Call: Civil society projects

Under the overall aim of bringing the Union closer to citizens the general objectives are:

• to contribute to citizens' understanding of the Union, its history and diversity;
• to foster European citizenship and to improve conditions for civic and democratic participation at Union level.

In line with the general and specific objectives of the Programme, annual priorities are defined by the European Commission after consultation of the Programme Committee. Applicants are encouraged to develop projects in line with the objectives of the Programme and targeting the annual priorities. 

This subprogramme supports:

• 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 this purpose, three specific measures are foreseen:

• 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 at EU level
• 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.

Specific priorities for "Democratic engagement and civic participation" (Strand 2) for 2016 are:

1. Understanding and Debating Euroscepticism
2. Solidarity in times of crisis
3. Combatting stigmatisation of "immigrants" and building counter narratives to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding
4. Debate on the future of Europe

This measure aims at supporting projects promoted by transnational partnerships and networks directly involving citizens. Those projects gather citizens from different horizons, in activities directly linked to Union policies, with a view to give them an opportunity to concretely participate in the Union policy-making process in areas related to the objectives and the annual priority themes of the Programme at local and European level.

A Civil Society Project must include at least two of the following three types of activities:

• Promotion of societal engagement and solidarity: activities able to promoting debate/campaigns/actions on the themes of common interest in the larger framework of the rights and responsibilities of the Union citizens and making the link to the European political agenda and policy making process.
• Gathering of opinions: activities aiming at gathering the individual opinions of the citizens on a specific topic to be yearly defined, favouring a bottom up approach (including the use of social networks, webinars, etc.) and media literacy.
• Volunteering: activities promoting solidarity among Union citizens and beyond.

Applicants: non profit organisations, including civil society organisations, educational, cultural or research institutions.

Partners: Public local/regional authorities or non-profit organisations, including civil society organisations, educational, cultural or research institutions, town-twinning committees and networks.

A project must involve organisations from at least 3 eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State.

Maximum eligible grant for a project: 150,000 €.

The grant is calculated on the basis of Lump sum financing system fixed per "tranches". 

The lump sum is based on three parameters which constitute the essential elements of all the citizenship actions: the number of participants, the number of countries involved and the number of events developed, with no direct impact on the format of activities. Initially, the lump sum is determined by taking into account the number of participants and the number of countries, then, in the case of several events/activities, the lump sums corresponding to each event/activity are accumulated. 

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/europe-for-citizens/funding/civil-society-projects-2016_en

The European Commission has delegated the responsibility for tasks related to the implementation of the Programme to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. 

EACEA - Unit C1 Europe For Citizens

Avenue du Bourget, 1 (BOUR 01/04A)
B-1049 Brussels - Belgium
Fax:+32 2 296 23 89

Strand 1. - European remembrance:
eacea-c1-remembrance@ec.europa.eu

Strand 2. - Democratic engagement and civic participation:
eacea-c1-civilsociety@ec.europa.eu (Civil society projects)
eacea-c1@ec.europa.eu (Town twinning & Networks of Towns)

Operating grants
eacea-c1-operatinggrants@ec.europa.eu
Europe for Citizens Contact Points in participating countries.