Call for Proposals | Local initiatives to monitor and advocate for social accountability policies



Call for Proposals: 

Local initiatives to monitor and advocate for social accountability policies      


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Deadline to submit proposals:

31 March 2023

 

 

*** Correction 13 March 2023: The maximum amount per grant is EUR 10 .280,9, see below ****

 

  • Background information about the project

 

EU4Accountability - Empowered Civil Society for Increased Social Accountability in Moldova is a 30-months project implemented by a consortium of three organisations: European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), ALDA - European Association for Local Democracy and the Czech non-governmental organisation People in Need. It is financed by the European Union. The project runs from January 2022 to June 2024. Please find the project webpage here.

EU4Accountability seeks to empower Moldovan civil society organisations’ (CSOs) to better perform their role as actors of governance to improve social accountability of the local and central government of Moldova. It does so by strengthening the capacity of more than 50 grassroot organisations from 10 districts to participate in, monitor and advocate for greater public accountability and to take part in policy dialogue with the Local Public Authorities (LPAs) and the central government. Social accountability refers to the ability of citizens to exercise their rights to hold the public authorities to account so they implement public policies that include inputs from the civil society.

Through a series of capacity development activities, joint monitoring, advocacy actions, and networking workshops, civil society and public authorities will be empowered to co-design local public policies in the wide social sphere through consultations throughout the budget cycle. 50 small scale projects are ongoing at the local level, enabling CSOs to implement social accountability mechanisms and monitor budget-making. Beneficiaries of the grant schemes compose the project’s Local Civic Engagement Groups and act as facilitators that foster social accountability in their community and beyond. Please find more information about the small projects here.

In parallel to the activities at the local level, a national level dialogue process is being implemented by the NGO Centrul de Politici și Reforme (CPR Moldova) with the support of the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) with the aim of improving the overall policy framework on social accountability. The dialogue process follows a three-stage approach in line with the INSPIRED approach. The policy dialogue component is one of the key activity clusters of the project and serves to structure other components, which means that it will have to be duly coordinated with other project’s components. This coordination role will be ensured by the European Partnership for Democracy with the inputs of CPR Moldova.

 

  • Objectives of the call

The present call for proposals seeks to select 4 organisations active at the local level to advocate for new social accountability mechanisms and monitor those already in place. Ultimately, the advocacy and monitoring activities should be oriented towards stimulating  the social demand for accountability while supporting in parallel the ongoing dialogue process at national level . 

The objective of this call for proposals is to support Moldovan CSOs to engage in policy dialogue with the purpose of improving social accountability mechanisms at local and national levels.

The rationale behind the call is to bring the local challanges of social accountability into a wider policy framework in order to increase the advocacy reach of EU4Accountability’s national dialogue process and enable civil society stakeholders to participate in policy analysis and monitoring of social accountability commitments. 

 

  • Grant size

The overall budget available under the current Call is EUR 41.123,6 to be awarded to four (4) initiatives. The maximum amount per proposal is EUR 10.280,9.

The projects should last between 6 and 12 months, and be implemented between 15 May 2023 and 15 May 2024. The recipients will sign a grant contract agreement with EPD.

As selected organisations will be exempted from VAT from the costs incurred within this grant, the budget proposal should contain the planned costs excluding VAT. 

  • Priorities of the call and eligible activities

Particular attention will be paid to the upscaling, adaptation or replication of pre-existing initiatives promoting social accountability in the Republic of Moldova - if they are in accordance with any of the objectives described above. 

The financial support may also be used to fund the deployment of a policy monitoring programme in close partnership with a particular citizen group or civil society organisation that does not have the expertise to do so on its own. While the ground-up development of original ideas qualifies for funding as well, such proposals, like all others, need to demonstrate feasibility and probabilities of success within the budget ceilings specified above.

The following types of activities are eligible (the list is not exhaustive - other types of activities can be considered as long as they respond to the objectives of the call: 

  • Research support to the ongoing policy dialogue process on social accountability;
  • Regional policy dialogue events on national policies affecting social accountability;
  • Development or upscaling of policy monitoring activities; 
  • Awareness raising campaigns and creation of awareness-raising materials to stimulate the demand on social accountability; 
  • Outreach activities to citizens on social accountability issues at the local level (for example, targeting one or several region(s) of Moldova);
  • Advocacy activities on the priorities agreed upon during the policy dialogue process; 
  • Thematic production / dissemination of materials promoting the democratisation and European integration of Moldova through improved social accountability, citizens’ participation, and transparent policy-making;
  • Promotion of social accountability issues during the 2023 local electoral campaign;
  • Research and dissemination regarding the implementation of social accountability mechanisms at the local level.

The following types of activities are ineligible: a) actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses; b) actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses; c) actions supporting political parties or candidates in elections; d) retroactive financing for projects already in implementation or completed; e) projects for the exclusive benefit of individuals or restricted groups of individuals. Environmentally harmful projects will also not be financed.

Eligible costs include:  Staff costs and expert fees; Travel and subsistence costs;  Costs of consumables and equipment; Costs of service & supply contracts; office rent. Ineligible costs include: VAT costs, Debts and service charges; Provisions for losses, debts or potential future liabilities; Purchases of land or buildings; Currency exchange losses.

Activities must be implemented in the Republic of Moldova.

 

  • Support package

The selected grantee will be mentored by the EPD Policy Dialogue Expert (providing expertise and acting as a ‘critical friend’) following EPD’s INSPIRED policy dialogue method, with the aim of strengthening the capacities of the selected third parties on policy advocacy and monitoring. 

The European Partnership for Democracy will provide targeted support to the selected organisations in policy analysis and advocacy, project implementation and financial management. 

In sum, the support package looks as follows:

Financial support 

EUR 10 280,9 per recipient

Technical support

Support in project implementation and financial management; Capacity development in the management and reporting of EU-funded projects


Thematic support

Provision of expertise on democracy support, policy analysis, advocacy and monitoring

Outreach support

Participation in the policy dialogue process on social accountability and access to a wide reach through the project’s communication

Networking support

Engagement with the project’s Local Civic Engagement Groups; monitoring the implementation of the Roadmap for Reform; engaging in policy dialogue with national authorities

 

  • Application and selection process

The following provides an overview of the application and selection process from the publication of the guidelines to the start of implementation. 

6.1. Indicative timeline

 

Opening of the call 

10 March 2023

Information session

17 March 2023, 11 AM (GMT+3, Chișinău time) through Zoom (registration link here)

Deadline to submit proposals

31 March 2023

Evaluation of the proposals

3-14 April 2023 

Negotiation, finalisation & award

17-28 April 2023 

Indicative implementation period

15 May 2023 -  15 May 2024 (from 6 to 12 months within this period)

6.2. Full application submission

The application period is open immediately and will close on 31 March 2023 (23:59, GMT+3, Chișinău time). 

The full application package is composed of: 

Applications should be sent to Simon Eslinger at the following address: simoneslinger@epd.eu .

Applications must be submitted in English, Romanian or Russian languages.

6.3. Evaluation and Award procedure

6.3.1 Administrative compliance

All applications will undergo an administrative check that establishes whether the information required by the online application form has been provided. Applications will be assessed through the administrative compliance criteria.

  • The organisation must be an NGO registered in Moldova and provide a certificate of registration;
  • The organisation must be a not-for-profit organisation independent of local, regional and central government, political parties and religious institutions;
  • The organisation must be active or have a robust network of contacts able to access the targeted districts of the project: Cimislia, Straseni, Stefan Voda, Telenesti, Floresti, Cahul, Comrat/Gagauzia, Glodeni, Riscani, and/or Falesti;
  • The organisation must provide the application form and the budget form filled. The budget form should be within the budget ceiling (EUR 10.280,9);
  • The organisation must be able to sign a grant agreement with EPD;
  • The organisation is not already beneficiary of a grant within the EU4Accountability project;
  • The organisation must not be bankrupt or being wound up nor having its affairs administered by the courts;
  • The organisation must not have received an adverse audit opinion, either by its own auditors or its donors’ auditors;
  • The organisation must have policies in place and/or practices in place to guarantee the ethical management of personal identifiable information;
  • The organisation must not have been the subject of a judgement for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity.
6.3.2 Technical evaluation

The Project’s Management Team will then assess the administratively compliant applications against the criteria listed below: 

  • Understanding of the challenges of civil society in Moldova and identification of potential entry points to influence their legal framework (25 points)
  • Approach and method to policy advocacy (25 points)
  • Proposed mechanisms to foster the awareness of social accountability in Moldova (15 points)
  • Experience and operational capacity of the implementing organisation, technical capacity of the human resources allocated to the process (25 points)
  • Cost-effectiveness (10 points)

The Project’s Management Team reserves the right to invite some applicants to partake in an online interview as part of the technical evaluation.

6.3.3 Final evaluation & award decision

Based on this evaluation, applicants will receive an official response with the outcome of their application.

A number of additional documents may have to be completed by the applicant. Once all comments have been addressed and additional information and documents have been provided, a grant agreement will be signed between the applicant and the Management Team.

  • About EPD

The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is a non-profit organisation supporting democracy worldwide. It comprises eighteen European civil and political society organisations from eight EU Member States present in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. More information about EPD is available at www.epd.eu.   

For any further questions, please feel free to write an email to simoneslinger@epd.eu mentioning the title of this call.