The European Union (EU) has announced a call for applications for the Local Level Partnerships to Advance Social Inclusion in Albania.

Objectives and Priority Issues

The global objective of this call for proposals is: to contribute at strengthening municipal capacities to establish and deliver inclusive services to citizen in the area of social care, employment and inclusive education.

Priorities for this call for proposals are structured into three main "lots" (thematic areas) with specific objectives related per each lot, as follows:

• Lot 1: Local lovel partnerships for integrated service delivery: The main aim is to establish new or extend existing models of social care senices, inclusive education and employability of groups at risk. The grant scheme under Lot 1 will target 19 municipalities: Prrenj as, Gjirokaster, Vore, Mallakaster, Cerrik, Librazhd, Shijak, Kavaje, Kurbin, =Kukes, Kruje, Pogradec, Korce, Kamez, Vlore, Shkoder, Elbasan, Dunes, Tirane. Specific objectives:
  • Support to establish and/or extend existing social care services at the municipal level, such as: community centres, multifunctional centres; mobile teams, daily centres, foster care etc;
  • Support to establish and/or extend specialized social care services focused on specific needs and which may include more than one municipality, such as for example: services for women victims of violence/ LGBTIQ; services for children victims of abuse; specialized services for people with disabilities; daily centres for elderly people etc.
  • Support social inclusion in employment for young people, people with disabilities, women and other at risk groups (such as: models of social enterprises services which promote inclusive employment etc)
  • Support models that contribute to enhance inclusive education for girls and boys - with a special focus on children with disabilities Roma community and children living in remote areas.
• Lot 2. Economic and inclusive learning grant for roma and egyptians: The grant under this lot will focus on supporting Roma and Egyptian communities living in the above targeted municipalities supported by this action'. It is foreseen to have only one grant under this lot. Specific objectives:
  • Increase opportunities for Roma and Egyptian communities and narrow the employment gap in the job market through active employment programmes, self-employment and other models of inclusive employment. Ensure individualised approaches based on needs in existing and mainstreamed employment services.
  • Increase enrolment rates and support inclusive education for Roma and Egyptian children and ensure sustainability of pre-university school attainment.
  • Strengthen activism and of community-level of Roma and Egyptian civil society organisations to implement tailored services and initiatives for the community and enhance policy advocacy and dialogue at the local and central level
• Lot 3: Fostering inter-municipal innovative collaboration on policy and practice development: The main aim is to establish policy dialogue and practice learning mechanisms, such as fora and on-line platforms, that foster and promote opportunities to share social innovation and good practices among two or more municipalities on the design, management, governance, funding, and delivery of social care services, employment and inclusive education to populations at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Specific Objectives:
  • Build strategic and operational partnerships between municipalities, public and non-public agencies that focus on experimenting and learning from innovations in the area of social services, employment and education.
  • Foster inter-municipal collaboration on the design and delivery of social care services and social inclusion measures in employment and education.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4,500,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Indicative allocation of funds by lot:

• Lot 1- Local Level Partnerships for Integrated Social Inclusion Services - 2,000,000.00 EUR
• Lot 2- Economic and Inclusive Learning for Roma and Egyptian communities- 2,000,000.00 EUR
• Lot 3- Fostering Inter-municipal innovative collaboration on policy and practice development — 500,000.00 EUR

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

• Lot 1. In order to be eligible for a grant, the Lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be non- profit- making;
  • be one of the targeted municipalities]; in the Republic of Albania or
  • be a non-profit making organisation, civil society organisationu legally registered and operating in Albania. The organization may also be from an EU member state or an official candidate country or from the European Economic Area 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.
• LOT 2: In order to be eligible for a grant, the Lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be non- profit- making;
  • be a public body, or relevant mandated body of a Government Department of a European Union Member State; or
  • be an International Organization (intergovernmental) as defined in Article 62 (c) of the EU Financial Regulations; or
  • be a non-profit making organisation, civil society organisation's legally registered and operating in Albania. The organization may also be from an EU member state or an official candidate country or from the European Economic Area, 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 .
• LOT 3: In order to be eligible for a grant, the Lead applicant must:
  • Be a legal person and
  • Non - for profit making; and
  • Be one of the targeted municipalitiesm in the Republic of Albania' or
  • A public body, or relevant mandated body in a European Union Member State; or
  • be a non-profit organisation, civil society organisation's legally registered and operating in Albania. The organization may also be from an EU member state or an official candidate country or Member State of the European Economic Area, 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.

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. The co-applicant selected shall be one of the following:
  • be a legal person;
  • be non- for profit making;
  • be one of the targeted municipalitieso in the Republic of Albania or
  • be a public body, or relevant mandated body of a Government Department of a European Union Member State or in Albania; or
  • be an International Organization (intergovernmental) as defined in Article 62 (c) of the EU Financial Regulations; or
  • be a non-profit organisation, civil society organisation20 legally registered and operating in Albania. The organization may also be from an EU member state or an official candidate country or from the European Economic Area.
• Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.

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.

For more information, visit EuropeAid and download the guidelines.