Deadline: 5-Jan-23
The European Union is inviting applications for Thematic Programme for Civil Society Organizations, a new programme funded through the Global Europe: Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI).
The overall objective of the programme is to strengthen civil society organisations (CSOs) as independent actors of good governance and development in their own right. The programme regards CSOs as key partners in devising and implementing policies and programmes that meet people’s needs; and envisions a more inclusive, empowered, and independent civil society that contributes to the attainment of human rights, the rule of law, accountability, democracy, peace and stability around the world.
Objectives
- The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen Israel’s Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as independent actors of good governance and development at the national and local level.
- The specific objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen the capacities of CSOs to engage in policy dialogue at the national and local level, by improving their ability to monitor the implementation of government decisions, programmes and legislation relating to human and social development in Israel.
Thematical Focus
- Thematic priorities that constitute human and social development in Israel include, but are not limited to: Reduction of poverty and inequality, gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence, economic development and employment, health, disability, climate and environment, democracy and good governance, the empowerment of youth, and more.
- Local CSOs have an important role to play in ensuring that decisions and programmes designed to advance human and social development in Israel are adopted by the government and are successfully implemented. This role can include, inter alia, ensuring that such decisions and programmes are adequately budgeted.
Funding Information
The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4,000,000: EUR 2,000,000 to be financed under the 2022 budget, and indicatively EUR 2,000,000 to be financed under the 2023 budget (subject to the approval of the 2023 financing decision). The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
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 800,000
Eligible Activities
- Examples of activities include (indicative and non-exhaustive list):
- Monitoring the implementation of a government decision and/or programme and/or legislation relating to human and social development in Israel – at the national as well as the local level. This may include but is not limited to the following thematic areas: Reduction of poverty and inequality, gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence, economic development and employment, health, disability, climate and environment, democracy and good governance, the empowerment of youth, and more.
- Measuring the effectiveness and impact of such decisions (including on specific groups and communities); identifying potential risks, actual failures and unintended negative consequences; raising awareness of barriers to effective implementation; and offering possible solutions.
- Monitoring the efforts of the government of Israel to advance toward one, some or all UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and measuring the effectiveness of these efforts.
- Training Israeli CSOs on monitoring, research, analysis, and advocacy, with an eye toward improving their capacity to monitor government decisions and programmes relating to human and social development in Israel.
- Developing new/innovative tools, including digital tools, to make information on government activity to advance human and social development more accessible and therefore easier to monitor.
- Proposals submitted under this Call for Proposals must follow a Human Rights-Based Approach. HRBA is a conceptual framework directed toward promoting and protecting human rights, based on international human rights standards. Importantly, a gender perspective is a key element in a HRBA and should also be used in the design of actions. For information on the HRBA and how it is being used in EU-funded interventions, please see the European Union’s Toolbox on the Rights Based Approach.
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 Civil Society Organisation, including non-governmental non-profit organisations, community based organisations, faith-based organization, universities and research institutions, private sector non-profit agencies and
- Be established in a Member State of the European Union or Israel 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.
- If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).
- In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.
Affiliated Entities
- 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.
Ineligible
- The following are not considered entities affiliated to an applicant:
- Entities that have entered into a (procurement) contract or subcontract with an applicant, act as concessionaires or delegatees for public services for an applicant,
- Entities that receive financial support from the applicant,
- Entities that cooperate on a regular basis with an applicant on the basis of a memorandum of understanding or share some assets,
- Entities that have signed a consortium agreement under the grant contract (unless this consortium agreement leads to the creation of a ‘sole applicant’).
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