Deadline: 26-Feb-21
With the support of the Government of Switzerland the Swiss PRO Programme through the new public call under the slogan “Forces Allied, Support Provide” will directly support up to 20 local self-governments to conduct projects for the development and implementation of social protection services aimed at mitigating the impacts of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objectives
- Overall Objective: To contribute to the improved LG’s capacities in planning and delivery of social protection services and social inclusion measures focused on alleviating COVID-19 effects.
- Specific Objective: To enhance access to and relevance of social protection services at the local level benefiting at least 1000 beneficiaries from the vulnerable social groups.
With the aim of addressing the needs of the local population from the vulnerable groups that are affected the most during the Covid-19 crisis, the Programme will directly support up to twenty (20) local projects from LSGs (as lead applicants) for one of the following:
- Establishing new standardized local social protection service (SPS) that is currently not being provided;
- Extending the reach of the existing standardized local SPS in an LSG in order to cover a larger number of beneficiaries, while maintaining or improving the already achieved level of quality in service delivery;
- Piloting innovative local SPS, based on its feasibility for later on mainstreaming. Explanation of the innovative approach in the development and provision of SPS:
- Innovation is the application of a new idea that preferably encompasses a cross-sectoral approach to SPS provision, or the improvement of existing practices, processes, or services that bring new benefits, quality, and availability to the vulnerable groups;
- Innovative intervention in SPS may lead to increased quality and scope/reach of beneficiaries, with fewer resources, including financial;
- An innovative approach might investigate introducing new beneficiaries as a target group who are not covered with existing standardized SPS.
Funding Information
- The overall amount available under this Call for Proposals is USD 380,000.
- The maximum value of the grant per project is USD 19,000.
- The implementation of activities from the projects will last for a maximum of up to 12 (twelve) months, and for a minimum of 10 (ten) months, from the day the grant contract is signed. However, the active provision of social protection services (SPS) must last at least 8 (eight) months.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for support, an applicant must fulfill the following criteria:
- Be one of 96 LSGs that are within the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia and the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia 7 that belongs to II, III, or IV group of development and currently have up to three or fewer social protection services in place. Please note that in case that all mentioned criteria are fulfilled, the LSGs that are awarded on the previous Programme Call for Support to LSGs in Implementation of Social Protection Services are eligible to apply but only for a different proposal of social protection service than they awarded for.
- The project proposal must be in line with relevant national and local legislative and/or policy documents, including the process of public procurement of SPS providers.
- It will be possible for one LSG to forge partnerships with another LSG or Centre for Social Work (CSW) or both. CSW as a project partner must be mandated for the territory of LSG as a lead partner. In case of inter-municipal cooperation or a partnership between LSG (as a lead partner) and CSW (as a project partner), the partnership must be in a written form (Partnership Agreement or Leer of Intention for Partnership Agreement), signed by both partners, and with a clear division of tasks and responsibilities.
- One LSG as a lead applicant can submit only one project proposal. One applicant can be awarded only one grant.
- One LSG could be a project partner in inter-municipal cooperation and submit its own separate application. In this case, the separate project proposal should address different actions.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3aLDNQI