European Union: Open Call to Support Civil Society Organisations in Ghana

Deadline: 5-May-23

The European Union (EU) is accepting proposals to support civil society organisations in Ghana.

Sectors or Themes

Accountability and Rule of law
Macro-Economic Reforms and Trade
Human Rights and Gender
Natural Resource Governance and Environment.

Objectives of the Programme And Priority Issues

This call for proposals is divided into three lots: one lot on the thematic programme for Civil Society Organisations, a second one on the thematic programme on Human Rights and Democracy, and the third one is on the Civil Society component of Support Measures of the Annual Action Plan (AAP) 2022 for Ghana.
The global objective of the support to civil society organisations is to enhance civil society’s role in promoting political and economic governance reforms that will ensure accountability, transparency and equity in Ghana.
Lot 1: Thematic Programme: Civil Society Organisations
- The specific objectives of this lot are:
  - Contribute to the promotion of rule of law and accountability, macro-economic stability and growth, and the empowerment of persons with disability.
  - Empowerment of communities and relevant stakeholders for the protection and management of natural resources and the environment and the promotion of gender equality.
- The priorities of specific objective 1 are:
  - Support the catalytic and watchdog role of CSOs to advocate and promote reforms on accountability and the rule of law in Ghana including through active citizen participation, namely of youth and women and facilitating investigative reporting by media.
  - Support the advocacy role of CSOs for macro-economic reforms that will spur economic stability and growth and trade relations within Africa and with the European Union (under AfCTA framework).
  - Strengthen organisations of persons with disability to advocate for the implementation of programmes and policies that will ensure their active participation in the social, economic and political processes in Ghana.
- The priorities of specific objective 2 are:
  - Empower communities with the knowledge (e.g. awareness of their rights, relevant laws), skills (e.g. advocacy, coalition building including the media, traditional authorities, women’s groups, etc.) to protect natural resources including the holding of public officials accountable; and strengthening the capacity of communities to improve local management of natural resources and of the environment.
  - Support for women’s strategic role in politics and economic empowerment, thus promoting inclusiveness and gender equality.
Lot 2: Thematic Programme: Human Rights and Democracy
- The global objective of the thematic programme on human rights and democracy is to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the conduct of peaceful and transparent elections in Ghana.
- The specific objectives of this lot are:
  - The promotion and protection of child rights and of the fundamental freedoms and respect for the rights of vulnerable, marginalised and minority groups in Ghana.
  - The promotion of civil society organisations advocacy and capacity to support the conduct of peaceful, transparent and credible elections in Ghana in 2024.
- The priorities of specific objective 1 are:
  - Support for the elimination of child labour and trafficking in the natural resource and environmental sectors such as mining, fishing, etc.
  - Promote the respect and protection of human rights and freedoms of vulnerable, marginalised and minority groups.
- The priority of objective 2 is:
  - Support for peaceful, transparent and credible elections in Ghana in 2024.
  - Proposals submitted under lot 2 must focus on one of the three priorities.
Lot 3: Strengthening CSOs governance, accountability and engagement in public affairs – Support Measures of the Annual Action Plan 2022 for Ghana
- The global objective of the Support Measures is to promote enhanced civil society’s engagement in public affairs.
- The specific objective is to promote the enhancement of civil society’s governance and accountability capacities to participate in the decision-making processes in Ghana and in line with EU programmes. The priorities of the specific objective is:
  - Promote enhanced civil society’s individual and collective capacities to participate in the formulation and implementation of Government of Ghana policies and in European Union programmes in Ghana with specific engagement of youth and women organizations.
  - Provide capacity building of CSOs including youth and women organizations in management, communication, fundraising, coordination, networking, and their financial accountability.

Funding Information

Lot 1: EUR 7,300,000
Lot 2: EUR 1,760,000
Lot 3: EUR 1,210,000
- Minimum Amount
  - Lot 1: 1,500,000
  - Lot 2: 500,000
  - Lot 3: 400,000
- Maximum Amount
  - Lot 1: 2,000,000
  - Lot 2: 800,000
  - Lot 3: 500,000
Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person and
- be non-profit-making organisation (including community-based organisations, private sector non-profit organisations, institutions, networks and coalitions) and
- be a specific type of organisation, such as non-governmental organisation, and
- be established in Ghana or a Member State of the European Union, and
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
- be registered in Ghana by an instrument governed by the national law of Ghana and with an office located in Ghana and
- have a minimum of two years documented experience implementing projects in relation to the specific priority of the call for proposals.
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 be established and operate in Ghana
- Co-applicants must sign the mandate.
- If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
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 coapplicant(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.
- The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the grant; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.