Deadline: 15-May-25
The European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility programme and its action on “Combating Hatred and Intolerance in North Macedonia”, the Council of Europe has launched a call for grants “Support to local self-governments and/or CSO-s for combating hate speech”.
The call aims to support selected grantees in developing concrete activities and responses on combating hate speech and discrimination. Preference will be given to proposals which demonstrate strong collaboration and partnership between CSO-s and local/municipal authorities.
Objective
- The grants will fund activities aimed at supporting the concrete implementation and/or follow-up at local level of the recommendations of the Council of Europe’s monitoring body in the field of anti-discrimination, namely the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), other applicable standards such as the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on combating hate speech and the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on combating discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity
- Projects designed could address the following issues:
- Combating hate speech and/or countering intolerance, exclusion, discrimination, inequality, hatred and racism in local communities in North Macedonia, whereby focusing on vulnerable groups such as Roma, people with disabilities, people of different ethnicity/religions, LGBTI people, etc.
- Creation and promotion of counter and alternative narratives to hatred and intolerance and enhancing dialogue among different groups in the society.
- Promotion and protection of rights of LGBTI persons in the local communities in North Macedonia related to access to health and education, in the area of sports, media and administration, protection against hate speech and hate crime, etc.
Funding Information
- The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 20.000 Euros (twenty thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 2 (two) grants of a maximum amount of 10.000 Euros (ten thousand Euros) each.
Duration
- Projects shall be implemented by 31 March 2026. Reporting requirements shall be completed by 30 April 2026.
Target Stakeholders
- Projects should target in particular the following key stakeholders:
- Local self-governments
- Civil society organisations
- Youth
- General population
- Vulnerable groups such as Roma, people with disabilities, people of different ethnic/religions, LGBTI persons, etc
Eligibility Criteria
- In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
- be legally constituted as a non-governmental organisation or as a local self-government in North Macedonia;
- be entitled to carry out activities in North Macedonia described in its project proposal;
- for CSOs: have been active for at least three years in the field of human rights/anti-discrimination, hate speech;
- have sufficient financial capacity on the bank account: at least 2000 Euro or the equivalent in the local currency
- have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including at least two staff members, to carry out activities described in its project proposal and who have at least three years’ experience in project implementation
For more information, visit Council of Europe.