European Union’s Mayors for Economic Growth – Pilot projects

Deadline: 06-Apr-21

European Union has launched the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) initiative to support Mayors and municipalities of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) counties in becoming active facilitators for sustainable economic growth and job creation.

The M4EG initiative is based on the principle that, by working in partnership with the private sector, public organisations and civil society, local authorities can help improve the local business environment and create the conditions for private sector-led economic growth and employment generation_ Municipalities are supported in the process of designing Local Economic Development Plans (LEDPs), aiming to stimulate economic activity and support local businesses, which further addresses shortcomings in local services and has an impact on job creation and inclusion of women in the job market. LEDPs shall be based on the fundamental principles of good governance, public-private sector dialogue, transparency, and inclusive development for all, both women and men, as well as marginalised communities.

• The overall objective of Mayors for Economic Growth is to enhance economic growth and job creation in the region by supporting local authorities in the EaP countries in designing and implementing Local Economic Development Plans (LEDPs) with a view to generating systemic results in line with the principles of good governance and sound financial management, and in coherence with other initiatives.
• The global objective of this call for proposals is to support the implementation of municipal pilot projects building on approved LEDPs, and in line with the EU’s targeted support to focal regions.

This call for proposals is divided into two geographic lots and one horizontal lot.

• The specific objectives of Lot 1 and Lot 2:
  • Invest in local comparative advantages to stimulate business development (e.g. encouraging the formation of new or innovative enterprises; supporting the growth of particular clusters of businesses; supporting informal and newly emerging businesses aiming to improve local value chains, etc.); investments in strategic options for business development or strengthening resilience of local economic models (i.e. reimagining value chains, strengthening and greening local economies).
  • Invest in hard (physical) and soft infrastructure to improve the business environment (educational and workforce development, institutional support systems including local business, councils, chambers of commerce, business associations); exploring new business opportunities (i.e. platform economies) that can have a catalytic and systemic effect.
  • Attract external investment, increase local access to finance, and increase attractiveness of local authorities for innovative/diverse sources of finance.
  • Encourage the participation of beneficiaries Nvho have not yet received a support grant under the previous Call for Proposals “Mayors for Economic Growth pioneer projects” with reference EuropeAid/155272JDH/ACT/Multi.
• The specific objectives of Lot 3:
  • Disseminate and communicate the results and lessons learnt from existing Local Economic Development Plans, as established under the first phase of M4EG.
  • Monitor, follow up on, and increase the sustainability of the existing projects.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 10 000 000. The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds. Indicative allocation of funds by lot/geographical distribution:
  • Lot 1 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Republic of Moldova): EUR 5 000 000.
  • Lot 2 (Ukraine): EUR 4 000 000.
  • Lot 3 (Further support to the implementation of actions based on Local Economic Development Plans): EUR 1 000 000.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

• Lot 1 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Republic of Moldova)
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: a local authority and
  • be established ins one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia or Republic of Moldova) 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 and
  • have a Local Economic Development Plan approved by the Mayors for Economic Growth Secretariat on or before 31 December 2020.
• Lot 2 (Ukraine)
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: a local authority or an amalgamated territorial community in accordance with the Law of Ukraine N9 157-VIII “On voluntary amalgamation of territorial communities (hromadas)” represented by its respective council or executive committee and
  • be established in Ukraine and
  • be directly tevonsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
  • have a Local Economic Development Plan approved by the Mayors for Economic Growth Secretariat on or before 31 December 2020.
• Lot 3 (Further support to the implementation of actions based on Local Economic Development Plans)
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: local authority and
  • be established in one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova or Ukraine) 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 and
  • have a Local Economic Development Plan (LEDP), approved under Mayors for Economic Growth before 31 December 2020.

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.
• The following are however also eligible:
  • Lot 1 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Republic of Moldova): Local authorities, non-state actors including associations of local authorities, local and regional economic development agencies, non-governmental and other civil society organisations, business associations, business support organisations, education institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises,15 local municipal companies, home owners associations established in the country where the action will take place.
  • Lot 2 (Ukraine): Local authorities, non-state actors including associations of local authorities, local and regional economic development agencies, non-governmental and other civil society organisations, business associations, business support organisations, education institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises,” local municipal companies, home owners associations established in Ukraine.
  • Lot 3 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Betarns, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine): Local authorities, non-state actors including associations of local authorities, local and regional economic development agencies, non-governmental and other civil society organisations, business associations, business support organisations, education institutions, gm Al and medium-sized enterprises, local municipal companies, home owners associations established in the country where the action will take place.
• Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.

• The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entit (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.

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