EU-Armenia Partnerships for Change Programme
Deadline: 29-May-22
The European Commission (EC) is accepting proposals for Partnerships for Change Programme that seeks to advance civil society and human rights priorities in Armenia with a particular focus on supporting civil society capacities to engage in policy processes, gather evidence, monitor reforms, implementing social services, supporting recovery and resilience, and become trusted partners that deliver to the communities they serve and represent.
Objectives
The global objective of this call for proposals is to enhance the capacity and resilience of Armenian civil society organisations to be effective, trusted, sustainable and accountable independent actor and partner.
The specific objectives of this call for proposals are to support/promote
LOT 1: gender equality and combating gender based violence and discrimination, with main priorities
ensuring freedom from all forms of gender-based violence;
strengthening economic and social rights;
empowering girls and women and advancing equal participation and leadership.
LOT 2: public budget oversight and advocacy (focus on national level budgeting)
capacity building/mentoring schemes for CSOs to monitor public budgets, analyse public expenditures and to engage with policy makers with budgeting proposals to address the needs of their beneficiary groups;
mission-driven thematic policy advocacy campaigns based on budget monitoring and public expenditure tracking;
promoting public accountability and transparency of public budgets, as well as greater citizen awareness and participation in public budgeting.
LOT 3: youth empowerment and leadership development, with main priorities
citizenship education providing young people with knowledge, skills and attitudes to participate in public affairs;
growing future leaders, cultivating youth leadership skills for leading change in education, in their communities, civil society and in politics;
increasing youth critical literacy and media literacy.
LOT 4: green and sustainable development in line with principles of the Green Deal
advocating for environmental protection, conservation and relevant climate change adaptation measures;
raising awareness on key principals of the EU Green deal;
promoting environmentally conscious practices among citizens and businesses, popularising green, circular economy.
LOT 5: community based social service delivery for reducing poverty, inequality and vulnerability in the region of Syunik.
promoting needs based local social planning (as an integral part of local government’s annual work plans and budgeting);
setting up and/or expending existing sustainable community-based social services (e.g. targeting the displaced, elderly, people with disabilities, veterans of war, children in difficult life circumstances, etc.) in line with local governments’ social plans/annual work plans and needs of vulnerable populations as identified/assessed by territorial Unified Social Services;
advocating for mechanisms for sustainable funding of community based social services (e.g. decentralisation of financing; social contracting; local government funding, public-private partnerships).
Funding Information
The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 5,900,000.
The envelop for this call for Armenia, under the Human Rights and Democracy instrument is EUR 1.000.000 (Lot 1).
The envelop for this call for Armenia under the CSO Thematic programme is EUR 1.900.000 (Lots 2 and 3).
The envelop for this call for Armenia, under the Civil Society Facility is EUR 3.000.000 (Lots 4 and 5).
Indicative allocation of funds by lot.
Lot 1: EUR 1 000 000
Lot 2: EUR 700 000
Lot 3: EUR 1 200 000
Lot 4: EUR 1 500 000
Lot 5: EUR 1 500 000
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
Lot 1:
minimum amount: EUR 1 000 000
maximum amount: EUR 1 000 000
Lot 2:
minimum amount: EUR 700 000
maximum amount: EUR 700 000
Lot 3:
minimum amount: EUR 1 200 000
maximum amount: EUR 1 200 000
Lot 4:
minimum amount: EUR 1 500 000
maximum amount: EUR 1 500 000
Lot 5:
minimum amount: EUR 1 500 000
maximum amount: EUR 1 500 000
Eligibility Criteria
Lead applicant(s)
In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
be a legal person
be non-profit-making
be a non-governmental organisation, and
be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Armenia or any other eligible country as stipulated in the basic act NDICI-GE11,
be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
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. In addition,
Under Lot 1, at least one of the co-applicants must be a women’s rights organisation13 established in Armenia,
Under Lot 2, at least one of the co-applicants must be a research institution/think tank established in Armenia,
Under Lot 3, at least one of the co-applicants must be a youth organisation established in Armenia,
Under Lot 4, at least one of the co-applicants must be an environmental organisation established in Armenia,
Under Lot 5, at least one of the co-applicants must be established in the province of Syunik.
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 coapplicant(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, 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.
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