Deadline: 15 October 2019

Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) has launched its third Call for Project Proposals 2019 on “A Better Region Starts with Youth”.

The General Objective of this Call for Proposals is to support the process of reconciliation in the Western Balkans by providing young people with opportunities that create space for dialogue, mutual learning and increased understanding across communities and RYCO’ s Contracting Parties, and to contribute to increasing capacities of schools to offer such opportunities.

Specific objectives

The Specific Objectives under this call are presented below:

• Specific Objective 1: Reconciliation, Intercultural dialogue and learning
• Specific Objective 2: Youth Participation
• Specific Objective 3: Strengthening Capacities of Secondary Schools

Priority Areas

All projects supported under this call will relate to the following priority areas:

• Priority Area 1: Regional youth cooperation, mobility and exchange
• Priority Area 2: Enabling environment for regional youth cooperation

Funding Information

• The overall financial envelope for this call is EUR 360.000.
• The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds. Projects funded under this call can range from 10.000 EUR to 20.000 EUR

Location (s)

All the project activities financed by RYCO must take place in the Western Balkans 6 Contracting Parties (WB6): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Duration

The duration of the project must be a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 9 months. All project activities must take place before 31 October 2020.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
  • be a legal entity, and
  • be a secondary school (private or public), established in the WB6, a minimum of one year prior to the launch of this Call for Proposal, and be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the projects with the partners, not acting as an intermediary, or
  • be a non-profit-making CSO applying on behalf of a school, established in one of the WB6, a minimum of one year prior to the launch of this Call for Proposal
  • Acknowledging the legislative and regulatory differences within the WB6 (notably in Albania and Kosovo), in cases where public schools are facing administrative barriers to apply for grants directly, they encourage them to form a partnership with a CSO eligible under the above-mentioned criteria.
• CSO will be the lead applicant of the project proposal and will serve primarily as the financial manager of the project. The partnering school(s) are expected to retain a preponderant role in project implementation. The grant funds will be directed to the CSO.
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations indicating that they are bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures;
• where their assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court; where it is in an arrangement with creditors; where their activities are suspended; or where they are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under national laws or regulations; they are in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions, in accordance with the law of the contracting party in which they are established. CSOs that employ or are represented/overseen by members of RYCO statutory bodies (i.e. Governing Board or Advisory Board) are not allowed to apply for this Call for Project Proposals.
• These applications will be subject to conflict of interest policy and rejected.
• The funds to be allocated through these grants originate from the German federal budget. According to the German Federal Budget Regulation, applicants who are already receiving public funding originating from the German public budget (institutional funding or project funding for the project submitted following this call) are not eligible to apply for grants.
• Grants to individuals will not be considered.

Types of Activities

The types of activities that may be financed under this Call for proposals are the following but not limited to:

• trainings, workshops, study visits, peer support groups, etc. for strengthening capacities of key youth actors,
• art, cultural and sports activities, use and development of ICT and media tools,
• activities aimed at inclusion of the most vulnerable or excluded groups
• joint regional capacity building activities and exchange of good practices between youth and stakeholders from the WB6 (conferences, forums etc.),
• local and regional events for promotion of equal access and rights, or advocacy campaigns,
• twinning between schools, learning activities and development of learning materials, resource-exchange platforms,
• camps, workshops, conferences, debates, round table events in formal and non-formal education, addressed to prevent intolerance among youth, support constructive dealing with the past and reconciliation, intercultural dialogue and learning, etc.,
• campaigns and trainings of educators and youth workers for enhancing intercultural competences,
• joint art and cultural performances, such as festivals, concerts, theatre plays, street performances, exhibitions, etc.,
• online platforms for learning, exchange and exhibition of joint artistic productions or promotion of learning material or artistic productions,
• supporting volunteering and volunteer services between the WB6,
• other activities in line with the Call’s priorities and objectives.

How to Apply

The Applicants will be required to register their profile via given website.

For more information, please visit https://www.rycowb.org/?page_id=6441