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Following previous initiatives such as the MED'ACT and MED-PACT programmes funded under the MEDA instrument, and the TCAS and IBPP programmes funded under the TACIS instrument, as well as other similar programs, the CIUDAD (Cooperation in Urban Development and Dialogue) programme, funded through the ENPI instrument will continue to encourage dialogue and cooperation between civil societies in the EU and outside its borders, while simultaneously promoting good governance and sustainable urban development in the ENPI partner countries.

The budget allocated to this programme is EUR 14.000.000 in total, including EUR 11.000.000 for the purpose of awarding co-financing grants, based on this call for proposals, and EUR 3.000.000 for the provision of the supporting mechanism (a service contract awarded on the basis of Call for Tender which will be published shortly) .

The overall objective of this project is to promote mutual understanding, dialogue and cooperation between local actors in the EU and in the partner countries of the Neighborhood region (ENPI region) through the provision of capacity building for the modernization and strengthening of local and regional government.

The specific objective is the improvement of local and regional government capacities with regard to the use of good governance principles and in particular with regard to the achievement of sustainable, integrated and long-term urban development planning.

- Lasting partnerships between local/regional authorities in the EU and in the ENPI region created, through their collaboration in the design and the implementation of sustainable urban development projects and in the framework of existing local/regional networks.

- Increased capacity of local/regional authorities in the ENPI region, with regards to the design, development and implementation of sustainable urban strategic plans, urban policies and projects.

- New partnerships created, and existing ones strengthened, among local/regional authorities in the ENPI region (South-South, East-East and South-East partnerships).

- The visibility of the projects in the EU and in the partner countries guaranteed thanks to a number of dissemination activities that will be extended to other authorities (who are not directly participating in the projects) through the use of existing networks.

- Sustainable local development projects/policies in the appropriate format to be presented to International Financing Institutions for investment (and possibly also to the European Neighborhood Investment Facility, NIF) jointly identified and formulated by local authorities in the EU and in the ENPI region.

Proposals are invited to pay particular attention to cross-cutting issues. They will need to satisfy:

a) The criterion of environmental sustainability, which will mean that the environmental impact of an action will have to be carefully analysed in order to ensure that the projects are environmentally sustainable. In order to improve sustainability, specific attention will be paid to economic analysis and cost recovery systems (for example, for a waste management program). Special attention will also be paid to the promotion of responsible environmental attitudes in the population concerned.

b) The criterion of economic sustainability, which will mean that from the earliest stage of the project development process (the pre-feasibility stage), a long-term financial plan must be carefully worked-out in order to ensure that the conditions for financial viability of the project achievements after project completion are already in place.

c) The criterion of social sustainability will mean that all urban development policies and projects should be designed with due attention to the social inclusion of women, minority and vulnerable groups.

In addition to the sustainability of the projects, the programme will also ensure cooperation and coherence at different levels of government, and will have to ensure that strategies and projects are defined and implemented in a participatory way that takes into account the interests of the various stakeholders concerned, particularly civil society.

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 11.000.000. The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

This Call for Proposals is divided into 3 lots (see detailed description in section 2 below):

In the case where the allocation foreseen for a specific lot cannot be fully used due to insufficient quality or number of proposals received, the Contracting Authority reserves the right to reallocate the remaining funds to another lot.

Any EC grant contribution awarded under this programme must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

In addition, no grant may exceed 80 % of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.4).

The balance must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Community budget or the European Development Fund.

The EC grant can be less than the 80 % of the total eligible cost of the action.

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of actions financed under this call, in conformity with the provisions of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions, which is applicable to the present call (available on the Internet at this address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm).

Please note that, for the purpose of this Call for Proposals "the applicant" refers to the "Leader of a Consortium".

Action taking place in any (minimum TWO) of these countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, and Tunisia.

Any proposal submitted within the framework of lot 1 and where the action does not take place in at least 2 of these countries will not be eligible for lot 1 and will be automatically rejected from the procedure.

Action taking place in any (minimum TWO) of these countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russian Federation.

Any proposal submitted within the framework of lot 2 and where the action does not take place in at least two of these countries will not be eligible for lot 2 and will be automatically rejected from the procedure.

Action taking place in any (minimum ONE) of these countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia, AND in any (minimum ONE) of these countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Russian Federation.

Any proposal submitted within the framework of lot 3 and where the action does not take place in at least two of these countries will not be eligible for lot 3 and will be automatically rejected from the procedure.

The criterion for a proposal to be included in any of the above lots is the following:

If the actions only take place in the ENPI South countries, the application must be sent for LOT 1, if the actions only take place in the ENPI East countries, the application must be sent for LOT 2, and if the actions takes place in both regions, the application must be sent for LOT 3.

The chosen LOT must be clearly indicated on the Concept Note and on the Full Application Form.

If the minimum amount foreseen for a specific lot cannot be used due to insufficient quality or insufficient number of the proposals the Contracting Authority reserves the right to reallocate unused funds to another lot.

A project Leader may submit more than one proposal under this call for proposals. However, a project Leader may not be awarded more than one grant under this call for proposals. If more than one proposal has been submitted, the proposal with the highest marks will be selected (whatever the lot is).

Partners can appear on more than one proposal which can be all selected by the Contracting Authority.

The contracts will be signed by the EC in Brussels, but the grants will then be managed from the EC Delegations in the relevant countries.

In addition to this Call for Proposals, a complementary Call for Tenders (for a Service Contract) will also be shortly published.

The Call for Tenders will serve the purpose of putting in place a supporting mechanism which will mainly serve three functions:

1) provide technical support to the grant beneficiaries (the Consortium) with the use of a website, through the organization of thematic workshops/seminars in the context of city/regional networks, etc,

2) provide a monitoring of all projects thus allowing for oversight of the entire program,

· types of cost which may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.4).

· be organisations such as: local or municipal authorities or associations/unions of cities and/or local governments. Please note that local representations of state administration are not eligible. and

- one of the ENPI South partner countries and territories (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, , Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia) or one of the ENPI East partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russian Federation); or

- an IPA country (Croatia, Turkey, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia- including Kosovo); or

· be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with their partners, not acting as an intermediary.

(2) Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the following situations (as indicated in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions available from http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm)

a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;

b) they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata; (i.e. against which no appeal is possible);

c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the Contracting Authority can justify;

d) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of the Contracting Authority or those of the country where the contract is to be performed;

e) they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities' financial interests;

f) they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 96(1) of the Financial Regulation.

Points (a) to (d) shall not apply in the case of purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous terms from either a supplier which is definitively winding up its business activities, or the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, through an arrangement with creditors, or through a similar procedure under national law.

1) cases of fraud as referred to in Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European

2) cases of corruption as referred to in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption

involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European

3) cases of participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2(1) of Joint Action

4) cases of money laundering as defined in Article 1 of Council Directive 91/308/EEC.

In part A, section III of the grant application form (“Declaration by the applicant”), applicants must declare that they do not fall into any of the situations.

Applicants must act in consortium with a minimum of two partner organisations (i.e. a consortium must include a minimum of three organisations).

MINIMAL COMPOSITION OF A CONSORTIUM

The consortium must consequently at least include:

- one national of an EU country

- one national of an ENPI country (see point 2.1.1)

- one national of an EU – ENPI – IPA –EEA country or an international organisation

Any further partner must be a national of an EU – ENPI – IPA –EEA country or an international organisation

Applicants’ partners participate in designing and implementing the action and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the grant Beneficiary (leader). They must therefore satisfy the same eligibility criteria as applicants.

Partners may also be international organisations[2], NGOS, professional associations, universities, private sector non profit entities, or other civil society organisations.

There is no maximum number of partners but please keep in mind that all partners must be carefully chosen and play an active role in the actions proposed. It is highly recommended not to involve more partners than is needed.

[1] Such nationality being determined on the basis of the organisation's statutes which should demonstrate that it has been established by an instrument governed by the internal law of the country concerned. In this respect, any legal entity whose statutes have been established in another country cannot be considered an eligible local organisation, even if they are registered locally or accompanied by a “Memorandum of Understanding”.

[2] International (inter-governmental) organisations as defined by Article 43 of the Implementing Rules to the EC Financial Regulation: International organisations are international public-sector organisations set up by intergovernmental agreements as well as specialised agencies set up by them; the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Investment Fund (EIF) are also recognized as international organisations.