This call for proposals is launched in the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Establishment of legal, institutional and financial framework at regional (county) level, capacity – building to enhance quality of regional public administration in Lithuania”.

It aims to co-fund national projects aimed at providing local expertise and logistical support for the organisation of the Project’s activities, in co-operation with the Council of Europe. The Project’s activities focus on specific aspects that are relevant to regional development, as well as the general context of local democracy, good governance in municipalities, municipal budget (fiscal) issues, local finances, human resources management, strategic planning, and other related issues, included to the amount that is found necessary to achieve the primary goals of better regional policy.

The Project will focus on the challenges of the newly established regions to stimulate harmonious regional development, by addressing issues related to the institutional set-up of regions in accordance with the subsidiarity principle applied to the regional needs. It will aim at strengthening regional development through fiscal decentralisation, strategic planning, and human resource management. It will support integrated development of functional areas and increase the quality of public service provision through capacity-building of local and regional authorities.

In particular, it aims to:

• to support the national authorities in enhancing their capacity to formulate, develop and implement reform policies and strategies and in pursuing an integrated approach ensuring consistency between goals and means across sectors
• to assist the national authorities in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of human-resource management, inter alia, by strengthening professional knowledge and skills and setting out clear responsibilities.

The enhanced capacity, efficiency and effectiveness should make the way for the national, regional and local authorities to address the following issues more effectively:

• Processes of depopulation and uneven redistribution of economic prosperity in the regions of Lithuania
• Need to strengthen the socio-demographic, economic development capacities and expert base at a regional level;
• Need for evidence-based strategic management and transparent setting of design and implementation of territorial development strategies, owned by several municipalities – in case of Lithuania regional development plans (including cross-border and interregional aspects).

Project partners include: the national government, represented by the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), newly created regional institutions (members of regional development councils, administration of regional development councils) and local authorities, mayors, civil servants, local councillors, senior employees of municipalities.

Funding Information

The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 120,000 Euros (one hundred and twenty thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 2 grants of a maximum amount of 50,000 Euros (fifty thousand Euros) and 70,000 Euros (seventy thousand Euros) respectively.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:

• be legally constituted as a non-governmental organisation or other institution in Lithuania;
• be entitled to carry out in Lithuania the activities described in its project proposal;
• have been active for at least 5 years in the field of local governance;
• have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
• have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
• have a bank account.

For more information, visit Council of Europe.