European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals to Support the role of civil society in Congo as an actor in sustainable development to improve the contribution of civil society to the social, economic and cultural development of the country.

Objectives and Priorities

The present call for proposals has the specific objectives: 

• To strengthen the structuring and intervention capacities of Congolese Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) so that they can contribute to social development, inclusive economic growth and meet the needs. of the most vulnerable populations. 
• Strengthen the structuring and intervention capacities of Congolese CSOs working in the culture sector so that they can set up inclusive and viable cultural projects.

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Capacity building of Congolese CSOs so that they can facilitate access to basic social services for the most vulnerable populations, improve the quality of their services to these populations, and carry out advocacy on these issues with the public authorities;
• Support for initiatives that contribute to the diversification of the local economic fabric; vocational training and the creation of quality jobs;
• The creation and / or strengthening of CSO networks and their structuring in order to improve their capacity for intervention and advocacy towards the public authorities; 
• Support for the emergence of female CSOs, in order to strengthen female leadership and the participation of Congolese girls and women in the public sphere; 
• Capacity building of youth organizations and CSOs working on youth rights and their empowerment and support for their actions;
• Support for the recognition of CSOs active in the cultural field, and their actions; 
• Capacity building of CSOs in the cultural and creative sector with a view to their professionalization.

Preference will also be given to actions: 

• Which target the most vulnerable and / or marginalized populations, and in particular children and young people; 
• Who promote the role of women and girls as agents of development and change and / or aim to improve their socio-economic condition; 
• Who are presented and coordinated by Congolese CSOs as lead applicant, with the aim of encouraging local ownership; 
• Which contain objectively verifiable indicators that show the evolution of the capacity building of local partners; 
• Who support and / or strengthen partnerships with Congolese CSOs established in the most remote areas; 
• Who have been identified on the basis of a documented diagnosis of stakeholders and their needs; 
• Who use local human resources (expatriate staff should be limited as much as possible).

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is: EUR 3,000,000.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to allocate all of the available funds.

• Lot 1 (Specific objective 1): 2,850,000 EUR
• Lot 2 (Specific objective 2): 150,000 EUR

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

To be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must: 

• be a legal person; and 
• have no profit motive; and 
• belong to one of the following categories of organizations: civil society organization; and
• be established in a member state of the European Union or eligible countries; and 
• be directly responsible for preparing and managing the action with the co-applicant (s) and the affiliated entity (s), and not acting as an intermediary

Co-applicant(s)

• Co-applicants participate in the development and implementation of the action, and the costs they bear are eligible in the same way as those borne by the lead applicant.
• Co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those which apply to the lead applicant himself.
• Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.

Affiliated entity(ies)

• The lead applicant and his co-applicant (s) may act with one or more affiliated entities.
• Only the following entities can be considered as affiliated with the lead applicant and / or the co-applicant (s):
  • Only the entities which 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 concepts:
    • control, within the meaning of Directive 2013/34 / EU on annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of companies:
      • Entities affiliated with an applicant can therefore be:
        • directly controlled entities or indirectly by the applicant (first-tier subsidiaries or subsidiaries) or controlled by an entity itself controlled by the applicant (sub-subsidiaries or second-level subsidiaries), and this is valid for the other levels of control;
        • entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant; 
        • entities controlled, directly or indirectly, at the same level as the applicant (sister companies).
    • membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as, for example, a network, federation or association of which the proposed affiliate is a member, or the applicant is a member of the same entity (for example, a network, a federation or an association…) than the proposed affiliated entity.

For more information, visit EuropeAid and download the guidelines.