Human Rights & Democracy Programme (Offering support to Civil Society in Lesotho)

Deadline: 21-Jun-22

The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce the call for proposals to promote and protect:

• human rights and fundamental freedoms
• democracy
• the rule of law

Objectives

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is are:

• Protecting and empowering individuals: to contribute to the full enjoyment by everyone of all human rights, be they civil, political, economic, social or cultural rights.
• Building resilient, inclusive and democratic societies: to foster a functioning, pluralist, participatory and representative democracy and protect the integrity of electoral processes.
• Safeguarding fundamental freedoms, including harnessing the opportunities and addressing the challenges of new technologies: to create and maintain an environment conducive to the full exercise of all fundamental freedoms, online and offline.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Enhanced oversight by – and a strengthened role for – civil society in monitoring, preventing and responding to human rights violations and abuses
• Improved integrity, transparency and accuracy of democratic and electoral processes
• Strengthened capacities of civil society organisations and independent media to exercise fundamental freedoms

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 800,000.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR 700,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 800,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • be a legal person
  • be non-profit-making
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation
  • be established in any country or territory, this obligation does not apply to international organisations
  • 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)
  • 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
• Affiliated entities
  • 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.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3vPuT0o