SWITCH-Asia and Central Asia II Call for Proposals: Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production

Deadline: 28 February 2019

The European Union (EU) is accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a programme entitled “SWITCH-Asia and Central Asia II – Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production”.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to promote inclusive sustainable growth, to contribute to the economic prosperity and poverty reduction in Asia and Central Asia and to support the development of a green economy and the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and circular economy in the 24 target countries.

Priority Areas

address sustainable supply chains management with a focus on green trade and on facilitating the integration of MSMEs into supply chains.
support sustainable consumption and consumer awareness on SCP.
focus on either large industrial parks and large economic zones or clusters of SMEs in order to produce bankable projects.

Funding Information

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

minimum amount: EUR 1.000.000
maximum amount: EUR 3.000.000

Target Groups

Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and eco-entrepreneurs. Large companies are not identified as beneficiaries of the programme, but engagement with them (e.g. retailers committed to sustainable sourcing) and synergies with their SCP related initiatives are encouraged;
Consumer organisations and consumer groups who will benefit from better-quality and environmentally friendly products;
Business intermediaries and service providers (e.g. industry associations, chambers of commerce, clusters, organisations/associations of MSMEs, retailers, financial institutions, research centres, etc.);
Trade federations and workers associations;
Not-for-profit organisations aiming at pursuing sustainable development;
Governmental institutions, local authorities and government-sponsored entities that provide support services to MSMEs and/or that are responsible for policy and regulatory frameworks on SCP, industry and/or enterprises.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person and
  - be non-profit-making or
  - be a business and for-profit organisation (e.g. chamber of commerce, industry association, trade federation, Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises-MSMEs, clusters, etc. ), a consumer organisation, a research centre, a development organisation, a labour organisation or
  - be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation.
  - be established in11 a Member State of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom)
  - For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise 12, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicant will cease to receive EU funding.
  - be established in a Member State of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway) or
  - be established in countries from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) ( Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), or
  - be established in one of the following Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, or
  - be established in one of the following Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan or
  - be established in member countries of the OECD, in case of contracts implemented in a Least Developed Country or a Highly Indebted Country as included in the list of ODA recipients,
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
- Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any ofn the situations
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.
Affiliated entities
- Affiliated entity(ies): 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 coapplicant(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, 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.