Deadline: 01-Nov-20
WeBER 2.0 – Western Balkan Civil Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration is seeking project proposals for the implementation of the Small Grant Facility for support to civil society monitoring of public administration reform at the local level.
Western Balkan CMI Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration — WeBER 2.0 project is a three-year project, worth up to 1.451.724 EUR and funded by the European Union represented by the European Commission.
The overall goal of the WeBER 2.0 project is to further empower CSOs in the WB to engage in the design and implementation of PAR in line with the requirements in the EU accession process.
Objectives
Specific objectives of the WeBER 2.0 project are:
- Strengthen civil society monitoring and advocacy in the PAR area based on evidence and analysis produced by CS0s;
- Develop and pilot CSO-led instruments to monitor the mainstreaming of PAR within prioritized sectoral policies;
- Lead an effective regional and national level government-CSO policy dialogue on PAR;
- Strengthen the engagement of grassroots and other local CSOs in local-level PAR.
- Improve public awareness and engagement in PAR.
Funding Information
- A total sum of 225,000 EUR is allocated for the SGF, to support up to 30 grants each worth up to 8000 EUR (budgeted with an average value of 7500 EUR), out of which 6 in Serbia, 6 in BiH, 5 in Albania, 5 in North Macedonia, 4 in Kosovo, and 4 in Montenegro.
- The duration of the awarded grants is between a minimum of 6 months up to a maximum of 12 months.
Thematic Priorities
In line with the approach of the WeBER 2.0 project, the grants to be supported under this Call for Proposals (CfP) should be oriented towards strengthening the engagement of local CSOs in local PAR, thus further building bottom-up demand and bringing PAR closer to the region’s citizens. Interested CSOs are invited to submit project applications on the thematic priorities below. The thematic priorities were identified and defined through CSO consultations at the national and regional level within the framework of the WeBER Platform:
- Priorities for applicants from Albania:
- Accountability and transparency
- Human resource management
- CSOs involvement in policy development and coordination
- Public finance management and budgetary transparency
- Priorities for applicants from Bosnia and Herzegovina:
- Public administration accountability
- Proactive transparency of public administration
- Increasing citizens’ and CSOs’ participation in adopting legislation and policies
- Digitalisation of public services
- Priorities for applicants from Kosovo:
- Accountability — the right to information and access to public documents
- Transparency of the management of public finances
- Transparency of Kosovo’s governmental bodies and local bodies (municipalities) in the decision-making process
- Service Delivery — orientation of the local administration to the policies and mechanisms of providing services to the citizens
- Priorities fix applicants from Montenegro:
- Optimization of human resources at the local level government
- Transparency of local government’s aid measures related to the COVID19 crisis
- Development of e-services at the local level
- Participation of the public in the decision-making processes at the local level
- Priorities for applicants from North Macedonia:
- Digitalization and improved service delivery
- Public financial management
- Improved HR management
- Policy Development and Coordination
- Priorities for applicants from Serbia:
- Participation and consultations in the planning system
- Fiscal transparency and accountability
- Public services at the local level with a focus on vulnerable groups
- Transparency of decision-making by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and local authorities.
Organizations which implement the WeBER 2.0 project
WeBER 2.0 project (in the further text the Project) is implemented by six Western Balkans MB) civil society organizations (CSOs), gathered within the Think for Europe Network (TEN), and Brussels-based partner organisation European Policy Centre (EPC). The TEN organizations which implement the WeBER 2.0 project are:
- European Policy Centre – CEP (Serbia) — Coordinator of the project
- Institute for Democracy and Mediation (Albania),
- Foreign Policy Initiative BH (Bosnia and Herzegovina),
- Group for Legal and Political Studies (Kosovo),
- Institute Alternative (Montenegro),
- European Policy Institute (North Macedonia).
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for a grant the applicant snail be:
- legal person
- non-profit-making
- civil society organization or grassroots which can demonstrate that its work is predominantly focused on a territory of one or several local self-government units. rather than on central government level or country-level initiatives and projects.
- civil society organization or grassroots working on one or more thematic areas of relevance to this OP
- registered in one of the project countries (Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo);
- founded at least 6 months before the announcement of this Call
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the application, not acting as an intermediary;
- Have appropriate organizational and financial capacity.
For more information, visit https://www.par-monitor.org/apply-now-call-for-expression-of-interest-to-csos-interested-in-par-monitoring/