Open Call to Support Existing and Newly Established CSOs Networks in BiH

Deadline: 21-Mar-23

The European Commission (EC) has announced the call for proposals to strengthen participatory democracies and the EU approximation and integration process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through an enhanced contribution by civil society and media.

The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPA) III Programming framework considers the support to civil society and media as one of the priorities to improve democracy and rule of law. It calls, inter alia for “particular focus to safeguard the freedom of expression and independence of media as pillars of democracy”.

Objectives

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

• The 2021-2023 main priorities of the Civil Society Facility and Media Programme, identified by stakeholders for support through consultation during the programming exercise, are as follows:
  • Institutionalisation of civil society participation in policy and decision making process.
  • Further capacity building of CSO in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly of grassroots CSOs.
  • Continuation of support to issue based networks in the area of rule of law, anti-corruption, education, health, electoral processes, social inclusion, environment and climate change, youth, culture, local economy and entrepreneurship, women rights, freedom of expression and media.

Themes

• The actions must relate to the support of CSOs to engage in sector networking across a range of themes. The assistance will enable CSOs to advocate for positive societal changes, including towards public institutions. Particular attention will be paid to gender aspects and inclusion of minorities as cross-cutting issues.
• The main issues to be addressed with this programme are as follows:
  • The dialogue between the governmental and the non-governmental sector is weak and not institutionalised at all levels.
  • Citizens’ participation in policy and decision making processes at local level is sporadic and not institutionalised.
  • Capacities of CSOs, particularly at grass-root level, remain low.
  • CSOs do not contribute sufficiently to fight corruption and support socio-economic development.
  • Media freedoms remain threatened and must be ensured and strengthened.

Lots

• Lot 1: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of rule of law
• Lot 2: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of anti-corruption
• Lot 3: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of education
• Lot 4: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of health
• Lot 5: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of electoral processes
• Lot 6: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of social inclusion
• Lot 7: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of environment and climate change
• Lot 8: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of youth
• Lot 9: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of culture
• Lot 10: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of local economy and entrepreneurship
• Lot 11: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of women rights
• Lot 12: Support to CSOs networks and cooperation in the area of freedom of expression and media
• Lot 13: Implementation of the activities of the Resource Centre (RC)

Funding Information

• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • minimum amount: EUR 400 000
  • maximum amount: EUR 600 000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 30 months nor exceed 36 months.

Location: Actions, including all activities, must take place in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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 non-governmental organisation and
    • be established in Bosnia and Herzegovina   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)
  • At least one co-applicant must be involved in 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.
  • In addition, co-applicants can be established in a Member State of the European Union.
  • 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 co-applicant(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.
  • The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the grant; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.

For more information, visit EC.