European Union issues CFPs on Gender Equality and Accountability of Public Institutions

Deadline: 15 May 2019

The European Union is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Gender Equality and Accountability of Public Institutions”.

Type of Lots

• Lot 1:Gender Equality
  • The specific objectives of this Lot are:
    • To support the work of CSOs in addressing the needs of vulnerable and marginalised Groups, including women and youth, with a particular focus on supporting the empowerment of these groups to claim their rights.
    • To increase CSO capacities in order to strengthen women’s participation in decision-making.
    • To increase the capacities of CSOs in addressing Gender Based Violence and harmful practices and mitigating its adverse effects
  • The priority of this Lot are to develop and strengthen sustainable initiatives at county and national level to ensure women, youth and marginalised groups representation have fair and equal access to gaining economic and political capital in a fair and safe environment;
• Lot 2: Accountability of Public Intuitions
  • The specific objectives of this Lot are:
    • To promote effective and transparent Public Participation by National and County Governments as enshrined in the Kenya Constitution 2010 and existing legal frameworks, such as The Public Financial Management Act 2012, Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015,Access to Information Act 2016 and strategies such as the Public Financial Management  Reform Strategy 2019-2023 and Public Participation Guidelines..
    • To support fiscal and public finance management reforms and their implementation as a basis for the state to provide high quality public services for social equity.
    • To improve the capacity of public administrations to provide public services in an efficient, transparent and accountable manner
  • The priority of this Lot is to promote and strengthen public participation in Public Financial Management for effective service delivery in Kenya
• Proposals under both Lots should, whenever relevant, propose:
  • Innovative approaches or methodologies, with the potential of replication on a greater scale, including the use of new information and communication technologies, social media etc.;
  • focus on the needs and challenges faced by the most vulnerable and marginalised groups and/or encourage the constitution and capacity-building of networks of local organisations and implementing actors.

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 700,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be non-profit-making and
    • be a Civil Society Organisation , an Association of CSOs, or a National independent Institution under the condition that the proposed initiatives to be carried out by it are for the benefit of the CSO’s targeted by this call) and
  • be established in  Kenya or in any of  the following countries    :
    • other EU partner countries, as follows:
      • countries eligible for Union funding under the European Neighbourhood Instrument established by Regulation (EU) No 232/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘European Neighbourhood Instrument’) including the Russian Federation;
      • developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD-DAC (‘list of ODA recipients’), and overseas countries and territories covered by Council Decision 2013/755/EU;
      • Countries eligible for the European Development Fund
    • EU Member States, beneficiaries listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 231/2014, and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area; ”
      • However, where the lead applicant is not established in Kenya, it must act with minimum one co-applicant established in Kenya, 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
  • ‘For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise , if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article [insert reference to the Article allowing termination of the grant agreement (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary)] of the grant agreement’.
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations
• The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s)as specified hereafter:
  • If the lead applicant is a local organisation established in Kenya, it may act individually or with co-applicant(s) eligibility as stated above
  • If the lead applicant is not a local organisation established in Kenya, it must act with one or more co-applicant(s) of which at least one co-applicant must be an established Kenyan organisation.
  • If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as the coordinator in Annex E3h1 (special conditions). The coordinator is the main interlocutor of the contracting authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.
• 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 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.

How to Apply

• The application procedure consists of two phases:
  • Concept notes
  • Full applications
• The concept note together with the declaration by the lead applicant must be submitted at the address given on the website.

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