Eligible participants (eligible countries)

To be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies);
• be established in one of the eligible countries: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)), or non-EU countries associated to the CERV Programme or in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (check the list of participating countries regularly);
• carry out activities in any of the eligible countries.

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting the proposal and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors or third parties giving in-kind contributions.

Specific cases

• Natural persons are not eligible, with the exception of self-employed persons (sole traders) where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person.
• International organisations are eligible; the rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
• Entities without legal personality may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
• EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) cannot be part of the consortium.
• Programme Contact Points are eligible as coordinator or beneficiary if they segregate project management and information provision functions and demonstrate cost separation (analytical accounting with cost allocation keys and codes, recording of all real costs, fair, objective and realistic allocation).
• Associations and interest groupings may participate as sole beneficiaries or beneficiaries without legal personality; if the action is implemented by their members, the members should also participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities, otherwise their costs are not eligible.
• Countries negotiating association agreements: beneficiaries from these countries may participate and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature.
• EU restrictive measures: entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 TEU and Article 215 TFEU are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties.

Consortium composition for Priority 1

Proposals can be submitted by either a single applicant (mono-beneficiary) or a consortium. The lead applicant must be non-profit making; profit-oriented organisations cannot submit applications as lead applicants, but only in partnership with public entities, private non-profit organisations or international organisations. Consortia that consist only of a coordinator and one or more affiliated entities or associated partners are ineligible.

Experience of the applicant(s)

For priority 1, applicants must: (a) have a recent proven experience of at least 3 years in implementing CSO capacity-building activities in the fields of gender-based violence and/or violence against children; (b) have a recent proven experience in awarding and managing grants in the fields of gender-based violence and/or violence against children. If the proposal is submitted by a consortium, the consortium must fulfil both points, either both by at least one member or separately by different members.

Involvement of a public authority

For priority 1, the involvement of a public authority is not required.

Third parties receiving financial support

Third parties must be established in an eligible country, be non-profit-making grassroots CSOs active in the field, and respect EU values (Article 2 TEU and the EU Charter of fundamental rights). Natural persons are not eligible (except self-employed persons without separate legal personality). Third parties cannot be affiliated entities of the intermediary. Entities subject to EU restrictive measures cannot be recipients of financial support. Financial support to third parties is allowed only for priority 1.

One application per lead applicant

The lead applicant (coordinator) cannot submit more than one application under this call for proposals, across all priorities/topics. In case of multiple proposals submitted by the same lead applicant, all the proposals are rejected and not evaluated further. Each proposal must address only one of the five topics. Participation as a partner in other proposals is not limited.

Eligible activities

Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 of the Call document (Themes and priorities, Activities that can be funded). The participation in one in-person meeting in Brussels with the European Commission can be foreseen under the work package for management and coordination, for a maximum of two people. Applications are only considered eligible if their content corresponds wholly (or at least in part) to the topic description for which they are submitted.

Proposals should consider the results of projects supported by other EU funding programmes; the complementarities must be described in Part B. Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities, and respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination).

Geographic location

Proposals must relate to activities taking place in the eligible countries. Projects under all priorities can be either national or transnational.

Duration

For priority 1, the project duration must be of 36 months. Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment to the grant agreement.

Project budget

For Priority 1, project budgets (requested grant amount) cannot be lower than EUR 1 000 000 and higher than EUR 2 500 000 per project. The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.

Financial and operational capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources (financial capacity, checked during grant preparation, except for public bodies and international organisations) and the know-how, qualifications and resources to successfully implement the project, including sufficient experience in projects of comparable size and nature (operational capacity). Operational capacity is assessed together with the Quality award criterion, on the basis of the general profiles of the staff responsible for managing and implementing the project, the description of the consortium participants, the activity report of last year and the list of previous projects. Public bodies, Member State organisations and international organisations are exempted from the operational capacity check.

Exclusion

Applicants subject to an EU exclusion decision or in an exclusion situation cannot participate: bankruptcy or similar procedures; breach of social security or tax obligations; grave professional misconduct; fraud, corruption, links to a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes, child labour or human trafficking; significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under an EU contract or grant; irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2988/95; creation under a different jurisdiction to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations; intentionally resisting an investigation, check or audit by an EU authorising officer, OLAF, the EPPO or the European Court of Auditors. Applicants are also rejected if they misrepresented information required as a condition for participating, or were previously involved in the preparation of the call in a way that distorts competition.

Timetable (indicative)

Call deadlines cannot be extended. Complete the application sufficiently in advance of the deadline: problems due to last-minute submissions (e.g. congestion) are entirely at the applicant's risk. Consult the Portal Call and Topic pages regularly: they are used to publish call updates, including an invitation to an info session for applicants, if any.

How to submit

All proposals must be submitted directly online via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Calls for proposals section). Paper applications are not accepted. Submission is a 2-step process:

1. Create a user account and register the organisation. All participants need an EU Login user account, then register their organisation in the Participant Register and receive a 9-digit participant identification code (PIC). All beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners must be registered before the application is submitted; the PIC is mandatory for the Application Form. Beneficiaries and affiliated entities will be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation) and will be asked to upload documents showing legal status and origin.
2. Submit the proposal in 4 parts: Part A (administrative information about the applicant organisations and the summarised budget, filled in directly online); Part B (description of the action: download the mandatory Word template from the Submission System, fill it in and upload it as a PDF file); the KPI tool (additional project data, filled in directly online, all sections completed); the annexes (uploaded as PDF files; the detailed budget table is re-uploaded in .xlsx format).

Proposals must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System, not the documents available on the Topic page (they are only for information). Documents must be uploaded to the right category in the Submission System, otherwise the proposal may be considered incomplete and thus inadmissible. Proposals may be changed and re-submitted until the deadline.

Once the proposal is submitted, a confirmation e-mail is sent (with date and time of the application). Without this confirmation e-mail, the proposal has not been submitted. If this is due to a fault in the Submission System, file a complaint immediately via the IT Helpdesk webform, explaining the circumstances and attaching a copy of the proposal (and, if possible, screenshots).

Evaluation and award procedure

Proposals follow the standard submission and evaluation procedure (one-stage submission and one-step evaluation). An evaluation committee, assisted by independent outside experts, assesses all applications.

1. Proposals are first checked for formal requirements: admissibility and eligibility.
2. Admissible and eligible proposals are evaluated for each topic against the operational capacity and award criteria, then ranked according to their scores.
3. For proposals with the same score within a topic, priority is given successively to the score for Relevance, then Quality, then Impact.
4. All applicants receive an evaluation result letter. Successful proposals are invited for grant preparation; the others are put on the reserve list or rejected.

No commitment for funding: an invitation to grant preparation is not a formal commitment for funding. Legal checks still take place before grant award: legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion check. Grant preparation involves a dialogue to fine-tune technical or financial aspects of the project, may require extra information, and may include adjustments to address recommendations of the evaluation committee or other concerns. Full compliance is a pre-condition for signing the grant.

Complaints: an applicant who believes that the evaluation procedure was flawed can submit a complaint, following the deadlines and procedures set out in the evaluation result letter. Notifications not opened within 10 days after sending are considered to have been accessed, and deadlines are counted from opening or access. Complaints submitted electronically may be subject to character limitations.

After selection

Selected projects prepare the Grant Agreement together with the EU Project Officer. The project starting date and duration are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 1). The starting date should be after grant signature (normally within 6 months). A retroactive starting date can be granted exceptionally for duly justified reasons, but never earlier than the proposal submission date.

Award criteria

Proposals that pass the individual threshold for the criterion Relevance (25/40) and the overall threshold (70/100) are considered for funding, within the limits of the available call budget. Other proposals are rejected.

Consortium size and composition

Particular attention is paid to the consortium size and composition, thoroughly assessed under the Quality criterion, to ensure that they are justified and suitable to deliver the proposed results effectively and efficiently. Applicants are expected to justify that the size and structure of the consortium are appropriate to the project's objectives, activities and budget, including an appropriate distribution of tasks and resources reflecting their expertise in the field of the call. Consortia should not be bigger than what is strictly necessary for the good implementation of the project. The partnership should be coherent and well-balanced, bringing together organisations with complementary and relevant expertise in the thematic areas addressed by this call, namely gender-based violence and violence against children.

Operational capacity

Operational capacity is assessed together with the Quality criterion, on the basis of the competence and experience of the applicants and their project teams, including operational resources. If the evaluation of the award criterion is positive, the applicants are considered to have sufficient operational capacity.

Ranking

Proposals are ranked within each topic. For proposals with the same score, priority is given to the score for Relevance, then Quality, then Impact.

Scoring notes from the call for this priority

• Relevance assesses, if relevant, a high quality overview and analysis of the targeted CSO sector in the target country(ies) and region(s), including the identification of key challenges, and the extent to which capacity building and financial support to third parties are balanced, well-proportioned, well-structured and relevant to address the identified needs.
• Quality assesses financial feasibility including the financial support to third parties.
• Operational capacity is assessed on the activity report of last year of all partners (if submitted by a consortium) and the list of previous projects.
• Projects that focus mainly on research will not be financed; research activities must be closely linked to the project objectives. This is taken into account under the Impact criterion.
• The child protection policy is assessed under Quality, in particular under ethics and EU values: failure to provide a diligent child protection policy entails a lower score under Quality and could prevent the grant agreement signature.
• The gender perspective is assessed under Relevance (target group definition) and Quality (methodology).

Form of grant and funding rate

The grant is a lump sum grant: it reimburses a fixed amount unlinked to actual costs. The amount is fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget and a funding rate of 90%. The grant parameters (maximum grant amount, funding rate, total eligible costs) are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 3 and art 5).

Requested grant amount

For this priority, project budgets (requested grant amount) cannot be lower than EUR 1 000 000 and higher than EUR 2 500 000 per project. The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested. Grant applications must ensure a balanced project budget and sufficient other resources to implement the project successfully (e.g. own contributions, income generated by the action, financial contributions from third parties); applicants may be requested to lower estimated costs that are ineligible (including excessive).

Budget categories and cost eligibility rules

• Budget categories: lump sum contributions (Decision of 30 September 2022 authorising the use of lump sums for actions under the CERV Programme 2021-2027).
• The lump sum amount must be calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in the lump sum decision and using the detailed budget table provided.
• For lump sums based on estimated project budgets: the estimated budget must comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (AGA, art 6).
• For lump sums based on estimated project budgets: costs for financial support to third parties are not allowed.
• Project websites: communication costs for presenting the project on the participants' websites or social media accounts are eligible; costs for separate project websites are not eligible.
• Personnel costs: volunteers' unit costs are allowed (without indirect costs).
• The details and the breakdown of the "Other" cost items from headings A.1 and C.3 are provided in the "any comments" sheet of the detailed budget table.
• Subcontracting should normally constitute a limited part and must be performed by third parties (not by a beneficiary or affiliated entity). Subcontracting going beyond 30% of the total eligible costs must be justified in the application.

Priority 1: the call also makes financial support to third parties a mandatory activity of this priority and places it in WP2, limited to budget category D.1 Financial support to third party (section 10, Milestones and deliverables). Both statements appear in section 10 of the Call document; the Topic Q&A on the Portal is the channel for call-specific questions.

Management costs

The coordination and management costs of WP1 should not exceed 10% of the proposal total costs. For priority 1, a higher percentage may be exceptionally justified, since WP1 includes the management of the regranting in addition to project coordination.

Financial support to third parties

• Financial support to third parties is essential to achieve the objective of this priority and must be reflected appropriately in the budget distribution. Intermediaries should devote most of their effort and funds to regranting, which would typically represent about 60-70% of the grant.
• The maximum amount of financial support per third party is EUR 60 000; the maximum amount per individual regranted project is EUR 60 000. A higher amount per third party must be justified in the Part B declarations.
• Third parties cannot be required to provide any co-financing for their projects, and should be able to use simplified costs options, in particular lump sums funding.
• Activities carried out by third parties must take place in the eligible countries and during the project implementation period; only costs incurred during that period are eligible. A typical third-party project could last around six to twelve months, with one month after its end to report to the intermediary.
• Not eligible in third-party projects: the running costs of the organisation; activities that are not in line with EU values; activities that do not respect the European and international child rights legal instruments, including the UNCRC; activities that approve, promote or support any type of physical or psychological violence against women, children and other groups at risk.

Reporting and payments

The reporting and payment arrangements are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4 and art 21 and 22). After grant signature, beneficiaries normally receive a prefinancing to start working on the project (float of normally 80% of the maximum grant amount; exceptionally less or no prefinancing), paid 30 days from entry into force or financial guarantee (if required), whichever is the latest. Beneficiaries also submit one or more progress reports not linked to payments. At the end of the project, the final grant amount is calculated; if earlier payments are higher, the difference is recovered. All payments are made to the coordinator. Payments are automatically lowered if a consortium member has outstanding debts towards the EU, offset in line with the Grant Agreement (art 22). Beneficiaries are responsible for keeping records on all the work done.

Prefinancing guarantees, certificates and liability

If a prefinancing guarantee is required, it is fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4), normally equal to or lower than the prefinancing. It is in euro, issued by an approved bank or financial institution established in an EU Member State (a guarantee from a non-EU institution may exceptionally be accepted if it offers equivalent security), normally requested from the coordinator for the consortium, and provided during grant preparation (scanned copy via the Portal and original by post). Amounts blocked in bank accounts are not accepted. Certificates may be requested depending on the type of action, grant amount and beneficiaries (Data Sheet, point 4 and art 24). The liability regime for recoveries (limited joint and several liability with individual ceilings, unconditional joint and several liability, or individual financial responsibility) is fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet point 4.4 and art 22).

Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to successfully implement the projects and contribute their share; organisations participating in several projects must have sufficient capacity to implement all of them. The check is based on documents uploaded in the Participant Register during grant preparation (e.g. profit and loss account, balance sheet, business plan, audit report) and normally applies to all coordinators, except public bodies and international organisations. If financial capacity is not satisfactory, the Commission may require further information, an enhanced financial responsibility regime, prefinancing paid in instalments, prefinancing guarantees, no prefinancing, or the replacement of the applicant or rejection of the proposal.

Other financial rules

• No-profit rule: grants may not give a profit (surplus of revenues plus EU grant over costs), checked at the end of the project.
• No cumulation of funding or double funding: any given action may receive only one grant from the EU budget (except under EU Synergies actions) and cost items may not be declared under two EU grants.
• Combination with EU operating grants is possible if the project remains outside the operating grant work programme and cost items are clearly separated and not declared twice.
• Proposals for projects already completed are rejected; projects already started are assessed case by case, with no costs reimbursed for activities before the project starting date or proposal submission.

Building on previous projects

Applicants are encouraged to explore previously funded projects and to build on already existing materials (Funding & Tenders Portal, "Projects and Results"). Proposals should consider the results of projects supported by other EU funding programmes and describe the complementarities in Part B; the Relevance criterion assesses building synergies and avoiding duplication with previous projects. The call's bibliography also points to the database on projects funded under the REC and CERV programmes.

Previous Daphne regranting projects

Applicants are encouraged to consult the webpages developed under previous Daphne projects with financial support to third parties, by searching the projects funded under the call CERV-2023-DAPHNE on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Networking and cooperation

The capacity-building programme should foster and facilitate networking among CSOs and with relevant stakeholders, with a view to promoting and protecting fundamental rights and values in the EU. The area "violence against children" relies on enhanced cooperation between schools, social and healthcare services, child protection authorities, law enforcement, civil society organisations and children themselves. Strengthened multi-agency cooperation in prevention and response actions is an expected impact. Under Article 41 of the VAW Directive, Member States must cooperate and consult regularly with civil society organisations.

The involvement of a public authority is not required for Priority 1.

Work packages (all priorities)

Activities must be grouped into work packages, which are major sub-divisions of the project (e.g. Project Management and Coordination; Communication and Dissemination). For each work package, an objective and lists of tasks/activities, milestones and deliverables must be defined. The deliverables and milestones must be quantifiable and measurable.

The coordination and management costs of WP1 should not exceed 10% of the proposal total costs. Under lump sum funding, project coordination is simplified as there are no costs reporting obligations. Only for priority 1, a higher percentage may be exceptionally justified, since WP1 includes tasks related to the management of the regranting in addition to project coordination tasks.

The Part B template adds: projects should normally have a minimum of 2 work packages, with WP1 covering the management and coordination activities (meetings, coordination, project monitoring and evaluation, financial management, progress reports) and the cross-cutting activities; each activity, milestone, output, outcome and deliverable is entered only once; the number of deliverables is limited to a maximum of 20 for the entire project; for each work package, the specific objectives, the tasks (with participants and task leader), milestones (with means of verification) and deliverables (type, dissemination level, due month, description including format and language) are listed. Month 1 marks the start of the project.

The participation in one in-person meeting in Brussels with the European Commission can be foreseen under the work package for management and coordination, for a maximum of two people.

Mandatory work packages (Priority 1 only)

Activities must be organised in the following mandatory work packages:

• WP1: Project management, including management of the regranting, monitoring and risk management, reporting and evaluation.
• WP2: Financial support to third parties. This work package includes only the estimated amount to regrant, limited to budget category D.1 Financial support to third party.
• WP3: Capacity-building programme and activities.
• WP4: Communication and dissemination.

Work packages covering financial support to third parties must describe the conditions for implementing the support: maximum amounts per third party, criteria for calculating the exact amounts, types of activity that qualify (closed list), persons or categories of persons to be supported, and criteria and procedures for giving support (Part B template).

Mandatory deliverables (all priorities)

• Progress report not linked to payment at mid-term;
• Report on the EU Survey on Justice, Rights, and Values.

Beneficiaries will have to ask attendees in events to participate in the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values. This survey allows the granting authority to collect data on training, mutual learning and awareness-raising events of all projects financed under the CERV programme. The beneficiaries receive a weblink to the survey, to be forwarded to the attendees; they have access to the survey results for their project and can use them for their project evaluation.

Mandatory deliverables (Priority 1 only)

WP1: two progress reports (not linked to payment) at months 13 and 25; an impact report at the end of the project implementation which describes and analyses the actual impact the project has achieved in line with the call's expected impact, notably a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the project impact on third parties (small and grassroots CSOs).

WP2: two identity fiches per regranting call, in Excel format.

• Identity fiches (award), submitted shortly after completion of the award procedure, with at least: name of the third party, country where it is based, budget awarded, title and duration of the project, and project abstract including a quantitative and qualitative description of planned activities, services and target group.
• Identity fiches (final), submitted once all third-party projects have been completed and evaluated, with at least: name of the third party, country where it is based, final amount paid, title and duration of the project, and summary report including a quantitative and qualitative description of activities implemented, services provided and target groups reached.

WP4: intermediaries must publish all the information related to third-party projects on a dedicated, publicly accessible webpage within their website, in a user-friendly and accessible format, containing all the mandatory information of the identity fiches.

• Webpage I, due upon publication of the regranting call: description of the webpage (e.g. hyperlink, screenshots, languages and key features).
• Webpage II, due following the award of projects: update of the webpage with all the mandatory information of the Identity Fiche (award).
• Webpage III, due at month 36 at final reporting stage: webpage updated with all the mandatory information of the Identity Fiche (final).

Applicants are encouraged to consult webpages developed under previous Daphne projects with financial support to third parties, by searching the projects funded under the call CERV-2023-DAPHNE on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

The milestones and deliverables of each project are managed through the Portal Grant Management System and reflected in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

Intellectual property rights

IPR rules follow the Model Grant Agreement (art 16 and Annex 5). For this call, rights of use on results apply: Yes.

When generative AI tools are used to prepare the proposal, applicants must ensure that the generated content complies with intellectual property regulations and check original sources to avoid plagiarism.

Ethics and EU values

Projects must comply with the highest ethical standards, with EU values based on Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union and Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and with other applicable EU, international and national law (including the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679). Applicants must show in their application that they respect ethical principles and EU values.

Projects must seek to promote gender equality and non-discrimination mainstreaming in accordance with the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit. Project activities should contribute to the equal empowerment of women and men in all their diversity, ensuring that they achieve their full potential and enjoy the same rights. They should also seek to reduce levels of discrimination suffered by particular groups (as well as those at risk of multiple discrimination) and to improve equality outcomes for individuals. Proposals should integrate gender and non-discrimination considerations and target a gender-balanced representation in project teams and activities. Individual data collected by the beneficiaries should be broken down by sex (sex-disaggregated data), disability or age whenever possible.

Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities and respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination).

Part B section 5.1 Ethics and EU values

The application form asks applicants to describe the ethics issues that may arise during implementation and the measures to solve or avoid them; how gender and non-discrimination mainstreaming will be ensured in the project cycle; any direct or indirect impact on children and their rights, with a child rights approach based on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional protocols, addressing children as rights holders and ensuring their participation; how privacy and data protection issues related to data collection, analysis and dissemination will be addressed; and the measures and policies in place to guarantee compliance with the EU values of Article 2 TEU and Article 21 of the Charter.

Child protection policies

Applications should clearly indicate which partner(s) will directly work with children (in person or online) and provide the necessary safeguards:

• Private entities directly involving children in the activities of the project must provide a Child Protection Policy (CPP) covering the four areas described in the Keeping Children Safe Child Safeguarding Standards. The CPP must be available online and transparent to everyone who comes in contact with the organisation. It must include clear information about the recruitment of staff (including trainees and volunteers) and include background checks (vetting). It must also include clear procedures and rules to staff, including reporting rules, and continuous training.
• Public entities (e.g. local authorities, ministries) can satisfy this obligation by submitting a declaration on honour from their legal representatives stating that the child protection measures of the public entity are in line with the principles and standards described in the Keeping Children Safe Child Safeguarding Standards.

The Call document lists the child protection policy among the mandatory annexes for participants with activities involving children (section 5) and states that it should be submitted as a supporting document to the application and provided at the latest during the Grant Preparation Process for selected projects (section 2). It is assessed under the award criterion Quality, in particular under ethics and EU values: failure to provide a diligent child protection policy entails a lower score under Quality and could prevent the grant agreement signature.

The child protection policy declaration for public bodies (template in the Submission System) confirms that the measures adopted for the project are in line with Keeping children safe: the International Child Safeguarding Standards, based on four principles (all children have equal rights to protection from harm; everybody has a responsibility to support the protection of children; the organisation has a duty of care to children it works with, is in contact with or affects; all actions are taken in the best interests of the child), and that each activity ensures informed consent, voluntary participation, do no harm, background checks of everyone in direct contact with child participants, and data protection under the GDPR.

Third parties (Priority 1)

Third parties that propose activities involving children must be requested to submit their child protection policy covering the four areas of the Keeping Children Safe Child Safeguarding Standards; the intermediary is responsible for ensuring that third parties in direct contact with children comply. Attention must be paid to the protection of rights and the eventual risk of (re)victimisation of target groups, notably the most vulnerable groups. The beneficiaries' obligations on conflict of interest, confidentiality and security, and ethics (Grant Agreement articles 12, 13 and 14, among others) also apply to the third parties receiving support.

Data protection and transparency

The submission of a proposal involves the collection, use and processing of personal data, processed in accordance with Regulation 2018/1725 solely for evaluating the proposal, subsequent management of the grant and, if needed, programme monitoring, evaluation and communication (Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement).

In accordance with Article 38 of the EU Financial Regulation, information about EU grants awarded (beneficiary names and addresses, the purpose of the grant and the maximum amount awarded) is published each year on the Europa website. Publication can exceptionally be waived on reasoned and duly substantiated request, if disclosure could jeopardise rights and freedoms under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights or harm commercial interests.

Consortium dimensioning for Priority 1

Multi-actor: the intermediary works with and through small and grassroots civil society organisations, reached with priority to those with limited capacity or access to funding, including in remote and rural areas. Strengthened multi-agency cooperation in prevention and response actions is an expected impact, and the capacity-building programme should foster networking among CSOs and with relevant stakeholders. The involvement of a public authority is not required for this priority.

Consortium: a single applicant can apply; a consortium can share the experience requirements (CSO capacity building and grant management) between members. Consortium size and composition are thoroughly assessed under Quality: consortia should not be bigger than strictly necessary and should bring complementary expertise in gender-based violence and violence against children. When several consortium partners organise regranting calls, the evaluation procedure must be uniform.

Interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and SSH: not required. Projects that focus mainly on research are not financed under this call. The call instead expects a gender perspective, an intersectional approach and, for projects addressing children, child participation.

Grant Agreement

Projects that pass evaluation are invited for grant preparation and prepare the Grant Agreement together with the EU Project Officer. The Grant Agreement sets the framework for the grant and its terms and conditions, in particular concerning deliverables, reporting and payments. The Model Grant Agreement and all other relevant templates and guidance documents are on the Portal Reference Documents. The AGA (Annotated Grant Agreement) contains detailed annotations on all its provisions, including cost eligibility, payment schedule and accessory obligations.

• Before signing the grant, each beneficiary and affiliated entity confirms by a declaration of honour that the information in the application is correct and complete and that all participants comply with the conditions for receiving EU funding.
• Legal checks before award: legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion check.
• Prefinancing guarantee, if required, provided during grant preparation.
• Communication, dissemination and visibility of funding: Model Grant Agreement art 17 and Annex 5; additional communication and dissemination activities: Yes.
• IPR: Model Grant Agreement art 16 and Annex 5; rights of use on results: Yes.
• Non-compliance and breach of contract: the Grant Agreement (chapter 5) provides for the measures the granting authority may take.

Consortium agreement

A consortium agreement is recommended (even if not mandatory under the Grant Agreement) to deal with exceptional or unforeseen circumstances. It also allows the consortium to redistribute the grant money according to its own internal principles and parameters (for instance, one beneficiary can reattribute its grant money to another) and can help to protect the partners in case of disputes.

Agreements with third parties (Priority 1)

The six mandatory conditions of the financial support to third parties must be strictly defined in the proposal and consequently in the grant agreement between the intermediary and the Commission. The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out the action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping) also apply to the third parties receiving support. In the agreements with third parties, a clause must be added to ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25.4 of the Model Grant Agreement (e.g. the granting authority, OLAF, the European Court of Auditors, the European Public Prosecutor's Office) and any persons mandated by them can also exercise their rights towards the recipients of regranting (checks, reviews, on-the-spot visits, audits, investigations). The intermediary must include in its calls a requirement that the beneficiary signs a Declaration of Honour on EU values; breaches make the (potential) beneficiary liable to exclusion, administrative sanctions or cancellation of funding.

Reporting during the project

• Mandatory for all priorities: a progress report not linked to payment at mid-term, and a report on the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values (beneficiaries ask attendees of their events to answer the survey via the weblink provided, and can use their project results for their own evaluation).
• One or more progress reports not linked to payments; payment of the balance at the end of the project on the basis of the final grant amount.
• Milestones and deliverables are managed through the Portal Grant Management System and reflected in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.
• Beneficiaries are responsible for keeping records on all the work done.

Priority 1: reporting on the regranting

• Two progress reports (not linked to payment) at months 13 and 25, and an impact report at the end of the project analysing, qualitatively and quantitatively, the impact on third parties (small and grassroots CSOs).
• Identity fiches (award) and (final) for each regranting call, and a public webpage on third-party projects updated at three stages (Webpage I, II and III, the last at month 36).
• Minimum reporting to the European Commission: monitoring of third parties' projects; standardised information on third-party projects; third-party projects considered as best practices; irregularities or emerging risks, especially those which could lead to reputational damage; responses to ad-hoc requests for information; number of projects, country of implementation, objective tackled (gender-based violence and/or violence against children) and amounts regranted; indicators, baselines and targets for measuring impact.
• Successful applicants will be required to introduce a Fraud Notification System on their project's website to allow for anonymous fraud reporting.
• During project implementation, the European Commission may provide additional guidance on risk management, especially in relation to regranting.

Checks and transparency

Breach of contract and other non-compliance issues are handled under chapter 5 of the Grant Agreement. Information about grants awarded is published yearly on the Europa website (Article 38 of the EU Financial Regulation).

Help and questions

The call asks applicants to look for answers first in the call documentation:

• the Online Manual (registration, submission procedures, links to FAQs and instructions on the Portal Electronic Exchange System);
• the Topic Q&A on the Topic page, for call-specific questions;
• the Portal FAQ, for general questions.

Call updates, including an invitation to the info session for applicants (if any), are published on the Call and Topic pages. For individual questions on the Portal Submission System, contact the IT Helpdesk. Non-IT questions go to the CERV Contact Point of your country (if established) or otherwise to EC-CERV-CALLS@ec.europa.eu, indicating clearly the reference of the call and topic. A request for the call documentation in another official EU language must be submitted within 10 days after call publication.

Application Form Part B (technical description)

Part B is downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF. It is limited to 70 pages for this priority (70 pages for Priority 1, 45 pages for the other priorities); evaluators will not consider any additional pages. The application must be readable, accessible and printable.

Structure of Part B:

• Project summary (see the abstract in Part A).
• 1. Relevance: 1.1 Background and general objectives (rationale, relevance to the scope and priorities of the call, target groups and why); 1.2 Needs analysis and specific objectives (a robust needs assessment with relevant, reliable data, incorporating gender equality and non-discrimination considerations, with data disaggregated by sex, age or disability whenever possible; if the project is supported by a public authority, annex the letter of support); 1.3 Complementarity with other actions and innovation, European added value (building on past results, complementarity with other organisations, trans-national dimension, countries benefiting, synergies with other EU projects).
• 2. Quality: 2.1 Concept and methodology (approach and methodology, including ethical and safety considerations so that target groups are not subjected to harm); 2.2 Consortium set-up; 2.3 Project teams, staff and experts (gender-balanced representation; outside resources); 2.4 Consortium management and decision-making; 2.5 Project management, quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation strategy (quantitative and qualitative indicators with unit of measurement, baseline and target values, gender-responsive indicators, participatory evaluation); 2.6 Cost effectiveness and financial management; 2.7 Risk management (impact and likelihood per risk, mitigation measures including gender, age or disability-specific constraints).
• 3. Impact: 3.1 Impact and ambition (short, medium and long-term effects, what changes for the target groups, gender, age and disability differentiated results); 3.2 Communication, dissemination and visibility (including visibility of EU funding, gender inclusive language and accessible channels); 3.3 Sustainability and continuation.
• 4. Work plan, work packages, activities, resources and timing: 4.1 Work plan; 4.2 Work packages, activities, resources and timing; timetable.
• 5. Other: 5.1 Ethics and EU values; 5.2 Security (not applicable).
• 6. Declarations: double funding (no other EU grant for the project or any part of it); financial support to third parties (justification if the maximum amount per third party exceeds the threshold set in the Call document).
• Annexes: detailed budget table/calculator (annex 1), CVs (annex 2), annual activity reports (annex 3), list of previous projects for the last 4 years (annex 4), other annexes required by the Call document.

Priority 1: under section 2.1 "Concept and methodology", and reflected in section 4.2 "Work Packages" for the technical details, intermediaries must describe the six mandatory conditions of the financial support to third parties (objectives and results for third parties, maximum amount and criteria, types of organisations, fixed list of eligible activities, evaluation procedure and selection and award criteria, communication tools and channels for outreach). The regranting procedures, the capacity-building programme, the management and control system and the monitoring and reporting mechanism are also described in the application.

Mandatory annexes and supporting documents

• Detailed budget table (template available in the Portal Submission System, re-uploaded filled out in .xlsx format), mandatory
• CVs (standard) of the core project team, mandatory
• Activity report of last year of the coordinator and of the partners, if applicable (for proposals submitted by a consortium), mandatory; public bodies are exempted
• List of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years, template available in Part B) of the coordinator (single applicant) and of the partners (consortium), mandatory; recently established organisations provide an empty form if they did not implement any key projects
• For participants with activities involving children (below the age of 18), mandatory: child protection policy covering the four areas described in the Keeping Children Safe Child Safeguarding Standards (private bodies: copy of their policy; public bodies only: child protection policy declaration, template available in the Portal Submission System)

An annual activity report is not a financial audit report or balance sheet, but a report highlighting the activities and projects of the organisation.

Use of artificial intelligence in proposals

When considering the use of generative AI tools for the preparation of the proposal, applicants must exercise caution: AI-generated content should be thoroughly reviewed and validated to ensure its appropriateness, accuracy and compliance with intellectual property regulations. Applicants are fully responsible for the content of the proposal (even the parts produced by an AI tool) and must be transparent in disclosing which AI tools were used and how. Specifically, applicants are required to verify the accuracy, validity and appropriateness of the content and citations generated, provide a list of sources used to generate content and citations, be conscious of potential plagiarism, not enter personal data and confidential information on AI platforms that are not managed on proprietary servers, and acknowledge the limitations of the AI tool, including the potential for bias, errors and gaps in knowledge.

Application Form Part A

Part A contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners) and the summarised budget for the project. It is filled in directly online in the Submission System. The project abstract/summary must always be in English.

Consortium roles are attributed according to the level of participation in the project: main participants participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities; other entities can participate as associated partners, subcontractors or third parties giving in-kind contributions. Associated partners and third parties giving in-kind contributions bear their own costs. Affiliated entities receive part of the grant, must comply with all call conditions and be validated, but do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for consortium composition; documents demonstrating their affiliation link must be provided with the application. Consortia that consist only of a coordinator and one or more affiliated entities or associated partners are ineligible: make sure a partner is added in Part A.

KPI tool

The KPI tool contains additional project data regarding the project's contribution to EU programme key performance indicators. It is filled in directly online, with all sections completed.

Registration and declarations

All beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners must be registered in the Participant Register before submission; the participant identification code (PIC) is mandatory for the Application Form. At proposal submission, the coordinator confirms the mandate to act for all applicants, that the information in the application is correct and complete, and that all participants comply with the conditions for receiving EU funding (especially eligibility, financial and operational capacity, exclusion). Before signing the grant, each beneficiary and affiliated entity confirms this again by signing a declaration of honour. Proposals without full support are rejected. Further documents may be requested at a later stage (legal entity validation, financial capacity check, bank account validation).

Detailed budget table

The detailed budget table is a mandatory annex: the template is available in the Portal Submission System and must be re-uploaded filled out in .xlsx format. It is annex 1 to Part B (detailed budget table/calculator).

The detailed budget table serves as the basis for fixing the lump sums for the grants, and lump sums must be reliable proxies for the actual costs of a project. The costs included must therefore comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (AGA, Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6). This is particularly important for purchases and subcontracting, which must comply with best value for money (or, if appropriate, the lowest price) and be free of any conflict of interests. If the budget table contains ineligible costs, the grant may be reduced, even later on during the project implementation or after its end.

The details and the breakdown of the "Other" cost items from headings A.1 and C.3 should be provided in the "any comments" sheet of the detailed budget table.

The work package tables of Part B show the budget headings A. Personnel, B. Subcontracting, C.1a Travel, C.1b Accommodation, C.1c Subsistence, C.2 Equipment, C.3 Other goods, works and services, D.1 Financial support to third parties and E. Indirect costs; for lump sum grants the figures are given in the detailed budget table/calculator. Figures must be consistent between the detailed budget table, Part A and Part B.

Priority 1: WP2 "Financial support to third parties" includes only the estimated amount to regrant, limited to budget category D.1 Financial support to third party. Financial support to third parties must be reflected appropriately in the budget distribution; regranting would typically represent about 60-70% of the grant.