Call for Proposals: Energy Crisis Response – Monitoring and visibility of the assistance offered through the project

Project title: Supporting together the vulnerable population affected by the energy crisis

Background

About the Implementer:

People in Need (PIN) is a Czech non-governmental organization that provides relief aid and development assistance while working to defend human rights and democratic freedom. It is one of the largest relief and development organizations in Europe and has administered projects in 37 countries over the past 30 years. People in Need has been working in the Republic of Moldova since 2003, implementing projects in the field of Sustainable Livelihood and Environment, Social Inclusion and Protection, Good Governance and Human Rights.

About the project:

The action is designed to limit the negative socioeconomic impact of the current energy crisis on vulnerable households in the Republic of Moldova, thus preventing the deterioration into a socioeconomic crisis with the potential to lead to widespread social unrest. The main objective of the action is to maintain the stability of the Republic of Moldova. As such, the action contributes to the foreign policy of the European Commission and is aligned with the objectives of the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) in the areas of crisis response, conflict prevention, and crisis preparedness. Finally, the action strengthens the role of civil society as active pillars of democracy, community building, and policy dialogue.

The project aims at achieving its overall goal through the following three outputs:

Output 1         The action will provide vulnerable households with direct access to multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) and in-kind heating assistance to cover the needs of target populations.

Output 2         Vulnerable population will be provided access to improved social services such as access to food, transportation, legal assistance, counselling on indebtedness etc. to address a wide range of needs.

Output 3         Comprehensive study on energy-related indebtedness of households will be conducted alongside targeted outreach.                                                                       

Purpose of this call for proposals:

The call aims at identifying existing civil society organisations (CSOs) that provide journalistic analysis to create visibility of the project and monitoring activities of the proper distribution of funds during the implementation of the project. Priority will be given to organizations that have previous experience in caring out similar projects and have an increased level of visibility and community engagement. The activities should start immediately after the conclusion of the contract in order to ensure timely coverage of the project.

The following content pillars are envisioned through this Call for Proposals:

• First content is focused on the ground-level impact the project has on the real people locally. It highlights the stories of individuals and communities.
• Second content is focused on showcasing the approach and methods used by the project using real examples of how scaling of providing access to improved social services methods is being achieved in the field level.
• Third content shall show the audience the teams in action, in collaboration, and coming together to share ideas and working to continually optimize the project goals.

The activities can focus but are not limited to the following:

• Investigative stories and articles;
• Collection and dissemination of success stories;
• Short videos about the project implementation in the regions;
• Interviews with relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries;
• Infographics and other visual representation of the project;
• Long-format articles of impact.

In addition to the grant, selected organization will also benefit from support with organizational and financial resilience building. All awardees will be provided mandatory online training on financial and reporting grant management, and a training on monitoring of the projects. Upon request, additional capacity building can be provided.

Conditions of the grant:

• The maximum amount of the grant will be 30.000 EUR. Only one grant will be offered.
• The applicants will present their proposal by filling in the application form (see the link below)
• The applicants should submit the track record form (see the link below)
• The applicants should submit their registration certificate
• The grant will be used to gain awareness with the general public with implementation of up to 12 months
• The budget must be in line with the activities described in the application form.

Eligible costs:

• Salaries
• Transportation services
• Procurement/rent of equipment (new and/or used)
• Administrative expenses including office rent, bills, telephone subscriptions etc.
• Visibility and communication campaigns
• Bank fees.

Evaluation criteria:

The proposals will be evaluated against the criteria illustrated here below:

Requirements:

• Officially registered as an NGO in the Republic of Moldova
• Be established in the Republic of Moldova
• Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action, not acting as an intermediary
• Relevant experience in providing journalistic investigations and visibility activities
• Demonstrated evidence of managing funds of a similar budget size
• No record of illegal and unethical activity (corruption, fraud)
• No political party affiliation.

Note: Potential applicants may not participate in the calls for projects or be awarded sub-grants if they are in any of the situations which are listed in Section 2.3.3 of the PRAG to contract procedures for EU external actions.

Roles and functions of CSO:

The CSO is expected to:

• Participate in a mandatory training session covering several core topics during the inception phase of the project including:
  • PIN Policies – Training and Signing of PIN’s Code of Conduct, PSEA and Child Protection Policies
  • Sub-Grant Management – financial and administrative management of sub-grant, financial and narrative reporting procedures, EC regulations, etc.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation – Community Feedback Response Mechanism (CFRM), functional instruments, useful tools and best practices
• Take part actively in the implementation of the relevant project activities and collaborate to ensure the achievement of the overall goal of the project
• Cooperate closely with the implementer (PIN) and participate in the required meeting sessions
• Timely submit the interim and final report to the implementer.

Application process:

• Evidence of organization eligibility in form of a registration certificate which has been issued by the Agency of Public Services
• The applicant will fill and submit the application form, the budget and the track record form which are available at the following link
• All the received applications will be evaluated on the basis of the evaluation criteria specified in the application form.

Applications can be submitted in Romanian, English or Russian.

Application must be signed by the head of the applicant organisation, scanned (also in editable format), and sent electronically to the following email address: concurs.moldova@peopleinneed.net specifying in the subject line: Ref. ENERGY CRISIS RESPONSE – MONITORING AND VISIBILITY OF THE PROJECT.

The deadline for submission of applications is 08/02/2022.

Please send your questions until January 31, 2022, to the following email address: concurs.moldova@peopleinneed.net. An info session will be organized on February 1, 2022 on Zoom. Please send your registration request to the above-mentioned email at least one day prior to the info session.