Call for Grant Applications: Civil Society Monitoring of Public Service Delivery and Public Accountability
Grants supporting civil society actions to monitor the effectiveness of government resource allocation and public service delivery are being made available under Partners in Empowerment, an EU-funded project led by PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), working closely with country partners and the Partnership for Transparency Fund e.V. The project focuses on five Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine). Grantees will be supported by organizational capacity mentoring from experienced civil society organizations (CSOs) and organizational development experts and will have access to webinars/toolkits on organizational capacity development and watchdog/monitoring methodologies.
Deadline for applications: 20 September 2015
Total budget available in this call: EUR 300,000
Budget per project: minimum EUR 10,000 up to a maximum of EUR 30,000
Country coverage: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine
Project implementation period: November 2015-July 2016Language of applications: Applications can be submitted in English or in Russian
CRITERIA
Eligible organizations: not-for-profit, civil society organizations, with particular emphasis on local CSOs (non-registered organizations will also be eligible depending on the current legal framework enabling registration of independent CSOs).
Eligible activities: Actions by CSOs that monitor effectiveness of allocation of public resources in terms of budget allocations, public service delivery and policy outcomes. Initiatives should include strong grassroots engagement and public outreach to enhance public accountability.
The core focus of activities should cover one or more of the following:
- monitoring of public procurement and effective government use of EU financial support, e.g. in connection with Comprehensive Institution Building (CIB) support or Association Agreements (or national or local budget expenditure that includes EU support)
- monitoring of local government service delivery
- monitoring of public accountability mechanisms, e.g. public controls over conflicts of interest, and public participation in budgeting, or state agencies/state enterprises/local or regional government, and their observance and implementation of laws and procedures
- monitoring and evaluation of implementation of environmental standards
Expected outputs:
- well researched watchdog reports and monitoring
- strengthened CSO organizational capacity and establishment of coalitions advocating for change
- development of tools, websites, knowledge to monitor public procurement and public service delivery
Mentoring and institutional twinning:
Shortlisted applicants will be guided in further development of their proposal with experts in organizational development, including in:
- Implementation of organizational change and leadership development
- choice of institutional twinning partners – exchange with well established CSO working in watchdog areas similar to the mandate of the applicant
- webinars and watchdog/monitoring toolkits in English or Russian on tools to hold governments to account, e.g. public procurement monitoring methodologies
Budget considerations: Applicants should include the costs of institutional twinning and/or thematic expert mentoring in the grant budget (organizational development mentoring and online webinars will be provided by the Partners in Empowerment project partners, so do not need to be budgeted). The grantees must also include in their budget expenditure verification reports prepared by independent auditors).
About the project and grant scheme: Partners in Empowerment is a three-year project supported by the EU's Neighborhood Civil Society Facility (European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument) Regional actions. The lead partner is PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) - a network of independent think-tanks in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia with experience of subgranting, capacity-building, and international project management. On the grants scheme, PASOS will be working closely with the project country partners and with Partnership for Transparency Fund e.V., a group of experienced development experts providing advice and small grants to CSOs that engage citizens in actions to improve governance, increase transparency and reduce corruption.
The project partners are:
- PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society)
- Partnership for Transparency Fund e.V.
- Transparency International Anticorruption Center, Armenia
- Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), Azerbaijan
- Office for a Democratic Belarus
- Transparency International Moldova
- Transparency International Ukraine
Grants timeline:
First half of September 2015: Webinar(s) for applicants (in English and Russian according to demand) on Essential Tools and Methodologies for Procurement Monitoring - details to be announced later
20 September 2015: Deadline for grant applications
20-30 September 2015: Shortlisting (pre-selection) of applications (with the intention of awarding grants to majority of pre-selected applicants)
1-20 October 2015: Organizational development mentoring of pre-selected applicants, including refinement of project proposals
November 2015 - July 2016: Grant activity period, accompanied by mentoring and webinars tailored to applicants' needs and activities
July-September 2016: Evaluation and expenditure verification of grant activities
October 2016: Launch of call for second round of grant applications
The project partners will provide grantees with in-country and international expert mentoring. Each grant will be combined with online mentoring, external project evaluation, and strategic development support.
Proposals should be submitted in English or Russian to [email protected] by midnight CET, 20 September 2015 (by 2:00 AM, time in Armenia, 21 September 2015).
Download Call for applications and application form from the links below.
