Pre-announcement of the further Open Call within the Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Roma Inclusion Programme
Sk - Roma inclusion and empowerment
Call number: LDI02
Estimated call launching: September 2020
Estimated call closure: November 2020
The call will be launched by the Programme Operator – the Government Office of the Slovak Republic under Norway Grants
The aim of the call LDI01 is to support community-based interventions in or for the direct benefit of marginalised Roma communities using an integrated approach, i.e. linking multiple interventions to improve their status and opportunities in the fields of education, employment, health, housing or non-discrimination.
Project grant: EUR 200 000 - 1000 000
Estimated total call allocation: EUR 6 000 000
Co-financing: For public sector entities and non-governmental organisations[1], co-financing is not required. At least 10% for social partners[2],[3] and other non-for-profit organizations.
At least 15% for private sector entities and other entities.
Financing: payments of the project grant shall take the form of an advance payment, interim payments and a final payment. The level of advance payment to projects shall be set out in the project contract.
Eligible applicants: In accordance with Article 7.2.1 of the Regulation, i.e.: Any entity, public or private, commercial or non-commercial and non-governmental organisations, established as a legal person in the Slovak Republic are considered eligible project promoters.
Eligible partners: In accordance with Article 7.2.2 of the Regulation, i.e.: Any public or private entity, commercial or non-commercial, as well as non-governmental organisations established as a legal person either in Norway, Beneficiary States[4] or a country outside the European Economic Area that has a common border with the respective Beneficiary State[5], or any international organisation or body or agency thereof, actively involved in, and effectively contributing to, the implementation of a project.
Further conditions:
- Projects must include measures reflecting at least two out of the five areas (Health, Housing, Education, Employment, Non-discrimination)
- Projects must include establishment and/or support of at least one existing service centre[6] in a marginalized Roma community (MRC)[7],
- The mandatory attachments to the Grant Application are: the Budget, Questionnaire,
- Costs on infrastructure (hard measures)[8] must not exceed 60% of the total eligible costs of the project.
- Projects shall be implemented in line with applicable state aid rules.
Eligible activities
The project grant can be used for the following purposes and activities:
Housing related activities, such as:
- counselling services in order to ensure housing stability and housing loss prevention,
- support in submission of social housing applications,
- awareness-raising activities for the community related to housing,
- financial literacy courses,
- self-help construction courses,
- legal services related to proprietary rights,
- action plans, strategy, public policy, community services,
- establishment of management, mapping of the housing situation.
Employment related activities, such as:
- financial, IT and literacy courses,
- manufacture, construction works courses and other courses increasing the employability of the people living in MRC,
- support in job application processes, including elaboration of CVs,
- labour market activation, schemes for guidance and counselling trainings.
Health related activities, such as:
- public construction works related to public health, such as sewage system, water treatment plants (these shall always be linked with the employment trainings for the people living in MRCs),
- early intervention for children, especially children from a socially disadvantaged environment,
- counselling services, including relevant psycho-social services,
- mentoring programmes for various groups, e.g. pregnant mothers, elderly people, children etc.,
- health awareness and/or educational programs,
- establishing health facility (of primary contact) in the MRC.
Education related activities (with focus on early-school leaving prevention /ESL/), such as:
- support of kindergartens (education) and/or pre-school preparation,
- support of the establishment of educational infrastructure (e.g. modular schools),
- support of community social services,
- summer schools for underachieving pupils,
- support of non-formal education and modern personal development programmes for young people from MRC (with the aim to reduce ESL)
- extra lessons after schools for underachieving pupils,
- simultaneous work with local and regional self-government, teachers and counselling service, parents and pupils,
- trainings for community workers, teachers, health assistants and other field workers,
- provision of snacks and basic school supplies (paper, pens).
Non-discrimination related activities, such as:
- activities countering hate speech, radicalisation and extremism, incl. social media,
- protecting children from online hoaxes, cyber-bulling, sexual abuse, domestic violence,
- activities promoting understanding of social inclusion in general,
- working with information, understanding information, identifying hoaxes and disinformation,
- support of community social services,
- other activities specifically focused on children and youth at risk.
Within all projects, surveys shall be conducted at the beginning and at the end of the project, in order to identify the following baseline and target values:
- “Share of majority population in intervention area accepting Roma”
Project Promoters shall follow instructions of the Programme Operator in this regard.
Eligible expenditures
Except for the so-called “excluded expenditures” listed in Article 8.7 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 („the Regulation “), all types of expenditures may be eligible, provided that they meet the conditions listed in this Call and in Article 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5 of the Regulation.
Unless a later date is provided in the project contract, expenditures are eligible as of the date on which the Programme Operator decides to award the project grant. The final date of eligibility which shall be no later than either one year after the scheduled completion of the project or the date referred to in paragraph 3 Article 8.13 (currently 30 April 2024) od the Regulation, whichever is earlier.
Costs on infrastructure must not exceed 60% of the Total Eligible Costs of the Project.
Launch of the Open call for bilateral relations for establishing and development of the partnership for the call LDI02 is planned along with the call LDI02 provided that the conditions are suitable for travelling.
The objective of this call will be the support of visits and meetings of applicants from Slovakia with their potential partners from Norway. These activities can be funded under the Programme Bilateral Fund, which will provide small grants up to 2 500 EUR, covering mainly the related travel costs.
[1] For the purposes of the call “Non-governmental organization” (hereinafter referred to as NGO) is defined as a non-profit organization established as a legal entity, having a non-commercial purpose, independent of local, regional and central government, public entities, political parties and commercial organizations. Religious institutions and political parties are not considered NGOs.
[2] For the purposes of the call “Social partners” are defined as representatives of employers´ organizations and trade unions.
[3] In case of social partners (and NGOs, if applicable), in-kind contribution in the form of voluntary work may constitute up to 100% of the co-financing.
[4] For the full list of the Beneficiary States consult the document Agreement on the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021
[5] Ukraine
[6] For the purpose of this Call, Service Centre shall mean a facility or set of facilities in which the services for Roma will be provided.
[7] For the purpose of this call, a marginalised Roma community is a community (concentration) listed in the Atlas of Roma Communities, either in its version from 2013 or in its more recent versions from 2019.
[8] For the purposes of the Programme the infrastructure (hard measures) are defined as any activities that require a building permit/a building announcement or purchase of buildings or estates.