Deadline: 14-Mar-22
Within the framework of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” and its action “Promotion of diversity and equality in Montenegro”, the Council of Europe is launching a call for proposals with the aim to support local civil society organisations (CSOs) to combat hate speech in Montenegro.
This call aims at sensitising citizens / people living in Montenegro on the dangers posed by hate speech, and support CSOs to develop counternarratives to it, based on human rights language. The activities of grantees will reinforce the messages developed as part of the local “Block the hatred. Share the love” campaign rolling.
The purpose of the action is improving the functioning of anti-discrimination mechanisms and their accessibility to vulnerable groups in line with European standards and CoE monitoring bodies’ findings and recommendations, notably those from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
Aims
- In particular, it aims to:
- Support initiatives to harmonise the anti-discrimination framework across the country and to develop and implement the respective action plans/strategies in relation to anti-discrimination, LGBTI rights and combating hate speech;
- Strengthen the capacity of the authorities, local governments and/or equality bodies in order to allow them to better tailor their interventions to address discrimination and increase co-operation among authorities in this field;
- Increase the knowledge and awareness of the general public about the importance of ant-discrimination policies, about the rights of LGBTI persons and about the dangers posed by hate speech, offering means to develop counter-narratives.
- Further to the general objective, preference will be given to:
- Projects/actions foreseen to be implemented as a partnership between NGOs and local institutions.
- The following types of action will not be considered:
- Projects/actions providing financial support to third parties (re-granting schemes);
- Projects/actions concerning only or mainly individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
- Projects/actions supporting political parties.Projects/actions with clear link to the EU/COE Block the hatred. Share the love. campaign. rolling in the Western Balkans and in Montenegro.
- Projects/actions with specific focus on combating hate and generate positive messages to foster inclusion of vulnerable groups
Funding Information
The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 20.000 Euros (twenty thousand Euros). The Council of Europe/the European Union intends to award several grants of a maximum amount of 7.000 Euros each.
Target stakeholders
Projects should target in particular: civil society organizations, state institutions, victims of hate speech and vulnerable communities, for example, but not exclusively, ethnic and religious minorities, Roma, LGBTI, migrants, women, persons with disabilities, etc. As an ultimate end, the public at large is considered a targeted stakeholder.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
- be legally constituted as a civil society organisation in Montenegro;
- be entitled to carry out the activities described in its project proposal on the territory of Montenegro;
- have been active for at least three years in the field of human rights/anti-discrimination;
- have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
- have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
- have a bank account.
For more information, visit https://www.coe.int/en/web/podgorica/-/call-for-proposals-support-to-local-civil-society-organisations-to-combat-hate-speech-in-montenegro
