts. (e.g. how to access and use the media, how to distinguish facts and opinions or disinformation). All developed outputs should be freely accessible and meant for a wide use.
• Campaigns in social media, offline events, joint actions / events on media literacy with educational institutions, libraries, media outlets, online platforms, media literacy organisations to build bridges between youth and the media world;
• Training to educators on media literacy and critical thinking;
• Building of networks of practitioners who can act as multipliers of best practice;
• Activities to teach personal safety online, responsibility and civic consciousness to the young audience;
• Awareness-raising activities aimed at promotion of freedom of expression and the role of independent media and civil society in this respect;
• Organisation of exchanges between Russian regions and with European counterparts, study visits, internships, peer-to-peer learning of civil society activists, journalists and experts from the eligible territory of this call for proposal;
• Participation in best practice exchanges and activities of other EU-funded initiatives on media literacy;
• Safe and ethical media environment is essential for producing independent and objective content. Therefore, the projects can also include some activities that would defend professional and civic media and journalists at risk.

In order to expand the geographical coverage of the programme and responding to the needs of the Russian civil society, activities in Russian regions outside Moscow and St. Petersburg are highly recommended. They will give an additional score to the added value of the proposal.

Applicants are encouraged to give particular attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment in their actions in line with EU’s framework for results-oriented measures for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 2016-2020 . More specifically, applicants are encouraged to:

• produce inclusive, gender sensitive content that departs from existing gender stereotypes and empowers women and girls;
• promote equal participation and decision making in the media by helping women bolster their leadership skills, expand their professional networks and claim leadership roles in the media.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3 200 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Size of grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 350 000
• maximum amount: EUR 600 000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

• be a legal person and
• be non-profit-making and
• be a non-governmental organisation and
• 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)

• 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 Grant application form.
• If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) 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.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2xZr7Gg and download the guidelines.