Georgia: Grants to Support Human Rights, Democracy and Integrated Territorial Development

Deadline: 10-May-22

The European Commission (EC) is calling for proposals to support Human Rights, Democracy and Integrated Territorial Development in Georgia.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is: to support Human Rights, Democracy and Integrated Territorial Development in Georgia.
• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Lot 1: to support civil society organisations to monitor and implement human rights policies and actions effectively, and to enhance human rights awareness of rights holders with the aim to ensure respect and protection of fundamental freedoms.
  • Lot 2: to uphold media freedom, increase media and information literacy (MIL) and strengthen public resilience to disinformation.
  • Lot 3: to promote Integrated Territorial Development in the 4 focal regions (Imereti, Guria, Kakheti and Racha-Lechkuhmi & Kvemo Svaneti).

Priorities

The priority(ies) of this call for proposals is/are:

• Lot 1:
  • strengthening civil society organisations in their role to monitor implementation of human rights commitments and promoting improvement of the policy and legislative framework, their enforcement and accountability at national and/or regional level;
  • supporting civil society initiatives aimed at ensuring equality and inclusion of vulnerable persons and minority groups, including IDPs, and other conflict-affected people, persons with disabilities and LGBTI+.
• Lot 2: 
  • empowering information consumers, including vulnerable groups, by building resistance to disinformation through improved critical thinking capacity;
  • strengthening the freedom, capacities and professional standards of media actors including in the context of election coverage.
• Lot 3:
  • supporting the municipalities to become good living and investment destinations by upscaling the local infrastructure and services;
  • fostering public participation, high quality and accountable public services.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4 800 000.
• Indicative allocation of funds by lot:
  • Lot 1: EUR 1 500 000
  • Lot 2: EUR 800 000
  • Lot 3: EUR 2 500 000
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • Lot 1
    • minimum amount: EUR 600 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 750 000
  • Lot 2
    • minimum amount: EUR 700 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 800 000
  • Lot 3
    • minimum amount: EUR 500 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1 000 000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • For Lot 1
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be a specific type of organisation falling under the following categories: non-governmental organisations, local authorities, educational institutions, media organisations and public sector operators and
      • be established in: Georgia or other beneficiary countries of ENI or IPA II regulations, or a Member State of the European Union, or the EEA
      • 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 Lot 2
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation
      • be established in  a Member State of the European Union, in Georgia, or in any other eligible countries as stipulated in the basic act Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)
      • 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 Lot 3
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be a specific type of organisation such as: local authority
      • be established in Georgia in one of the EU focal regions (Kakheti, Imereti, Guria, Racha-Lechkhumi& Kvemo Svaneti) of Georgia;
      • 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)
  • For all Lots:
    • 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 form.
    • If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).
  • For Lots 1 and 2
    • If the lead applicant is not established in Georgia, the involvement in the action of at least one co-applicant established and functioning in Georgia is obligatory.
  • For Lot 3 
    • In addition to the categories, the following are however also eligible:
      • non-governmental organisations including civil society organisations (including think-tanks), and academia established in Georgia or in EU Member States.
      • local authorities that have a common administrative line with one of the 4 focal regions.
• 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, 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/3LlbUQ9