Grants to Support in-country Civil Society Actors in Fergana Valley

Deadline: 15-May-23

The European Commission (EC) is providing grants to support in-country civil society actors in Fergana Valley under the thematic programme Peace, Stability and Conflict Prevention.

Through actions implemented by civil society (local civil society organisations, international non-governmental organisations) in conflict-affected contexts, their institutional, operational and networking capacity will be strengthened in three priority areas relating to conflict prevention and peace-building:

• human security, resilience and stabilisation;
• inclusivity in peace and security;
• support to locally-led peacebuilding.

Objectives and Priority Issue

• This Call aims to support in-country civil society actors in their endeavour to prevent violence and promote peacebuilding. The Call will have one Lot, aiming at contracting three projects under priority area iii) support to locally-led peacebuilding of the thematic programme Peace, Stability and Conflict Prevention.
• The global objective of this call for proposals is:
  • to empower inclusive, locally-led civil society peacebuilding initiatives with cross-border and regional scope and the potential for effective prevention of violence in Fergana Valley.
• The specific objective of this call for proposals is:
  • to create spaces for inclusive and locally-led cross-border dialogue with the potential to build sustainable, in-country capacities for effective prevention of violence in Fergana Valley.
• This Call for proposals is regional and requires proposals to plan actions in at least two of the three targeted countries. In this regard, despite the tensions, societies in border areas of CA have shown positive experiences of cross-border cooperation and peaceful coexistence. For instance, at governmental level, a recent agreement between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is facilitating the access to gas to Fergana valley. In this regard, and aiming at diminishing threats in these sensible regions, actions focused on fighting stereotypes, promoting exchanges of good practices and confidence-building with direct and tangible benefits in border regions will be prioritized.
• Concerning targeted population groups, emphasis will be given to work in an inclusive manner with different ethnic communities, youth, women and their organisations.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2,500,000.00.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR 750,000.00
  • maximum amount: EUR 833,300.00
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 36 months.

Outcomes

The indicative results are:

• Strengthened institutional and operational capacity of local civil society actors to create and/or consolidate spaces for dialogue in border areas of the Fergana Valley as violence prevention tools;
• Increased networking and advocacy skills amongst local civil society actors in the region as well as mobilisation of sector specific expertise for effective context-specific conflict prevention measures, resulting in new joint initiatives and cross-border exchange of experiences;
• Enhanced cooperation between civil society actors and local, national or regional institutions on peacebuilding.

Location: Actions must take place in Fergana Valley (the Uzbek districts of Andijan, Namangan, Ferghana; Kyrgyz districts of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken; and Tajikistan’s Khujand) in two or more of the following countries: the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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-making and
    • be a non-governmental organisation and
    • be established in a Member State of the European Union or in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan or Uzbekistan 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.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • When applicants are International CSOs, with headquarters not established in Central Asia, they should have co-applicants from Central Asia.
  • 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 form.
• 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 coapplicant(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 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.

For more information, visit European Commission.