Call for Public Policy Monitoring and Improvement (Development, Revision and Advocacy) Sub-Grant Applications for CSO Incubator Member CSOs

“Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project:

The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project (hereafter: Project) is implemented by a consortium of the following civil society organisations: “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO (the lead organisation), “International Centre for Human Development” Public Organisation “SME Cooperation Association” NGO, Union of Communities of Armenia, “Armenian Centre for Democratic Education-CIVITAS” NGO, and Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic). The Project aims at reinforcing civil society voice and dialogue with the government and local government.

The Project was launched on 15 December 2016. It is implemented with the financial support of the European Union (EU) for a duration of 34 months. The overall objective of the Action is to enhance the influence of CSOs on the public policy process, and the specific objectives are to strengthen the ability of CSOs to build coalitions and focus on constructive and strategic policy engagement with local and central government partners.

The Aim of the Project Sub-Granting Component:

The activities carried out in the scope of the Project prove that many problems exist in the Project target sectors and other public sectors. Joint efforts and participation of the CSO sector, sustainable dialogue with the Government and local self-government bodies (hereafter LSGs) and evidence-based public policy development, improvement and their advocacy, as well as implementation of monitoring on the application of policies, are needed for solving these problems and achieving results.

In order to develop the above-mentioned skills, over the past 6 months, the CSO members of the CSO incubators operated in the scope of the Project in the RA Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak, Syunik marzes and Yerevan have worked with the Project local and international experts intensively and in different formats.

At this stage of the Project, the launch of small sub-grants allocated to CSO incubator member CSOs (hereafter: CSOs) is announced. The objectives are:

Overall Objective:

Public policy monitoring, improvement (development, revision, advocacy) and ensuring public participation and increasing public impact in these processes in the 9 target areas of the Project – the RA sectors of justice (1), human rights (2), public finance management (3), business (4), education (5), the social sector (6), agriculture (7), LSG economy (8), energy (9).

One of the overall objectives is also public policy monitoring and improvement (development, revision, advocacy), ensuring public participation and increasing public impact in other sectors different from the above-mentioned ones. Culture, local government and nature protection are regarded as other eligible sectors.

Specific Objectives:

Taking into account the sectors mentioned in this call, identify a problem in one or two sectors and implement public policy monitoring and improvement (development, revision, advocacy) through cooperation with LSGs and other state bodies and actors, ensuring CSOs’ participation in these processes (if needed, more than one problem can be identified but not exceeding two).

Beneficiaries:

In accordance with the goals of this sub-grant call, the CSO members of the CSO incubators operated in the RA Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak, Syunik regions and Yerevan, that were not founded by state and local government agencies or commercial organisations and that have drafted and submitted to the Project team their public policy monitoring and improvement project proposals, can apply for the sub-grant project call.

CSOs can apply for this call both alone and in a consortium with another CSO member of CSO incubators. That being said, the number of consortium members must not exceed two. In this case, the relations between the main applicant and the partner organisation of the consortium, as well as the division of responsibilities and powers between them, must be clearly defined. In addition, commitment letters from the partner organisation must be attached.

Consortium member CSOs must have participated in and completed the certified CSO capacity building programme conducted by the American University of Armenia in the scope of the Project. The list of the CSOs that have completed the training can be found here.

Advantage will be given to the CSOs that have had at least 70% participation in the seminars, discussions, meetings and other events organised in the scope of CSO incubators.

Advantage will also be given to the applicants applying with project proposals aimed at public policy monitoring and improvement at community level.

As the main applicant and partner organisation, one CSO can be involved in only one consortium.

Budget:

In the scope of the Project, up to 33 small sub-grants will be allocated to CSOs and CSO consortia in the amount of up to AMD 5,500,000 (five million five hundred thousand), including the mandatory financial contribution to be made by the applicant. The sub-grant commission is to decide upon the number of sub-grants allocated in each of the target sectors, based on the efficiency of the proposals submitted and their compliance with this present call and the documents attached.

The applicants are expected to make a financial contribution to the sub-grant project in the amount of at least 10% of the funding requested. The proposals, that won’t meet the contribution requirement, will not be considered.

Salary costs and expert payments each must not exceed 25% of the budget.

The costs incurred before the official date of sub-grant allocation, as well as those not related to the sub-grant, will not be accepted.

The total changes made in the budget expenditure lines by the sub-grantee must not exceed ten per cent (10%) of the total budget. The responsible person at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (ALA) must be notified about that in written form in advance and must give written permission. Changes on the amount exceeding ten per cent (10%) of the total budget or changes in the sub-grant objective must be made in the sub-grant agreement in written form and be approved by both parties. Budget allocation regulations are stipulated in Chapter 5 of the ALA Grants Policy.

Grant Application Presentation Procedure:

We invite all the interested CSOs that meet the requirements presented in this call to participate in this competition by completing the form attached to this call.

The winning applicants (including the entire composition of the consortia applying for the sub-grant call) agree to participate in a one-day mandatory discussion with Project representatives in order to receive expert, including financial, advice on the sub-grant implementation process.

NB 1. No sub-grant agreement will be signed with the CSOs and CSO consortia refusing to participate in the above-mentioned training and discussion.

The sub-grant application must be accompanied by the following documents:

The copy of the statutes of the applicant CSO (in case of a consortium, all members CSOs);
The copy of the state registration certificates of the applicant CSO (in case of a consortium, all members CSOs), including those of all the supplementary sheets;
Brief description of each applicant organisation (maximum one page);
The copy of the taxpayer registration number of the lead applicant;
A reference from the bank proving the existence of the lead applicant’s bank account;
The power of attorney given by the CSO head to the Project Manager (if the Project Manager is not the CSO head);
The CVs of the main sub-grant project team members;
Commitment letters on the joint project implementation from consortium member CSOs;
In case of CSO consortia, commitment letters from consortium member CSOs or cooperation agreements on joint implementation of the sub-grant project;
The public policy monitoring and improvement plan designed in the scope of CSO incubators (in case of a consortium, all members CSOs);
The copy of the certificate received from the American University of Armenia for the completion of the CSO certified training on CSO capacity building conducted by the AUA.

All the documents shall be submitted in the Armenian language. If needed, the sub-grant commission may request additional documents from the applicants.

Duration:

The duration of the sub-grant projects must be 6 (six) months.

Other Requirements:

The sub-grant application form, annexes and accompanying documents shall be signed by the head of the Project lead organisation and be stamped with the stamp of the respective CSO.

The entire application package shall be sent to the e-mail address [email protected], with “CSO Sub-Grant Application” put in the subject line.

Attention: The applications submitted in person will not be considered.

The deadline for submitting applications is 12 November 2018, 6:00 PM.

All the issues related to sub-grants are solved in accordance with ALA’s grant policy.

The decisions on the allocation of the sub-grants will be made on 28 November 2018. Information on the winners will be published on the Project website at www.ccd.armla.am.

Sub-grant agreements will be signed with the winning applicants on 30 November 2018. The first day of grant implementation is 1 December 2018.

In case of having questions you can contact Artak Saribekyan, the Chairman of the Grants Commission of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, at the number +37410 540199 or the e-mail address [email protected].

NB 2:

The terms and conditions set out in the call may be changed, if necessary. In case of any changes, the information will be published on the Project website at www.ccd.armla.am.

Attention:

The applications submitted after the deadline and/or missing the required information or failing to meet the Project requirements, will not be considered.

Documents attached to this call: