Civil society organisations (CSOs) are vital to the attainment of human rights, the rule of law, accountability, democracy, peace, and stability in the Kingdom of Lesotho. They further act as key partners in devising and implementing policies and programmes that meet people’s needs, reduce inequalities, realise rights, and deliver inclusive services and fulfill the central commitment of the 2030 Agenda to “leave no one behind”.
Activities under this action will support the informed, inclusive and constructive participation of civil society in policy dialogue with partner-country actors and the EU, as well as civil society’s role as efficient implementing partners, advocates, and watchdogs. The country CSO Roadmap serves as the EU strategy to engage meaningfully and continuously with civil society and is a strategic tool to ensure complementarity between initiatives supporting civil society.
The overall objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen CSOs as independent actors of governance and development in their own right. The action aims to contribute to an inclusive, participatory, empowered, and independent civil society and democratic space in Lesotho and an inclusive and open dialogue with and between Civil Society Organisations.
The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals are:
- To establish a funding mechanism (e.g. through financial support to third parties) that provides diversified types of support tailor-made to the size and capacity of civil society actors;
- To strengthen the capacities of local civil society actors with diversified and tailor-made capacity building to fulfill their mandates;
- To strengthen the capacity of local CSOs to engage in gender equality, people with disabilities, and youth inclusion.
ELIGIBILITY
In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person and
- be non-profit-making and
- be a specific type of organisation such as: a non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation and
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Lesotho or other eligible countries as stipulated in the NDICI-Global Europe regulation,
This obligation does not apply to international organisations and
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
Grant size: 2,457,000 (EUR)
Deadline: February 15, 2023