Open call for the Award of Small Grants to Civil Society Organisations

under the Balkans Youth: Linking Education, Abilities and Partnership Potential in Regional Employment Practice (BY LEAP)

*Applicants are encouraged to submit project proposals in English, taking into account the project implementation/communication and reporting shall be done in English.

Overview of call on English language below

Expected results of the Small Grants Programme

Designed and tested measures and actions which enable successful student and youth company operation growth and transformation into sustainable businesses;
Created jobs and opportunities for youth, including higher value added jobs;
Created policy and regulatory improvements (proposed legal acts, bylaws, designed new support mechanisms, participation in official working groups and institutional mechanisms) for better business environment;
Raised number of CSOs involved in advocacy activities of CSOs and other networks dealing with youth issues;
Advanced dialogue between the private sector and educational institutions on support market driven educational and training needs;
Increased number of young people in local innovative entrepreneurship promotion activities and employability boosting activities.

Thematic areas and eligible activities

Improvement of legislative and strategic framework for youth entrepreneurship;

Drafting policy or legislation recommendations;
Monitoring activities;
Facilitation of contacts, consultations and discussions between different stakeholders;
Advocacy for the revision of existing legislation and adoption of new legislation in accordance with EU standards and requirements;
Establishment of dialogue with political parties, groups of parliamentarians or legislative bodies;

Support to innovative business initiatives;

Testing and implementation of business plans and sustainability strategies;
Testing of innovative approaches to starting up a business;
Support to business incubation;
Support to innovative youth business initiatives based on but not limited to student company model;
Supporting rural CSOs participation in entrepreneurial learning promotion, policy processes and networking;

Technical and professional support to youth entrepreneurship;

Purchasing software, databases, developing websites, and providing equipment to develop innovative virtual youth business initiatives;
Training actions, study visits, field trips and internships in country of project implementation;
Communication and information activities aimed at supporting consultation with stakeholders;

Promotion of entrepreneurship and improvement of entrepreneurial learning and spirit

Promotion of good practice examples of youth entrepreneurship;
Actions aimed at ensuring adequate outreach towards grassroots and other types of local CSOs;
Public awareness raising campaigns;
Publication of leaflets, manuals on best practice;
Organisation of conferences, roundtables, workshops and seminars (a limited number in terms of days and events per proposed action);
Promotion of the implementation of adopted laws and regulations;

*The list of eligible activities is not exhaustive, potential Applicants may propose other activities under the listed thematic areas. All proposed activities must be implemented in country of project implementation.

Who may participate? – Types of entities eligible for financial support

In order to be eligible for support within the Small Grants Programme, the Applicant, and co-applicants (partner organisations) must:

(1) be officially registered (legal person)

(2) be non-profit making;

(3) be civil society organization or non-profit making enterprises;

(4) operate for at least 1 year;

(5) be established and operating in one of the project IPA Beneficiaries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia or Turkey;

(6) have experience and is active in the field of youth employment and/or entrepreneurship and/or entrepreneurial education and/or providing business support services to youth business initiatives (e.g. youth business hubs, incubators, co-working spaces);

(7) have demonstrated leadership potential, openness to growth and change and willingness to engage in partnerships with the BY LEAP Project Consortium;

(8) be directly responsible for preparation and management of the project.

(9) have the management capacity, professional competences and qualification required to successfully complete the proposed action

(10) have no criminal or civil law violation records with the organization and management;

* Participation of female led organisations is strongly encouraged.

Eligible costs

The costs eligible under this Call are:

Be incurred by the applicant/beneficiary during the duration of the action and in the country of project implementation;
Be indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action attached to the grant agreement;
Be necessary for the implementation of the action which is the subject of the grant;
Be identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is/are established and according to the usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary;
Comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;
Be reasonable, justified and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency

Maximum percentages per budget headings are:

Human Resources – max 30 % of the total eligible costs;
Programme activities – min 50% of the total eligible costs;
Communication and visibility activities – max 10% of the total eligible costs;
Administrative costs – max 10% of the total eligible costs.

VAT is not an eligible cost within this Programme. Selected applicants shall be subject to tax exemption within their country of residence.

All costs presented in the budget form should be in gross value.

Duration of projects and available budget

The duration of selected Project should be from 8 to 10 months.

Selected CSOs will be obliged to implement their Projects in the period starting from December 1^st 2021 up to November 1^st 2022.

The total available amount for the Small Grants Programme is 240,000.00 EUR.

Interested Applicants may apply for financial support between:

Minimum amount: 10,000 EUR

Maximum amount: 20,000 EUR

The Small Grants Programme shall support at least 12 projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey – minimum 2 projects per country.

Fair regional distribution of funds will be ensured in the selection process, and a minimum of 1/5 of total projects funds will be given to organisations coming from rural/remote areas.

JA Serbia reserves the right not to allocate the entire available amount for the Small Grants Programme due to a smaller number of project proposals which do not satisfy the evaluation criteria.