Deadline: 10-Aug-23

The European Commission (EC) is accepting proposals to both accelerate achievements in the domain of gender equality and to provide an in-depth focus on women, children and youth and inclusive participation for more effective conflict prevention and peacebuilding processes and initiatives.

Objectives of The Programme and Priority Issues

• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:
  • To ensure that community-level conflict early warning systems, including early response, are gender responsive and inclusive.
  • To strengthen existing formal and/or informal community early warning systems, including both data collection and dissemination, and early response with a gender responsive and inclusive approach.
  • To address the needs and challenges hindering a meaningful and effective inclusive participation in peacebuilding processes, including gender, ethnicity and age dynamics, masculinities and taking into account intersectionality.
  • To increase and strengthen the meaningful inclusion and participation women, youth and other marginalised groups who have a stake in peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
• The priority(ies) of this call for proposals are:
  • Priorities under LOT 1: Inclusive conflict early warning and early response systems at community level
    • Strengthen local knowledge and ensure that data and information are effectively shared with local communities, including women, youth and minorities to better inform formal and informal response mechanisms.
    • Support actions that focus on developing and/or strengthening the integration of specific response plans as part of inclusive early warning systems.
    • Support local communities and authorities in the design and implementation of inclusive early warning systems, focused in particular on strengthening the role of formal and informal civil society actors, including women, indigenous and youth groups and children, and empowering conflict affected communities, in particular groups within these communities who are excluded and/or at particular risk.
  • Priorities under LOT 2: Inclusive peace building processes
    • Address the root causes of violent conflict, in particular the challenges of gender inequalities, including the relation between masculinities and femininities and power dynamics in peace processes.
    • Support locally led, bottom-up actions to respond to intersectional dimensions of exclusion, including informal, customary and religious structures that can either facilitate or challenge inclusive change in peace processes.
    • Create and/or strengthen spaces for revising gender norms and enable inclusive provisions in peace processes.
    • Support post-agreement transitions that ensure the accommodation, representation and meaningful participation of different identity groups to ensure the sustainability of peace processes.
    • Adapt and translate existing gender and age-responsive conflict analyses toolkits and methods so that they can be used by local peacebuilders and ensure local ownership, including through innovative uses of media (including social media and local radios).
    • Strengthen the capacities and expertise of women and youth peacebuilders, including organisational and advocacy skills, and knowledge of political practice, and support them to meaningfully participate in local and national peacebuilding initiatives.
    • Ensure linkages between formal peace processes (for example, formal negotiations and settlements), and the broader, complementary and/or informal peacebuilding and mediation efforts and contributions at household and community levels.
• Each application has to address all of the following methodological elements (for both Lot 1 and 2):
  • Clearly demonstrated knowledge of the local context and identified priority and established networks: the applicant must show a good knowledge, understanding of and have had previous experience in the countries of implementation. Organisations have to show that they have existing established partnerships and relations with local organisations.
  • Conflict sensitivity and do-no-harm: the approach followed in the design of the proposals is expected to be conflict and gender-sensitive, right-based, inclusive and participatory. Risks of doing harm and related conflict-sensitivity monitoring will be considered as an integral part of the project approach.
  • Capacity-building component, transfer of know-how and sustainability: priority will be given to actions empowering local actors and reinforcing the capacities of formal and/or informal local organisations, including institutional strengthening and knowledge management. Actions which clearly demonstrate a transfer of know-how to local actors and a plan for the sustainable continuity of relevant activities by local actors will also be prioritised.
  • Synergies with other EU or non-EU programmes are highly recommended. Multi-level coordination and cooperation between relevant stakeholders involved is fundamental for effective and efficient delivery of results.
  • Cross-cutting issues: the following cross-cutting issues shall be reflected in the design of the proposals: the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights and humanitarian law; nondiscrimination, gender equality and women and youth empowerment.
  • Disaggregation of data: design, implementation and monitoring should include the systematic collection and dissemination of disaggregated data that is inclusive of age, sex and ethnicity in the design and implementation.
  • The selected initiatives should contribute to create, restore or consolidate appropriate tools and mechanisms at local, national and regional level to prevent conflicts and contribute to durable peace.

Sectors or themes: Peacebuilding, inclusivity, gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment, conflict analysis, conflict prevention, early warning systems, crisis-preparedness or response, advocacy for peace and social inclusion, mediation and conflict resolution.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4 700 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
  • Lot 1: Inclusive conflict early warning and early response systems at community level: EUR 1 700 000
  • Lot 2: Inclusive peace building processes: EUR 3 000 000
• Size of grants
  • Lot 1:
    • minimum amount: EUR 850 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1 700 000
  • Lot 2:
    • minimum amount: EUR 1 500 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 3 000 000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 36 months.

Priority Region

• The call for proposals focuses on the following regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean, the Middle East & North Africa. Within this geographical scope, applicants are required to address the priorities of the call by targeting a specific conflict prone country or region.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person, and
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisations, non-profit organisations or international (inter-governmental) organization
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
• 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 himself.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.
  • If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).
• Affiliated entities
  • 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 coapplicant(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:
      • Control on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
        • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the 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).
      • 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.

For more information, visit European Commission (EC).