Support civil society networks and platforms in Turkey - Civil Society Facility Turkey - EuropeAid/154374/DD/ACT/TR

Date de clôture : 3 févr. 2017  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

1. 1 Support TO civil society networks and platforms in Turkey 
   1. 1.1 Background

The European Union support to civil society in Turkey is framed by the guidelines for EU support to civil society in enlargement countries, 2014-2020 that state that "support to civil society within the enlargement policy should be focused on enabling and stimulating participatory democracy. This should be reflected in two main goals: achieving an environment that is conducive to civil society activities and building the capacity of CSOs to be effective and accountable independent actors."

Despite a challenging political context as described in the 2016 Turkey Report, the European Union in Turkey is supporting civil society organisations and active citizenship through a wide range of instruments and programmes that try to enable independent actors to have their voice heard at various levels. The "Civil Society Facility" is one of these programmes. It is complementary to actions funded under the Civil society sub-sector of the Instrument for Pre-Accession for Turkey as well as to the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. 

The main programme of Civil Society Facility in Turkey is known as "Sivil Düşün". It provides ad-hoc and small scale in-kind support to individuals and right-based CSO working at a wide range of sectors all over the country. This call for proposals falls under the other component of the Civil Society Facility in Turkey. It complements Sivil Düşün as it aims at supporting civil society networks and platforms. 

1.2 Objectives of the programme and priority issues 

The global objective of the Programme is to contribute to the development of a more dynamic civil society actively participating in public debate on democracy, human rights, social inclusion and the rule of law and with capacity to influence policy and decision making processes.

The global objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen the capacities of existing or new national, regional (in the sense of regions within Turkey), local and/or thematic platforms and networks of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Turkey.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:

(1) to strengthen CSO's networks and platforms internal governance;

(2) to strengthen networks and platforms outreach capacity towards their constituency (members, citizens, etc.) as well as monitoring and advocacy capacities;

Understanding networks and platforms:

Networks, platforms, federations, alliances, coalitions, forums…. Different words are usually used to label various civil society organisational arrangements. For the purpose of this call for proposals, a network or platform should be understood as a "group of organisations with a shared concern or interest who voluntary contribute knowledge, experience and/or resources for shared learning, joint action and/or to achieve a shared purpose or goal, and who rely on the network to support their own objectives".

The joint action(s) of the network or platform can be in the same thematic area or can be cross-thematic. The duration of the joint action can be open ended in nature or limited in time in view of achieving a well-defined and commonly agreed objective. A network or platform can be understood also as a living mechanism, thus having additional members during the foreseen duration in line with the overall objective of the network or platform should be possible. There is no one-fits-all approach as far as networks are concerned. Some organisations prefer informal networking while others will favour a more structured and legal framework. Networks may for instance start their operation being highly informal (ad hoc meetings among organisations) and then evolve into more formal institutions. Formalisation is not intrinsically better than informal networks. The degree of formalisation highly depends of the purpose of the network.

Priority issues:

Priority will be given to actions that:

- support right-based activities of networks and platforms;

- focus on particularly sensitive issues that are not adequately covered by actions funded under the civil society sub-sector of the Instrument for Pre-Accession for Turkey (e.g. minority and cultural rights,  freedoms of speech, media , associations,  CSO enabling environment, specific issues  arising from the recent political developments, etc.);

-give a special importance to cross-cutting issues such as the promotion of gender equality, human rights, democracy and respect for the rule of law, children rights, environment and climate change, etc.

- are proposed by networks and platforms whose members are spread all over Turkey, 

- have been commonly identified on the basis of a shared documented diagnostic and needs analysis;

- support international networking and cooperation with European Union / international civil society organisations.

- seek complementarity and create synergies with actions undertaken through other programmes financed by the European Union or other partners in Turkey.

1.3 Financial allocation provided by the contracting authority

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2.000.000. The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Size of grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• • • minimum amount: EUR 200.000
  • • maximum amount: EUR 500.000

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:

• • • Minimum percentage: 50% of the total eligible costs of the action.
  • • Maximum percentage: 100 % of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.5). 

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund.

The grant may cover the entire eligible costs of the action if this is deemed essential to carry it out. If that is the case, the lead applicant must justify full financing in Annex A.2. Section 2.1. The validity of the justification provided will be examined during the evaluation procedure. The absence of any justification may lead to the rejection of the application.

Rules FOR thIS call for proposalS

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of the actions financed under this call, in conformity with the Practical Guide, which is applicable to the present call (available at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do?locale=en) .

2.1 Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

1. 1. (1) the actors:

• • • The lead applicant, i.e. the entity submitting the application form (2.1.1),
  • • if any, its co-applicant(s) (where it is not specified otherwise the lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) are hereinafter jointly referred as "applicant(s)") (2.1.1), 
  • • and, if any, affiliated entity(ies) to the lead applicant and/or to a co-applicant(s). (2.1.2);

1. 1. (2) the actions:

• • • Actions for which a grant may be awarded (2.1.4);

1. 1. (3) the costs:

• • • types of cost that may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.5).

1. 1. 1. 2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants (i.e. lead applicant and co-applicant(s))

 Lead applicant

(1) In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

• • • • be a legal person and
    • • be non-profit-making and
    • • be non-governmental organisations (see box below) and

Non-governmental organisations

For the purposes of this call for proposals, a non-governmental organisation or a confederation or federation of such, should be understood as NOT a state, national or international governmental institution or organisation or an organisation effectively controlled by such an institution. Whether a potential applicant is likely to be considered as effectively controlled by such an institution will depend on the extent to which an applicant can demonstrate that it is independent of the state as regards decision-making, budgetary control and the appointment of staff (including members of its controlling body). 

• • • • be established in a Member State of the European Union or of an accession or official candidate country (thus including Turkey) as recognised by the European Union or of a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA) country and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and
    • • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

(2)   Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations listed in section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide;

In Annex A.2, section 5 (‘declaration by the lead applicant’), the lead applicant must declare that the lead applicant himself, the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies) are not in any of these situations.

The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).

If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as the Coordinator in Annex E3h1 (Special Conditions). The Coordinator is the main interlocutor of the Contracting Authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.

Co-applicant(s)

Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant. 

Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant.

In addition to the categories referred to in section 2.1.1, the following are however also eligible: 

• • • • be part of a higher education institution (such as a research centre of an university) 

Co-applicants must sign the mandate in Annex A.2., section 4.

If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the Coordinator). 

2.1.2 Affiliated entities

Affiliated entity(ies)

The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies)

Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):

Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.

This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:

(i) Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:

Entities affiliated to applicant may hence be:

• • • - Entities directly or indirectly controlled by an applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by an applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
    • - Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
    • - Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).

(ii) Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or  the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.

The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the grant; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.

By way of exception, an entity may be considered as affiliated to an applicant even if it has a structural link specifically established for the sole purpose of the implementation of the action in the case of so-called “sole applicants” or “sole beneficiaries”. A sole applicant or a sole beneficiary is a legal entity formed by several entities (a group of entities) which together comply with the criteria for being awarded the grant. For example, an association is formed by its members.

1. 1. What is not an affiliated entity? 

The following are not considered entities affiliated to an applicant:

• • - Entities that have entered into a (procurement) contract or subcontract with an applicant, act as concessionaires or delegatees for public services for an applicant,
  • - Entities that receive financial support from an applicant,
  • - Entities that cooperate on a regular basis with an applicant on the basis of a memorandum of understanding or share some assets,
  • - Entities that have signed a consortium agreement under the grant contract (unless this consortium agreement leads to the creation of a "sole applicant" as described above).

How to verify the existence of the required link with an applicant?

(TRUNCATED - text not replicable. Please visit the public link for full documents)