Grants to Support Employment, Social Inclusion and Social Entrepreneurship in Montenegro

Deadline: 5-Dec-22

The European Union is seeking applications for the “Supporting Employment, Social Inclusion and Social Entrepreneurship”.

Through this Call for Proposals, support will be provided to:

Enhance availability and performance of community based social services , including via innovation and cross-sectoral work and with a particular focus on deinstitutionalisation.
Support employment, particularly of ‘hard to employ’ groups, such as social welfare beneficiaries, women, low-skilled unemployed, people with disabilities and youth through local partnerships for employment
Support activation and launch of ‘social businesses’ via social enterprises.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is:
- Enhanced employability and inclusion of the long-term unemployed in the labour market and local community, with the focus on social welfare beneficiaries, women, low-skilled unemployed, people with disabilities and youth, by supporting community based social services, local partnership employment initiatives and business initiatives.
The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:
- Specific objective 1: Increased inclusion of hard-to employ groups at the labour market though innovative employment measures, with the focus on social welfare beneficiaries, women, low-skilled unemployed, people with disabilities and youth .
- Specific objective 2: Increased social inclusion in local community of vulnerable groups such as children, youth, PwDs and others, through development of innovative local social services-

Priorities Area

The priority(ies) of this call for proposals are:
- Priority I (to be addressed under Lot 1): Establishment, improvement and/or sustainment of family based and/or community-based services, which enable social protection, inclusion and independent living of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Montenegro, where focus, is given on the deinstitutionalisation process, as a special sub-priority.
- Priority II (to be addressed under Lot 2): Supporting employment measures designed and implemented at local level by local employment partnerships;
- Priority III (to be addressed under Lot 3): Establishing and strengthening of social business initiatives that promote social entrepreneurship and improve access to work for groups excluded from the labour market.

Funding Information

For all lots: 60,000.00 EUR
- For Lot 1 : Community based social services – 150,000.00 EUR
- For all other Lot 1 projects: 120,000.00 EUR
- LOT 2: Local employment partnerships- 120,000.00 EUR
- LOT 3: Local Social business initiatives – 100,000.00 EUR

Eligibility Criteria

Lead Applicant(s)

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Be a legal person and
- Be non-profit or profit making and
- Be established in Montenegro, in a Member State of the European Union, or in any other country
- 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
Be a specific type of organisation such as:
- Under Lot 1 (project not addressing ‘Deinstitutionalisation’ sub-priority):
  - non-governmental organisation ; active in providing social and child protection services in Montenegro.
  - public sector operator, established as Social and Child Protection Public Institution in Montenegro (Public Institution for Children and Youth, Public Institution for Adults and Elderly etc.).
  - international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation.
Under Lot 1 – (project addressing ‘Deinstitutionalisation’ sub-priority)
- Residential Social and Child Protection Institutions in Montenegro undergoing the process of transformation.
Under Lot 2
- Local authority in Montenegro (local self-government, i.e. municipality ), that has either already established local employment partnership or intends to do so through the proposed action.
Under Lot 3
- Non-governmental organisations, established to pursue an explicit and primary social aim, engaged in social economy by providing services or goods to vulnerable, marginalised, disadvantaged or excluded persons, and/or by providing goods or services through a method of production/delivery, which embodies their social objective;
- Cooperatives, established to pursue an explicit and primary social aim, that are engaged in social economy by providing services or goods to vulnerable, marginalised, disadvantaged or excluded persons, and/or by providing goods or services through a method of production, which embodies its social objective; who prioritise the social aim over profit making;
- Private sector operators, including economic operators whose main aim is the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons, that pursue an explicit and primary social aim and have limits on distribution of profits and/or assets in which they prioritise social aim over profit making.
Co-applicant(s)
- 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.
Under Lot 1:
- Local authorities in Montenegro
- Public health institutions, such as primary health care facilities, hospitals, etc.
- Public education institutions, such as adult education facilities, resource centres for children and youth etc.
- Public sector operators tasked with child and social protection, other than public child and social institutions, excluding Centres for Social Work.
Under Lot 2:
- Public and private sector operators, including civil society organisations with a role in employment and labour market. This extends to public utility companies, development agencies established at municipal level etc.
Under Lot 3:
- Public and private sector operators, including civil society organisations tasked with a role in social entrepreneurship policy setting or delivering support to social enterprises, or providing employment, rehabilitation or work to people excluded from the labour market.

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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