Deadline: 17-Apr-23
The European Commission (EC) is offering grants to Support Women Economic Empowerment in the Southern Neighbourhood – Developing tools and skills for women’s access to finance.
Objectives
- The global objective of this call for proposals is to support the economic empowerment of women in the Southern Neighbourhood.
- The specific objective of this call for proposals is to enhance women’s financial inclusion and access to finance through the development of innovative products and skills.
- The expected outputs to be delivered by this call for proposals are:
- Availability and accessibility of financial and non-financial services and products, including digital ones, are increased for women’s economic activity;
- Women’s skills to access and make use of financial and non-financial services and products for their economic activity, are improved, particularly for underserved groups.
Priorities
- The priorities of this call for proposals are:
- Priorities corresponding to Output 1:
- Tailored financial and non-financial products and services, including digital ones, are made available on the market and are used by women. The project will develop products and services targeted to enhance access to finance for women as economic actors, especially as entrepreneurs, cooperatives, or self-employed.
- Concrete support tools, strategies, and awareness campaigns are deployed, allowing for better access to finance for women as economic actors, including a regional knowledge hub. The project aims to make accessible and available to women the information about existing financial opportunities and funding schemes.
- Advocacy and promotion of women’s access to finance are ensured, through networks, partnerships and engagement of women organisations, financial institutions etc.
- Priorities corresponding to Output 2:
- Women’s competencies to access finance as well as their digital skills are enhanced. The project will build the capacities of women as economic actors, to access financial products and will strengthen their digital literacy in the scope of their economic activity, including through tailored advisory services.
- Training and learning opportunities allowing to increase women’s access to finance are available and sustainable in the long run, including through trainings of trainers, self-training modules etc. Additionally, cross-cuttings priorities will be taken into account, such as:
- Sustainability of results and networks established by the action should be ensured beyond its lifetime;
- Innovative approaches and activities should be privileged;
- Inclusivity should be a main priority, and the proposal should outline the outreach to women in economic activity outside of main cities and underserved women;
- The regional dimension of the proposal should be outlined, including coordination and cooperation principles among actors at regional level.
- Priorities corresponding to Output 1:
Funding Information
- The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2 500 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
- Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Minimum amount: EUR 2 400 000
- Maximum amount: EUR 2 500 000
- Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 36 months nor exceed 48 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- Be a legal person and
- Be non-profit-making and
- Be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation and
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or one of the Southern Neighbourhood partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia);
- This obligation does not apply to international organizations and
- Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
- Be an organisation or be in a partnership of organisation(s) with a proven experience in supporting women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and/or supporting small businesses in the Southern Neighbourhood.
- Co-applicants
- The action must involve a partnership with at least 3 co-applicants (in addition to the lead applicant) established in at least 2 different Southern Neighbourhood partner countries. The partnership should involve organisations with demonstrated and complementary experience in the relevant areas of the action, as well as experience at the grassroots level.
- 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-applicants will become beneficiaries 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 .
Ineligible
- The following types of action are ineligible:
- Actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses;
- Actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
- one-off conferences and events: conferences can only be funded if they form part of a longer-term strategy to be implemented in the life-time of the action; for these purposes, preparatory activities for a conference and the publication of the proceedings of the conference do not, in themselves, constitute such long-term strategy;
- Actions concerned only or mainly with academic research.
For more information, visit European Commission.