Social economy missions

Date de clôture : 26 sept. 2019  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

The overall objective of this call is to support a network of EU regional and local authorities with similar priorities and experts in the field and via inter-regional collaboration contribute to gradual setting up of a permanent community of practice in the field of social economy as the key component of a sustainable European economic system. 

The Social Economy Missions call for proposal will support social economy consortia to pursue inter-regional collaboration through a set of social economy missions: the call foresees to create opportunities and incentives to engage in strategic inter-regional collaboration and develop collaborative projects between regional/local authorities and social economy stakeholders.

The specific objectives to be achieved through this call for proposals are the following:

• Enhancing inter-regional interaction between social economy stakeholders (public and private sector) in the field of social economy missions’ priorities;
• Improving collaboration between existing social economy networks at regional and local level in the field of social economy missions’ priorities
• Learning from counties  more advanced in the social economy mission priority
• Preparing the ground for future structured collaboration in the field of social economy missions’ priorities (future joint inter-regional projects under the new EU programming period 2021-2027)
• Preparing the ground for future collaboration with the European Commission in the field of the social economy missions’ priorities
• Preparing the ground for possible replication of functional model applied in the consortium leader’s county
• Contributing to a gradual Social Economy community building

The social economy missions will bring together regional and local authorities with similar social economy priorities and accompanied by a representative number of regional and local social economy stakeholders (social enterprises, SMEs, etc.).

Type of activities

The activities foreseen in this call for proposals shall address one of the following 4 social economy priorities/topics:

1. Socially responsible public procurement
2. Education framework for social economy
3. Tackling regional/local unemployment via social economy model
4. Social economy clusters

The proposals to this call for proposals must address only one of the 4 social economy priorities/topics mentioned above.

The social economy priorities/topics for a "Social Economy Mission" i.e. a dedicated workshop that shall be organized in the consortium leader’s county.
The tasks related to the organization of a "Social Economy Mission" include participating in a co-design session defining the methodology of social economy missions and organizing a targeted at least 2-day workshop in the consortium leader’s county.
Other activities will comprise ensuring an adequate "Social Economy Mission’s" follow-up, including recommendations and future follow-up actions (summary report), wide dissemination of the outcomes through various communication channels and final reporting.

Eligibility of applicants

Applicants must be legal entities forming a consortium. 
Such entities may include: 

• Public authorities (at regional or local level)
• Social economy enterprises
• Other public and private entities specialized in social economy

The applicant must be a legal entity with a legal personality. In the case of private bodies, they must be properly constituted and registered under national law. Natural persons are not eligible to apply.
Only applications from legal entities established in EU Member States or in countries participating in the COSME programme pursuant to Article 6 of the COSME Regulation, are eligible.

For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 34.3.1(b) of the grant agreement.

Eligible consortia

The consortium must be composed of a minimum of three (3) different legal entities located in at least three (3) EU member states or COSME participating countries.
The consortium must include at least one public authority at regional or local level from each county represented in the consortium.
All consortia must verify and declare through their leader/coordinator that none of their members participates in another proposal within the same priority under this call for proposals. 

Submission of proposals

The deadline for electronic submission is 26 September 2019, 17:00 hours (Brussels time).
The link to the submission system is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal. 

The proposals to this call for proposals must address only one of the following 4 social economy priorities/topics:

1. Socially responsible public procurement
2. Education framework for social economy
3. Tackling regional/local unemployment via social economy model
4. Social economy clusters

Please refer to the Guide for Applicants (listed below) before commencing the electronic submission.

Information session

Information session in a form of a webinar will take place on 25 July at 14:30 hours (CET). The link to access the webinar will be communicated here in due time. No special registration is required.
To send questions in advance, please contact the functional mailbox of this call: EASME-COSME-SOCIAL-ECONOMY-MISSIONS@ec.europa.eu. 
The answers will be provided during the webinar or in a published document afterward.