EUR 2,250,000 call for proposals to support civil society organisations (CSOs) throughout Cyprus.

AID PROGRAMME FOR THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY

The European Commission has launched a EUR 2,250,000 call for proposals to support civil society organisations (CSOs) throughout Cyprus.

The ninth Cypriot civil society in action grant scheme’s global objective is to support civil society in enhancing trust, dialogue, and cooperation and in promoting European Union values and standards through actions that contribute to promoting the reunification of Cyprus. Since 2007, the European Commission has distributed over EUR 17.5 million through Calls for Proposals for Civil Society, with over 150 CSOs benefiting from these funds as grant beneficiaries.

This call for proposals is composed of four lots with different priorities:

1. To increase the capacities of CSOs in the Turkish Cypriot community (TCc) to achieve the targets of the European Green Deal. This specific objective will be addressed by Lot 1 – Environmental actions.
2. To promote dialogue and collaboration among the Cypriot communities via confidence building measures and joint actions by civil society organisations across the divide. This specific objective will be addressed by Lot 2 – Bi-communal confidence building actions.
3. To encourage civil society in the TCc to pursue meaningful socio-economic change by participating in decision-making, influencing changes and fostering sectoral and cross-sectoral cooperation at local and EU level. This specific objective will be addressed by Lot 3 – Strengthening civil society in the TCc.
4. To especially encourage diversification of EU funding to CSOs who have not previously benefited from EU grants in the TCc. This specific objective will be addressed by Lot 4 – New applicants.

EUR 500,000 is earmarked for Lot 1 and Lot 2 and applicants can request a European Union (EU) contribution from EUR 100,000 to EUR 125,000. EUR 950,000 is allocated for Lot 3 and applicants can request an EU contribution from EUR 100,000 to EUR 200,000. EUR 300,000 is allocated for Lot 4 and applicants can request an EU contribution from EUR 40,000 to EUR 100,000. 

For all Lots, the EU contribution can represent from 60% to 95% of the total amount of the proposed action. The applicant and/or co-applicant(s) should co-finance the remaining part of the costs. 

Actions proposed under Lot 1, Lot 3 and Lot 4 may be implemented by one applicant only, where the lead applicant has to be registered in the Turkish Cypriot community. Actions proposed under Lot 2 should be implemented with a minimum of two applicants, one from the Turkish Cypriot community and one from the Greek Cypriot community. Additional co-applicants can be registered outside Cyprus as detailed in the eligibility criteria section of the Guidelines for grant applicants.  Lot 4 applicants must have not benefited from EU grants in the past. 

The call for proposals is a restricted one so applicants should only submit concept notes initially. The deadline for submission of the proposals (concept notes) is 22 July 2024 at 15:00 Brussels time (16:00 Cyprus time).

The Guidelines for grant applicants and call for proposals documents and templates are available at the following link, under the reference 181166: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/calls-for-proposals.

The information sessions and trainings for potential applicants will take place online and on sites in June 2024. Details are available on www.abbilgi.eu, www.facebook.com/ABBilgi , www.tcceugrantsupport.eu  and www.facebook.com/ABhibedestek.

Helpdesk support can be requested to Civic Space (https://civicspace.eu/en/) by writing to: infocivicspace [dot] eu (info[at]civicspace[dot]eu). 

This initiative is funded by the European Union under the Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community and implemented by the European Commission.