Open Call to Support Business Support Organisations (BSOs)

Deadline: 17-Apr-23

The European Commission (EC) is seeking proposals to support Business Support Organisations in the Southern Neighbourhood.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is:
  • To strengthen and promote the green and circular economy as a vector for job creation and expansion of economic opportunities, leading to a more sustainable economy in the Southern Neighbourhood partner countries.
  • The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is:
    • To increase green and circular economy competences of business support organisations (BSOs) in their capacity to act as ecosystem enablers bridging the gap between policy (macro) and SME (micro) levels.
    • The outputs to be delivered by this call for proposal contributing to the corresponding Specific Objective are:
      • Output 1: The regional network of existing business support organisations is strengthened through capacity building activities
      • Output 2: Capacities of business support organisations (BSOs) to promote Sustainable Consumption and Production practices by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are improved

Priorities

• The priority(ies) of this call for proposals are:
  • Priorities related to Output 1:
    • Capacity building of business support organisations on green economy and networking activities (South-South and South-North)
    • Activities encouraging peer learning and partnerships with relevant European organisations and networks, including from the social economy organisations
    • Technical assistance (trainings, coaching and mentoring, study tours)
    • Support to innovation enablers
  • Priorities related to Output 2:
    • Capacity building to BSOs on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) practices for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
    • Awareness-raising campaigns and organisation of conferences/Workshops
    • Facilitation of linkages between public (macro) and private (micro) sector stakeholders
    • Technical assistance and advisory services to business organisations on in general Green Economy (GE) and SCP in particular

Sectors or Themes

• Specific sectors or themes to which the actions must relate, including, but not limited to:
  • Green and circular economy;
  • Sustainable Consumption and Production;
  • Industrial& SME policies;
  • Sustainable environmental solutions, water and energy efficiency;
  • Food production, agriculture;
  • Sustainable Mobility (including automotive, smart and sustainable transport, logistics and mobilitysolutions).

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR4,000,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals mustfall between the followingminimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR3,500,000
  • maximum amount: EUR4,000,000.
• 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 personand
  • be non-profit-makingand
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authorityand
  • be established in a Member State of the European Union or one of the Southern Neighbourhood countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel , Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine , Syria  and Tunisia); 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)
  • Actions must involve a partnership with at least 4 co-applicants (in addition to the lead applicant) established in at least 2 different Southern Neighbourhood partner countries. The partnership should involve organisations with experience in the relevant areas of the action.
  • 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-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) 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 costs are not eligible:
  • Debts and debt service charges (interest);
  • Provisions for losses or potential future liabilities;
  • Costs declared by the beneficiary(ies) and financed by another action or work programme receiving a European Union (including through EDF) grant;
  • purchases of land or buildings, except where necessary for the direct implementation of the action, in which case ownership must be transferred in accordance with of the general conditions of the standard grant contract, at the latest at the end of the action;
  • Currency exchange losses;
  • In kind contributions (except for volunteers’ work);
  • Bonuses included in costs of staff;
  • Negative interest charged by banks or other financial institutions;
  • Credit to third parties;
  • Salary costs of the personnel of national administrations.

For more information, visit EC.