The Council of Europe in Ukraine is inviting applications to support projects on strengthening civic participation in Ukraine that raise awareness and knowledge of citizens about mechanisms and tools which allow them to influence and participate in the solution of local problems and decision-making and implementation of policies affecting their daily lives on local, regional, and national levels.
The Project is designed to help strengthen the democratic processes and address the challenges public authorities are facing in the time of war and post-war context through active and effective civic participation on local and regional levels. The project supports public authorities in establishing decision-making processes, based on wider participation and engagement of all stakeholders, ensuring transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making, starting with disclosure and access to information to concrete deliberation on specific policy areas.
The project builds up capacities of CSOs, and encourages their active participation in the formulation of reforms, in the practical development, recovery and reconstruction of their communities and regions and in the oversight of public authorities activities. The Project provides support in strengthening the role of volunteers and volunteer initiatives in the recovery and reconstruction of communities and regions affected by the war, strengthening their capacities and potential and providing support to local self-government bodies in the development and implementation of programmes on promoting volunteer activities and enabling environment for volunteerism.
Aims
In particular, it aims to:
Provide legal and expert support to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, central executive authorities, and local self-government bodies to enhance the existing or develop new normative acts and policies concerning civic participation and the creation of the enabling environment for civil society development and voluntary activities.
Support public authorities, in particular on the local and regional levels, in establishing the decision making process, based on wider participation and engagement of all stakeholders, ensuring transparency and inclusiveness, disclosure and access to information, a wide spectrum of participatory tools, resulting in the development and implementation of sustainable policies and decisions resolving most pressing problems, and responding to the needs of citizens in general and in particular of those affected by war.
Strengthen the capacity of local self-government officials and civil servants in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of participatory decision-making processes.
Raise awareness of citizens, in particular children, youth, IDPs, vulnerable groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) about participatory mechanisms and opportunities to influence the development and implementation of decisions and policies on local, regional, and national levels and strengthening their role in the civic oversight of the activities of public authorities.
Support the implementation of inclusive and transparent public consultation practices with civil society, engagement of CSOs in the reform’s agenda-setting, development, implementation, and monitoring of reforms in the war and post-war context.
Provide support in strengthening the role of volunteers in general, civic, and volunteer initiatives in the recovery and reconstruction of communities and regions affected by the war, strengthening the capacity and potential of volunteers and CSOs, providing support to local self-government bodies in the development and implementation of programmes on promoting volunteer activities and enabling environment for civil society development.
Project partners include Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development, central executive authorities, associations of local selfgovernment bodies, regional military administrations, local self-government bodies, CSOs.
Funding Information
The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 50 000.00 EUR (fifty thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 5 grant(s) of a maximum amount of 10.000.00 EUR (ten thousand euros) each.
Subject to availability of funds and extension of the Project initial duration, the Council of Europe reserves the right not to award all available funds, and/or to redistribute the available funds in a different manner depending on the project proposals received and on the outcome of the call for proposals.
The funds for each grant should in principle be distributed as follows:
80% will be paid to the Grantee or the Lead Grantee in case of a consortium when the Grant Agreement between the Parties is signed;
the balance will be paid to the Grantee or the Lead Grantee in case of a consortium based on actual expenditures incurred, and after the presentation and acceptance by the Council of Europe of the final narrative and financial reports for the Grant implementation.
Duration
The implementation period of the projects should start on 10 May 2024 and shall not extend beyond 30 September 2024.
Means of action
Projects may include the following:
Organisation of capacity building activities and events targeting different stakeholders (e.g., workshops, trainings, forums, seminars, participatory workshops);
Development of the training curriculum and educational materials, including their distribution online and offline;
Awareness-raising activities (development and distribution of communication, promotional materials, including social media content and media products);
Analytical and expert work (expert research, analysis, surveys, producing recommendations etc.)
Visibility actions etc.
All visibility materials produced within the grant will need to be consulted with and receive approval from the Council of Europe project team, prior to publishing or dissemination. The proposed activities should be formulated with cost-effectiveness and broad outreach in consideration, seeking to offer significant support and information to a wide range of target groups.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
be legally constituted as a non-governmental organisation;
be entitled to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
have been active for at least 2 years in the field of civic participation;
have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
have a bank account.
Ineligible
Projects/actions providing financial support to third parties (re-granting schemes);
Projects/actions concerning only or mainly individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
Projects/actions supporting political parties.
Project/actions funding activities taking place outside Ukraine.
Projects/actions supporting academic research and/or academic publications.
