Deadline: 31-Oct-2024

The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation has launched a call for proposals to improve the living conditions and the resilience of refugees displaced by the Syrian crisis and vulnerable hosting communities in Lebanon.

EU 4 Lebanon – Inclusive Services for Social Actions – ELISSA is an action funded by the European Union and implemented by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. Its main aim is to improve the living conditions and the resilience of refugees displaced by the Syrian crisis and vulnerable hosting communities in Lebanon by strengthening access to inclusive social services and increasing livelihood opportunities.

ELISSA is conceived in the framework of a long-term partnership and a shared strategy developed between the Italian Cooperation and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), and specifically it was designed as a scale-up and expansion of the action called Integrated Social Services Provision to Lebanese and Syrian Refugees communities in Lebanon – ISOSEP which is currently implemented by AICS.

The programme aims to support the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) and 36 Social Development Centres (SDCs) through a strategy of intervention based on two interlinked pillars:

• AICS Technical Assistance and institutional capacity building to MoSA and SDCs
• Provision of social services and income opportunities to local communities through SDCs supported by INGOs

This call for proposals is launched to identify International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to support and facilitate the work of the SDCs and MoSA in the provision of social services to local communities.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues 

• The Outcomes of this call for proposals are:
  • O.1: Access to inclusive health and social services for refugees and host communities is strengthened.
  • O.2: Access to livelihood opportunities for vulnerable refugees and host communities has increased.
• The Outputs of this call for proposals are:
  • 1.1. SDCs increased their capacity to deliver integrated services to local communities.
  • 1.2. SDCs improved and standardized their outreach activities to identify more vulnerable people in their catchment areas.
  • 1.3. SDCs established a referral system and enhanced their provision of secondary and specialized services to local communities
  • 2.1. SDCs increased their capacity to provide VT to vulnerable local communities
  • 2.2. SDCs enhanced their efficiency in offering job placement and orientation.

Sectors or Themes 

• Social services and provision of livelihood opportunities addressed to vulnerable categories through the Social Development Centres of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3,600,000.00. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• The call for proposals is divided into 3 lots as per the geographical distribution of the 36 target SDCs, as reported below:
  • Lot 1: € 1,100,000.00
  • Lot 2: € 1,200,000.00
  • Lot 3: € 1,300,000.00
• Size of grants 
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must not exceed the below maximum amount:
    • Lot 1 – maximum amount: EUR 1,100,000.00
    • Lot 2 – maximum amount: EUR 1,200,000.00
    • Lot 3 – maximum amount: EUR 1,300,000.00

Duration 

• The planned duration of an action shall be 18 months.

Location 

• Actions must take place in Lebanon, as per division into geographical lots.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s) 
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be a non-profit-making international civil society organization, registered towards the relevant authority in Lebanon and
    • have demonstrated experience in social services provision in Lebanon and
    • have at least two previous experiences in the three years prior to this Call for proposals in facilitating SDCs provision of social services in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and/or Social Development Centres and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
    • enclose to the proposal a letter by the Ministry of Social Affairs endorsing the Concept Note.
• 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, with the exception of point 1, e) of section 2.1.1.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form,
• Affiliated entities 
  • 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 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.

For more information, visit Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.