UfM Grant for Employment Promotion: Regional Response to the COVID-19

Deadline: 29-Oct-20

The UfM Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion: Regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic aims to enable citizens in the region, particularly the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries, to mitigate the labor market challenges following COVID-19 outbreak. It reflects the Union for the Mediterranean’s determination to respond to the economic crisis, on regional, national, and local levels, by improving the citizens’ employment situation as well as the business environment for entrepreneurs and MSMEs.

The global objective of this UfM Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion is to address the current and expected socio-economic impact that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has on the UfM region. This includes the economic damage caused by the crisis, the weakening of the coherence of communities, and increasing tensions in the fabric of societies. The UfM Employment Promotion Call is especially targeted to benefit vulnerable groups, which are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

This UfM Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion does not replace state-driven responses to the economic consequences of the pandemic. However, it intends to innovatively respond to the challenges Mediterranean citizens face considering the severely affected regional employment situation and business climate. It intends to tackle regional challenges through local solutions that can be adapted and continued beyond its duration. In addition, with this UfM Grant Scheme for Employment Promotion, the UfM pursues its mandate to foster entrepreneurship-friendly environments in its Member States. The UfM thereby supports a timely and creative response to the regional economic crisis, benefitting the citizens of its Member States.

Objectives

Strengthening the socio-economic resilience of citizens in the Southern Mediterranean during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath by improving their employment situation and enhancing their economic opportunities.
Improving the business environment of the Southern Mediterranean by strengthening the capacities of MSMEs and supporting entrepreneurial activity to better mitigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1.130.000.
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Minimum amount: EUR 100.000
- Maximum amount: EUR 300.000

Priorities

Priority 1- Improving the economic resilience of citizens, especially vulnerable demographic groups, through employment-related capacity development

Priority 2- Promoting new channels of training and skills attainment in order to foster employability and economic activity

Priority 3- Supporting entrepreneurial activity and building the capacities of MSMEs to enable income generation and job creation

Eligibility Criteria

Lead Applicant

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

be a legal person (non-governmental organization, public sector operator, local authority) and
be non-profit-making and
be established in UfM Region
be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).

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.
If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).

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 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, 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.