Coordination, cooperation and networking activities among European organisations in the area of development

1.2       Objectives and priorities of this call for proposals

The main objectives of this call for proposal is to support actions aimed at achieving more efficient cooperation, foster synergies and facilitate a structured dialogue in the area of development between Non State Actors and Local Authorities (or associations of Local Authorities) from the EU and acceding countries[1], within their organizations and with Community institutions.

The programme intends in particular to support activities aiming at:

- strengthening Non State Actors (NSA) and Local Authority (LA) networks and platforms, including their capacity to build trans-national alliances and to disseminate best practices in the area of development;                 
-  increasing the number of multi-actor partnerships and consolidating exchanges between different types of NSA and LA networks, within their organisations and with Community institutions;     

- strengthening the capacity of NSA and LA platforms in the new Member States (12)[2] in order to play an active role in their countries and at the EU level, including ensuring smooth integration of EU development policies.

In order to support the development and consolidation of dialogue between North-North stakeholder organisations and between these organisations and Community institutions, priority will be given to:

§         information networks and exchange of best practices within and among their organisations;       

§         dialogue and exchange of best practice between different types of stakeholders, including between NSA and LA.

§         interaction of such organisations or networks with the EU institutions.   

 

Whenever possible, mainstreaming of human rights, gender equality, children and older people rights, rights of indigenous peoples, rights of persons with disabilities, environment and climate change, as well as fight against HIV/AIDS, will be ensured in the proposed actions. These actions should show, whenever relevant, how these issues are taken into account in the design, implementation and monitoring of their activities. Principles such as empowerment, participation, non-discrimination of vulnerable groups and accountability will be adequately taken into account.

1.3       Financial allocation provided by the European Commission

The overall indicative amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 3.300.000

Indicative allocation of funds by actors:

§         Non State Actors
EUR 2.700.000 to be financed by budget line 21 03 01 "Non State Actors in Development".          
This budget line will, as a rule, finance actions proposed by NSA.

 

§         Local Authorities

EUR 600.000 to be financed by budget line 21 03 02 "Local Authorities in Development". 
This budget line will, as a rule, finance actions proposed by LA.

Subject to the decision of the Budgetary Authority and subsequent Commission decision, similar additional amounts will be allocated to this Call for proposals from the 2009 budget.            

 

Where the financial envelopes indicated above cannot be used due to insufficient quality or number of proposals received, the European Commission reserves the right to reallocate the remaining funds to the other type of actors (LA or NSA, as the case may be) or to fund other components of the thematic programme.

The European Commission reserves also the right not to award all available funds. Similarly, this amount could be increased should more funds become available.

Size of grants

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

·         minimum amount: EUR       100.000

·         maximum amount: EUR   1.000.000

As a general rule, the co-financing may not exceed 75.00 % of the total eligible costs of the action.

Nevertheless, for actions proposed by Non-State Actors or Local Authorities from the 12 new Members States, the grant may rise to 90.00 % of the action total eligible costs.

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the European Commission) 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.

2.      Rules FOR thIS call for proposalS

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.

The majority of terms used in the present guidelines are explained in the Glossary to the "Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions".

The aforementioned Practical Guide and the Glossary can be consulted at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/practical_guide/index_en.htm     

In addition to the Glossary, the following definitions apply to the present guidelines:

Partnership                            the grouping of organisations, i.e. the main applicant and its partners, for the purpose of implementing the proposed action

Applicant                                the organisation responsible for submitting the application

Partner                                   member organisation of the partnership other than the applicant

Associate                    organisation that plays an active role in the action but which cannot benefit from funding under the grant

Subcontractor             organisation contracted by the beneficiary or its partner(s) in accordance with the appropriate procedures in order to execute specific tasks in implementing the action

Re-granting                 financial support that may be given to third parties by the beneficiary of the Community grant where the implementation of the action so requires, subject to the conditions laid down in Article 120 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities and the Article 184a of the Rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation[3]

2.1       Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

·         applicants which may request a grant (2.1.1), and their partners (2.1.2),

·         actions for which a grant may be awarded (2.1.3),

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

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:

·         be legal persons and

·         be non- profit making and

·         be Non-State Actors (NSA)[4] or Local Authorities (LA) (or associations of LA) constituted in accordance with the legislation in force in the country concerned. NSA from the 15 ‘old’ Member States must have been registered for at least three years at the time of the submission of an application; NSA from the 12 ‘new’ Member States must have been registered for at least two years at the time of the submission of an application and

·         be nationals[5] of a Member State of the European Union and

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

·         be able to demonstrate to have regularly carried out activities in the field of development and/or in the field of awareness raising/development education and/or of the kind covered by this programme, i.e. coordination, cooperation and networking activities with regard to development issues. NSA and LA (or associations of LA) from the ‘old’ Member States must have regularly carried out such activities at least during the last three years at the time of the submission of an application whereas, for NSA and LA (or associations of LA) from the ‘new’ Member States, this requirement is limited to two years.

Potential applicants may not participate in Calls for Proposals or be awarded grants if  they are in any of the situations which are listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions (available from the Internet address indicated at the beginning of the section 2).

In Part B, section VI of the Grant Application Form (“Declaration by the applicant”), applicants must declare that they do not fall into any of the situations.

Partnerships

Considering the objectives of this call for proposals, multi-actor partnership is obligatory. Partnerships involving different types of actors, namely NSA and LA are strongly encouraged. For Actions taking place in more than one EU Member State, partnership and close cooperation with (a) clearly identified partner organisation(s) established in the other Member State(s) is obligatory.

Eligibility of partners

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. They must therefore satisfy the same eligibility criteria as applicants, with the exception that there is no minimum time limit with regard to the registration of the organisation.