Grants to Support CSOs Promoting Rights of the Child and Good Governance in Mauritius

Deadline: 28-Feb-23

The European Commission is seeking applications from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to promote the rights of the child and good governance in the Republic of Mauritius.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

• The Global Europe Human Rights and Democracy programme is a global instrument of the EU and complements the bilateral MIP. It has been launched worldwide in 2021, and its global objective is to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy, and the rule of law. It relies on active and strong Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), as well as human rights defenders and other stakeholders.
• The Programme is implemented through the global EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2022- 2024, with related implementation plans at national level. For the Republic of Mauritius, in line with the MIP and in complement to bilateral cooperation, and taking into account the specific challenges of the country and the potential value added of the EU, its priorities focus on two areas of intervention, the rights of the child and good governance.
  • Priority 1: Rights of the child
    • Human rights, including rights of the child, are among the main priorities of the European Union, which supports their promotion and protection at three different levels, namely government, intermediary institutions and grassroot organisations.
  • Priority 2: Good governance
    • Good governance is at the core of EU development priorities as it contributes to unbiased decision-making, public accountability and control and ethical behavior by public entities. Good governance also influences how national objectives are set and achieved, how risk is monitored and addressed and how performance is optimized. Participatory governance principles reinforce the ownership of public policies and the trust of citizens in their state institutions and more broadly in democracy.

Crosscutting issues

• It is important for the effectiveness of the programme and of the actions to be proposed, that the latter adequately mainstream the following crosscutting issues:
  • Innovation: developing pilots and innovative approaches to tackle the challenges related to children’s rights and accountable governance.
  • Environmental integration: taking into account and emphasizing the environmental impacts of good governance and sound public financial management, and their benefits for the adaptation of Mauritius to climate change, especially in benefit of the younger generations.
  • Gender action: promoting gender sensitive approaches, as well as gender equality, empowerment and equal opportunities.
  • Inclusion: ensuring that actions are designed and implemented in close collaboration with the final beneficiaries, notably the more vulnerable and marginalised ones, and promoting outreach to the whole territory of the Republic of Mauritius, notably Rodrigues and Agalega.
  • Digitalization: tapping the potential of digitalization in the promotion of children rights and good governance.

Value-added elements

• Value will be added to actions in the mentioned priority areas, if they tangibly and measurably address the following needs of grass root organisation:
  • Capacity building: Capacity building of grassroots Civil Society Organizations to increase their effectiveness in the priority areas of this call for Proposal namely children rights and good governance.
  • Taking into account specific needs and challenges of Civil Society Organizations based in remote communities including Rodrigues and/or Agalega.
  • Encourage synergies and networking: Building or reinforcing of synergies and networking among Civil Society Organizations, foundations, private actors and other stakeholders involved in the priority areas.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is 510,000 EUR, allocated as follows:
  • Lot 1 – Rights of the child: 255,000 EUR
  • Lot 2 – Good governance: 255,000 EUR
• Size of grants
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • Minimum amount of the EU contribution: 100,000 EUR
    • Maximum amount of the EU contribution: 255,000 EUR
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 48 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead Applicant
• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • Be a legal person,
  • Be a Civil Society Organisation such as an association, a federation, a foundation, a cooperative, a trade union, a media organization or a public-sector non-profit institution.
  • Be established in7 a Member State of the European Union or the Republic of Mauritius,
  • Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
• Co-applicant(s)
• In line with the “value added elements” indicated in, it is recommended that at least one coapplicant is represented by a grassroot organisation established in the Republic of Mauritius.
• 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 mandat.
• If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).
• In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.

For more information, visit EC.