Call for Proposals: Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development

The European Commission has issued a call for proposals for for “Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development (Development Cooperation Instrument) and Neighbourhood Civil Society Facility (European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument).

The global objective and the priorities of the present Call for Proposals are the concrete answer to the Structured Dialogue recommendations9 to the EU to “promote and support regular, structured and inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues” through funding to “empower civil society organisations (CSOs) and local authorities (LAs) (particularly their platforms and representative organizations) to participate effectively in dialogues”.

The Priorities of this Call for Proposals:

(1) Institutional capacity building: reinforcement of internal structure and operating modalities of membership-based13 CSO networks (i.e. platforms, unions) with representativeness at regional14, continental and/or global level.15 Only proposals stemming from non-thematic16 CSO networks, with a majority of members based in partner countries17 will be considered.

(2) Empowerment of CSO networks representative at regional, continental and/or global level to participate effectively in dialogues with international organizations18 (both with global or regional scope19) and other relevant stakeholders (e.g. governmental authorities, private sector) and to have a significant impact on the regional, continental and/or global policy-making processes: actors of the initiatives should concretely strengthen their representativeness and the capacities to gather their constituencies’ views and to perform as strategic partners for key policy makers.

(3) Actions led at regional, continental and global level by relevant CSO networks, tackling problems common to more than one region (e.g. desertification, migration, water management, HIV/AIDS).  Multi-stakeholder campaigns will be supported. Service delivery actions will not be considered.

(4) Actions led by civil society organisations promoting the reinforcement of an enabling environment for civil society organisations’ activities in Neighbourhood countries.

(5) Actions led by civil society organisations which advance the political priorities of the Eastern Partnership and the priorities included in the Joint Communication “

This is a restricted call for proposals and only concept notes have to be submitted initially. All applicants need to register at PADOR before applying. The deadline to submit proposals is 1 February 2012, 16:00 Brussels date and time. For more information, visit this link.