Deadline: 2 August 2019

The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) together with the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns (AACT) and KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research implemented the programme “Capacity building in the countries of the Western Balkans and the Republic of Moldova” which aims to strengthen the governancestructures of the countries in the region and to prepare them for possible accession to the European Union, with focus on local and regional governments.

The Programme covers the Western Balkans and the Republic of Moldova (further on referred to as the Region), following the geographic coverage of the ADC Regional Strategy for Danube Area / Western Balkans Region. It is consistent with the Strategy’s objectives to strengthen regional cooperation and support EU accession as well as with the third thematic priority: Governance, Human Rights and the Rule of Law: institution-building in the context of EU accession.

Objectives

• The UN Agenda 2030 recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
• The European Commission and EU member states have already made significant contributions to achieving the Agenda 2030 objectives by integrating the SDGs in all policies. As many of the 2030 Agenda’s objectives and goals directly influence areas of work and competences that belong to subnational authorities, regional and local authorities play a crucial role in implementing the SDGs and in designing the policies to achieve them.
• For the EU pre-accession and candidate countries, the path to achieving the set SDGs is to implement EU standards and policies through EU integration processes. Therefore, the BACID aims at strengthening the capacities of the entities in the non-EU countries of the Western Balkans and Moldova on its way to the European Union though exposure to Austrian know-how and inter-sectoral partnership.
• Following previous experiences of “new” EU member countries, the peer-to-peer approach and transfer of know-how was identified as the most successful tool in gaining practical knowledge. In this way, the targeted countries will be efficiently supported to build structures and cooperation and promote the process of democratization and socio-economic development.
• The added value of the BACID programme is that it fills the gap between the predefined targeted interventions of the EU and other donors at one side, and emerging tailor-made current needs of the beneficiaries to be addressed through mentoring and practical experience.

Funding Information

• The total amount available under the BACID Fund is € 200,000. The funds will be distributed through Calls for proposals. If the dedicated amount is not spent in one Call, the remaining funds will be transferred to the following Calls. ADA reserves the right to amend maximum amounts available per Call and per action, or not to award all available funds.
• The amount available in the second Call for proposals is € 60,000.
• The maximum amount per grant is € 6,000, or in the case of seed-funding € 10,000.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants: The BACID fund targets smaller actions for hands-on expert assistance to public administration and CSOs as well as universities, media and businesses on the topics related to European Integration and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on regional and local level. The Applicants have to fulfil the following conditions:
  • Be a legal person registered in Austria or in an eligible country in the Region
  • Be a public or private entity including both non-profit organisations and the business sector.
  • Have been established at least twelve months before launching of the Call for proposals.
• Partners in beneficiary countries
  • Since the main purpose of the grant programme is the transfer of know-how from Austria, at least one Partner besides the Applicant has to be involved in design and implementation of the action while either Applicant or one Partner has to be from Austria.
  • The action may include more Partner organisations from one or more beneficiary countries. The Partner organisations have to fulfil the following conditions:
    • Be a legal person registered in Austria or in an eligible country in the Region
    • Be a public or private entity including both non-profit organisations and the business sector
    • Have been established at least twelve months before launching of the Call for proposals.
• Beneficiaries
  • Beneficiaries can be institutions or organisations from the Region, who benefit from the know-how transfer in order to improve their functioning.
  • In the case that the Beneficiary organisation differs from Partner or Applicant, it is highly recommended to ensure their commitment before submitting the application and confirm it by the proof of agreed cooperation (for example, signed Letter of Intent, proof of ongoing cooperation in the relevant field, or similar).
  • Target group represents individuals that directly participate in the activities, such as citizens, public servants/officials, employees of non-profit organisations or businesses.
• Location: The actions have to take place in one of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, or in Austria.
• Eligible Activities: The following types of activities are eligible for funding:
  • Expert support and mentoring;
  • Workshops, seminars and training;
  • Elaboration of reports, studies, surveys and other documents (e.g. guidance, roadmap, model decision, etc.).
• Eligible Costs: Taking into account the eligible activities, the following types of costs to be covered by the grant are eligible:
  • Fees: Includes fees for experts, trainers etc. engaged by the Applicant, with a maximum of € 450 per day.
  • Per diems: For the coverage of meals, transport and accommodation costs of experts engaged by the Applicant and their other expenses such as insurance, material costs, etc., with a maximum of € 170 per day.
  • Travel costs: Includes only travel expenses of experts engaged by the Applicant to and within the beneficiary countries. The most suitable transport is to be proposed in the application stage, and may include flight, train or bus ticket. The flight costs will be refunded in the maximum amount of € 800. The car costs are also eligible under the condition that it is the most efficient transport mean in terms of time and money with the maximum rate per km and under the conditions defined in the Austrian legislation. Please note: First class train tickets and business-class flight tickets are not accepted, unless there is a reasonable justification for its use and is subject to approval by ADA.
  • Costs of events: May include the costs of renting of premises, audio and translation equipment, translation/interpretation services and refreshment/lunches, in the maximum amount of € 1,000.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit http://www.bacid.eu/Calls