It’s your organisation involved in democratic engagement and civic participation? Then maybe Europe for citizens it’s a Programme worth exploring. Most noteworthy, they focus on actions which foster European citizenship and improve conditions for civic and democratic participation at EU level. And certainly the ones which involves concrete participation in the EU policy-making process.
What type of activities the strands supports
The strand – Democratic engagement and civic participation offer grants to:
– Activities covering civic participation, focusing in particular on European Union policies
– Initiatives developing opportunities for mutual understanding, intercultural learning, solidarity, societal engagement and volunteering at EU level
For that reason, it includes three specific measures: Town twinning – supporting projects bringing together citizens from twinned towns. By mobilising citizens at local and EU levels to debate on concrete issues from the European political agenda, this measure will seek to promote civic participation in the EU policy making process and develop opportunities for societal engagement and volunteering. Networks of towns – providing funding to municipalities and associations working together on a common theme in a long term perspective, and wishing to develop networks of towns to make their cooperation more sustainable Civil society projects – supporting projects gathering citizens in activities directly linked to EU policies, providing an opportunity for direct participation in the policy making process. Funded activities may include: promotion of societal engagement and solidarity, gathering of opinions, volunteering.
Type of grants available under the umbrella of Europe for Citizens
For actions with a limited lifetime during which proposed specific activities are implemented
Town twinning (town/municipalities and non-profit organisations representing local authorities): * The maximum eligible grant for a project is 25 000 EUR * The maximum project duration is 21 days
Networks of towns (Town/municipalities or their twinning committees or networks, other levels of local/regional authorities, federations/associations of local authorities, non-profit organisations representing local authorities: * The maximum eligible grant for a project is 150 000 EUR * The maximum project duration is 24 months
Civil society projects (Non-profit organisations, including civil society organisations, educational, cultural or research institutions): * The maximum eligible grant for a project is 150 000 EUR * The maximum project duration is 18 months
In order to apply, you must create an EULogin (European Commission Authentication Service) account. Furthermore, each organisation involved in your project (applicant and partners) must register in the Participant portal and receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The PIC will be requested in the application form. To access the Participants’ portal, you will need your EULogin username and password. Finally, create your official electronic application form, also called the eForm. To create your eForm, your will be asked to go through the follow steps, without interruption: * Select the funding opportunity * Even more select a language option * Select the organisation(s) participating in your proposed activity (applicant and partners) * Even more create the application eForm * Above all save the application eForm to your local computer or network drive * Finally fill in the e-form and save regularly
Your project has better chances to be approved it it has consistency with the objectives of the Programme and Programme strand, quality of the activity plan of the project, a good dissemination plan and a real impact and citizen involvement.
Read more here.