Deadline: 19 June 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organizations for a program entitled “EU 4 Youth Empowerment” to enable Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to effectively contribute to eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to increase participation of CSOs in fostering youth employment through promoting a conducive business environmentfor more inclusive growth and sustainable development.

Priority Areas

• Support to CSO and Youth advocacy groups in promoting youth employability, job market access and active participation in economic life in line with the relevant priorities of the National Youth Policy and the economic priorities of the Government of Lebanon.
• Supporting innovative social businesses or starting spin-offs “for Youth and by Youth” turning ideas into viable businesses as engines for economic development and job creation.
• Promote coordination and cooperation between CSOs and the various key stakeholders including government, parliament, private sector actors, academic institutions, youth committees and others to promote youth economic rights and opportunities.

Funding Information

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 1,000,000
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be non-profit-making and
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation of network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and
  • be established in a Member State of the European Union or in an ENI country;
  • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise1, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicant will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12 (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary) of the grant agreement and
  • be officially registered according to the relevant legislation in force in the country of registration; and
  • if not registered in Lebanon, must mandatorily act with at least one co-applicant established and registered in Lebanon..
  • 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
  • Has at least 2 years experience in the implementation of capacity building, training and coaching activities aiming at strengthening (institutional, technical and advocacy) capacities of civil society organisations, networks and coalitions
  • Has at least 2 work experience in managing projects of similar budget size including awarding sub-grants to third parties (i.e containing the publication of calls for proposals, the definition of selection and award criteria, the evaluation of applications..etc)
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations.

Co-applicant(s)

• If the lead applicant is not an organisation established and registered in Lebanon, applicants must act with at least one co-applicant organisation established and registered in Lebanon. 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.

Affiliated entity(ies)

• 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, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU 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.

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/2PQx0ud and download the guidelines.