Global Gateway: Social Investment and Innovation (“Social Accelerator”) Program

Deadline: 23-Apr-24

The European Commission (EC) has launched a call for proposals to put human development and social cohesion at the heart of the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda, by fostering new solutions in the social sector and unlocking inclusive investments that boost social innovation, resilience of social systems, and just, socially responsible and inclusive green/digital transitions.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
- To identify and utilise poles of social innovation that can foster gender equality and social inclusion as a part of the offer under the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda with a 360º approach, and lead to more fair, green and digital transitions in the LAC region.
- To explore innovative solutions oriented to tackle gender and other inequalities through Global Gateway public-private initiatives, boosting human development and social opportunities for the most vulnerable.
- To unlock gender-transformative investments between EU and LAC that trigger social innovation, resilience of social systems, and just, socially responsible, and inclusive green/digital transitions.

Guiding Principles

Considering all the above, the guiding principles of this call will be the following:
- Proposals shall aim to nourish the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda, by identifying new opportunities in the social sector and/or by underpinning the flagship investment projects that are already identified at the country or regional level, so that they can be more inclusive, transformative and impactful in the social front. They should build on concrete ideas that contribute to reinforce the social ecosystems around the GGIA investments in LAC, adopting a 360 degrees approach9 and boosting Global Gateway principles on democratic values and high standards; good governance and transparency; equal partnerships; green and clean; security focused; and catalysing private sector investment.
- Proposals must be guided by the principles and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development concerning the LAC region, notably SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 5 (Gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls) and SDG 16 (Promote peace, justice and strong institutions).
- Proposals must envisage a strong focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, addressing intersectionality with other forms of discrimination, while taking youth empowerment into consideration. They shall contribute to the implementation of the EU Gender Action Plan III, and take into account the strategic priorities of the Youth Action Plan (YAP)11 whenever possible and appropriate.

Particular attention will be given to:

Proposals that showcase inclusive and effective multi-stakeholder approaches. Applicants are invited to identify actions involving public, private and non-profit stakeholders, developing joint partnerships that commit to accelerate social transformation in LAC through a comprehensive and mutually beneficial engagement and investment on social sectors. A clear indication should be given in the proposals on what is the expected role for each stakeholder, to ensure that the articulation of the different actors is aligned with the concrete objectives. The proposals can involve non-state actors in all their diversity (youth and civil society organisations, private sector associations, trade unions, local actors’ associations, academia, etc). They shall include civil society and aim to leverage the collaboration with inclusive investors in the private sector, financial development institutions (FDIs), or other multilateral partners.
Proposals that offer synergies with Team Europe Initiatives and approaches, as well as the 134 strategic project proposals of the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda. Applicants are encouraged to build on the lessons learned of previous experiences and to explore complementarities with existing and/or upcoming initiatives supported by the Team Europe (EU and Member States), or eventually other relevant financial institutions, international organisations, civil society organisations, private sector organisations and philanthropies, or other key partners, when aligned with the purposes of the call.

Sectors or Themes

Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment;
Health resilience and equitable access to health products;
Education and skills development including technical vocational education and training (TVET);
Decent jobs, formalisation and labour rights, employability and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups, including the 40% lowest income households;
Just transitions to harness the opportunities for social inclusion offered by a) sustainable, socially responsible green/blue transitions and b) human-centred, value-based digital transformation as proposed by the EU-LAC Digital Alliance;
Business and human rights, advancing due diligence standards and boosting Global Gateway principles with a 360º approach.
Social innovation to foster social inclusion with an intersectional approach (considering disabilities, ethnic diversity, orientation and gender identity and expression, rural-urban, socio economic status, etc);
Care and wellbeing societies.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 15 000 000.
Size of grants
- Any grant requested under this call for proposals must not exceed the below maximum amount:
  - Maximum amount: EUR 15 000 000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 48 months nor exceed 60 months.

Expected Outcome

The expected outcome is:
- To develop concrete initiatives that leverage Global Gateway investments oriented to foster social innovation with the involvement of non-governmental, private and public actors, and to identify and develop opportunities leading to social cohesion and inequality reduction by up-scaling the social impact of the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda proposals.

Results Framework

Proposals shall respond at least to the following results-framework indicators (indicative) in line with the logframe provisions envisaged in the Commission Decision applicable to this Call for Proposals:
- Output: Initiatives and investments to foster social innovation are developed with the involvement of public, non-governmental, and private actors to identify opportunities in support to social public policy goals.
  - Indicator: Number of initiatives and investments supported/implemented with EU support
- Output: Initiatives and investments are developed to create inclusive opportunities for fair green and digital transitions, particularly for women, youth, and vulnerable groups.
  - Indicator (as relevant): Number of jobs supported/sustained by the EU, disaggregated for green jobs and by sex and age of the job holder.
  - Indicator (as relevant): Number of people [by targeted group] who have benefited from institution or workplace based VET/skills development interventions supported by the EU on VET/skills development for digitalisation, disaggregated by sex and age.
  - Indicator (as relevant): Status of digital skills and literacy strategies at regional and national level, developed or improved with EU support.

Types of activity which may be financed under this call

While the type of activities to support the priority objectives are to be proposed by the applicant, the following non-exhaustive list of examples can offer some indications:
Networking and coordination of private-public and non-profit actors in LAC and EU to mobilise social investment and innovations. Proposals shall seek to shape concrete EU-LAC collaborations to foster investments with social impact, and to facilitate the transfer and upscaling of innovative ideas.
Identification and initiation of EU and LAC entrepreneurs/projects/ventures to develop joint ventures, as well as support to joint-ventures’ initial design, implementation plan and strategy.
Promotion of regional and bi-regional exchanges between LAC and EU partners (matchmaking exercises, exchange of experiences, good practices and lessons learned, linkages between actors in local learning ecosystems, etc), particularly on EU-LAC experiences on social innovation that facilitate the transfer and upscaling of innovative solutions in employment, education, skills and social inclusion, as well as in other relevant areas to foster resilience, for example in the health and pharmaceutical sectors, or in the domain of green and digital transformation.
Support to regional/bi-regional platforms and networks to advance the work on social innovation, for example through capacity building, facilitating presence in regional knowledge sharing platforms.
Location
Actions must take place in Latin America and the Caribbean region, and in the European Union when considered appropriate in the context of the EU-LAC bi-regional partnership and Global Gateway agenda.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal entity; and
  - be non-profit-making; and
  - be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, private sector organisation, public sector operator or local entity, financing development institution, international (inter-governmental) organisation, as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation; and
  - be established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country eligible under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), preferably in Latin America and the Caribbean. This obligation does not apply to international organisations; 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 proven experience in managing grant contracts of EUR 7 million or above and
  - have proven experience in mobilising private-public networks in LAC and the EU; and/or mobilising actions or investments for social innovation; and/or having an existing network of private sector entities or social innovation actors in both regions.
Co-applicant(s)
- The participation of co-applicants is recommended to ensure full multistakeholder involvement in the action.
- 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.
- In addition to the categories referred, the following are however also eligible:
  - Youth and Civil Society Organisations/Non-Governmental Organisations;
  - Associations (including local authorities’ associations);
  - Private sector organisations and related non-profit agencies;
  - Philanthropies and foundations;
  - Business development organisations;
  - Cooperatives and social enterprises;
  - Social actors, including employers and labour organizations;
  - Innovation hubs and academic institutions;
  - EU Member State Agencies, International Organisations and/or Financing Development Institutions (FDIs). Co-applicants must sign the mandate form
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 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.