Grants to Support Civil Society Initiatives in the Kyrgyz Republic

Deadline: 31-Mar-22

The European Commission is calling for proposals to support Civil Society initiatives in the Kyrgyz Republic.

This is a joint Call for Proposals under two thematic programmes with the main purpose of enhancing EU cooperation and inclusive dialogue with Civil Society Organisations (CSO), and promoting the respect for human rights, while enhancing gender equality and participation of the youth with the objective of leaving no-one behind.

Objectives

• Lot 1: Human Rights and Democracy thematic programme
  • The global objective of this call for proposals is the worldwide promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
  • The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:
    • Protecting and empowering women: to the full enjoyment of all human rights, be they civil, political and economic rights.
    • Safeguarding fundamental freedoms, including harnessing the opportunities and addressing the challenges of new technologies: to create and maintain an environment conducive to the full exercise of all fundamental freedoms, online and offline.
• Lot 2: Civil Society Organisations thematic programme
  • The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen CSOs as independent actors of good governance and development in their own right.
  • The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:
    • Empowering civil society through digital technologies
    • Strengthening capacity of local CSOs to engage in youth inclusion and empowerment.

Priorities

• Lot 1: Human Rights and Democracy thematic programme
  • The priorities of this call for proposals are:
    • Strengthened capacities of civil society, women and youth organisations in fighting against discrimination in all its forms and especially violence against women, and contributing to policy dialogue on gender equality and women’s rights and enabling the active participation and inclusive growth and decision-making through women empowerment.
    • Strengthened capacities of civil society organisations to exercise fundamental freedoms, to promote and protect freedom of opinion and expression by ensuring transparency and accountability, as well as strengthening media and digital skills and countering hate speech in the media.
• Lot 2: Civil Society Organisations thematic programme
  • The priorities of this call for proposals are:
    • Strengthened capacities of civil society in strengthening digital skills in order to create an inclusive digital transformation; reducing the digital gender gap and other gaps related to age, disability, location, social and economic status; raising awareness of public authorities and citizens regarding the possible opportunities and challenges posed by the digital transformation, in line with the EU’s human-centric approach.
    • Strengthened capacities of local youth CSOs in promoting the rights of young people, including of those more marginalised, such as girls, youth with disabilities, and their empowerment and involvement in public affairs by promoting their participation in e-governance; supporting inclusive youth employment through digital and green skills development strategies, as well as opportunities for youth to become self-employed through supporting creative start-ups and initiatives to entrepreneurship and employability skills.

Cross Cutting Priorities

The crosscutting priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Gender equality
• Rights-based approach
• Youth participation

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3 500 000.
• Indicative allocation of funds by lot:
  • Lot 1: EUR 1 000 000
  • Lot 2: EUR 2 500 000
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • Lot 1 (HRD):
    • minimum amount: EUR 500 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1 000 000
  • Lot 2 (CSO):
    • minimum amount: EUR 500 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1 500 000
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
  • Minimum percentage: 90% of the total eligible costs of the action.
  • Maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead Applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • Lot 1 (HRD):
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be non-governmental civil society organisation (international intergovernmental organisations are ineligible)
      • be established in a Member State of the European Union or any territory as no nationality restriction applies to applicants and, if any, to co-applicants, and affiliated entities.
      • 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
      • have been registered for at least two years at the submission deadline for concept notes.
    • Lot 2 (CSO):
      • be a legal person
      • be non-profit-making
      • be non-governmental civil society organisation (international intergovernmental organisations are ineligible)
      • be established in a Member State of the European Union or :
        • the Kyrgyz Republic;
        • beneficiaries listed in the relevant Annex to the IPA III Regulation and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
        • developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD Development Assistance Committee, which are not members of the G-20 group, and overseas countries and territories,
        • developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, and other countries and territories, when the relevant procedure takes place in the context of an action financed by the Union under the Instrument in which they participate;
        • countries for which reciprocal access to external funding is established by the Commission; that access may be granted, for a limited period of at least one year, whenever a country grants eligibility on equal terms to entities from the Union and from countries eligible under the Instrument; the Commission shall decide on the reciprocal access and on its duration after consultation of the recipient country or countries concerned.
      • 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 been registered for at least two years at the submission deadline for concept notes.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • In case of involving co-applicants in the action, three co-applicants is the maximum recommended number.
  • 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)
• 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 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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