Deadline: 26 March 2019

The European Union is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Support for the Activities of Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights Defenders Committed to Development in Mauritania”.

The purpose of this call for proposals is to:

• support the actions of civil society organizations contributing to the development and improvement of the living conditions of the populations;
• contribute to the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, as well as respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms; consistent with the foreign policy of the European Union as a whole.

Objectives

This call for proposals has specific objectives related to the general objective:

• Specific Objective 1 (SO1), for Lot 1:
  • Promote the networking, pooling and structuring of Mauritanian CSOs and socio-professional organizations to contribute to their sustainable participation in economic and social development in Mauritania.
  • These actions must be carried out by consortia Mauritanian CSOs.
• Specific Objective 2 (SO2), for Lot 2:
  • Support accompanying actions of Mauritanian level 19 CSOs to strengthen the capacities, structuring, networking and financing capacity, and working towards social cohesion and citizenship education of men, women, youth and children.
• Specific Objective 3 (OS3), for lot 3:
  • Support actions proposed and implemented by democracy activists and advocates human rights, civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights in Mauritania, through:
    • Human rights education, which will cover at least one area among socio-economic and cultural rights, civil rights, political rights,
    • Protection of civic and democratic space,
    • Protection and strengthening of civil society organizations working on issues human rights.

Funding Information

Any grant requested under this Call for Proposals must be between following minimum and maximum amounts:

• Lot 1:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 300,000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 500,000
• Lot 2:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 500,000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 800,000
• Lot 3:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 200,000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 400,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead Applicant
  • LOT 1
    • To qualify for a grant under lot 1, the principal applicant must:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit and
      • be an CSO (civil society organization) and
      • be established in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
      • have been registered for 2 years at the time of publication of this call for proposals from services concerned and
      • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity (ies) and not act as an intermediary.
  • LOT 2
    • To be eligible for a grant under lot 2, the principal applicant must:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit and
      • be a CSO (civil society organization) and
      • be established in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania or in a Member State of the Union European or European Economic Area or in a country with a border common with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and
      • at the time of publication of this call for proposals, have been registered for 3 years with relevant services to the State of establishment for CSOs from a Member State member of the EU or the European Economic Area or having a common border with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, or registered for two years with the services of concerned for Mauritanian CSOs and
        • Note: for British applicants: Please note that the eligibility criteria must be respected throughout the duration of the grant. Unless otherwise provided by sectoral eligibility rules15, in case of withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union during the grant period in the absence of an agreement with the EU guaranteeing in particular applicants from the United Kingdom continue to be eligible, applicants will no longer receive EU funding (while continuing, if possible, to participate) or they will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12.2 e) of the General Conditions (modification of the situation beneficiary’s legal status);
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity (ies) and not act as an intermediary.
  • LOT 3
    • To be eligible for a grant under lot 3, the principal applicant must:
      • be a legal person and
      • to be nonprofit and
      • be a CSO (civil society organization) and
      • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity (ies) and not act as an intermediary.
    • Note: No nationality restrictions apply to lead applicants for the lot 3
  • The lead applicant must act with a co-applicant (s) in accordance with the following requirements: All lots (mandatory criterion!):
    • Each lead applicant must act with at least one co-applicant established in the Republic Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Any proposal for which this obligation is not respected will be automatically eliminated.
    • LOT 1 and 2 only (optional criterion):
      • Each lead applicant may act with one or more co-applicants established in a Member State member of the European Union and / or the European Economic Area or / and having a border common with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
    • LOT 3 only (optional criterion):
      • Each lead applicant may act with one or more co-applicants of non-national nationality Mauritania.
• Co-Applicant (s)
  • The co-applicants participate in the development and implementation of the action and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those borne by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those applying to lead applicant himself.
  • In addition to those mentioned above; the following co-applicants are also eligible for lot 1:
    • CSO (civil society organization) and
    • established in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania or in a Member State of the European Union European Economic Area or in a country with a common border with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and
    • at the time of publication of this call for proposals, registered for 3 years with the relevant services to the State of establishment for CSOs from a Member State EU or the European Economic Area or having a common border with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
      • Note: for British applicants: Please note that the eligibility criteria must be respected throughout the duration of the grant. Unless otherwise provided by Sectoral eligibility rules, in case of withdrawal from the United Kingdom of the European Union during the grant period in the absence of an agreement with the EU guaranteeing in particular applicants from the United Kingdom continue to be eligible, applicants will no longer receive EU funding (while continuing, if possible, to participate) or they will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12.2 e) of the General Conditions (modification of the situation beneficiary’s legal status);
• Affiliated Entity (ies)
  • The lead applicant and his co-applicant (s) may act with one or more affiliated entities.
  • Only the following entities may be considered affiliated to the lead applicant and / or to the co-applicant (s):
    • Only those entities that have a structural link with the applicants (the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
    • This structural link mainly encompasses two notions:
      • control, within the meaning of Directive 2013/34 / EU on annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of enterprises:
        • Entities affiliated with an applicant may therefore be:
          • entities controlled directly or indirectly by the applicant (subsidiaries or subsidiaries of first rank) or controlled by an entity itself controlled by the applicant (sub-subsidiaries or second level affiliates), and this is valid for other levels of control;
          • entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Of the similarly, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
          • controlled entities, directly or indirectly, at the same level as the applicant (sister companies).
      • membership, ie the applicant is legally defined as, for example, a network, a federation or association of which the proposed affiliated entity is a member, or the applicant is a member of the same entity (for example, a network, federation or association) that the proposed affiliated entity.

How to Apply

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR, an on-line database via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2GE13CH and download the guidelines.