Pre-announcement of the Open Call DGV02 under Domestic and Gender-based Violence Programme

21.04.2021

Pre-announcement of the Open Call on the support of intervention teams at local level on services for victims of domestic and gender-based violence, including children

Call number:	DGV02
Planned Call launching:	14 May 2021 (on the occasion of the International Day of Families)
Planned Call closure:	16 September 2021
Source of funding:	Norway Grants 2014 – 2021, Slovakia

The call will be launched by the Programme Operator – the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic (National Focal Point)

The objective of the call DGV02 is support of existing services for victims of domestic and gender-based violence, including children, and the integration of these services into intervention teams at local level.

Project grant: EUR 200,000 – 600,000

Estimated total call allocation: EUR 3,329,412

Co-financing conditions: 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 is required and at least 15% for private sector entities and other entities.

Financing: payments of the project grant shall take the form of advance payments, interim payments and a final payment. The level of advance payment to projects shall be set out in the project contract.

Eligible applicants:

Legal entities established as a legal person in the Slovak Republic, which are registered in the social services providers register or accredited providers of social services in the Slovak Republic according to the Act No. 305/2005 Coll. on the Socio-legal Protection of the Child and on Social Guardianship or Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services and on change and amendment of the Act No. 455/1991 Coll., or Act No. 274/2017 Coll. on Victims of Crime provided that the social services providers meet the required standards[4],[5]

Municipalities in accordance with Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipal Administration, established as a legal person in the Slovak Republic

Higher territorial units and offices of self-governing regions in accordance with Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on self-government of higher territorial units established as a legal person in the Slovak Republic

Eligible applicants shall have at least one entity among those listed as “Eligible partners” as project partners

and;

At least one of the project partners or the applicant shall be a counselling centre or shelter[6] meeting the required standards4,5.

Eligible partners:

Local Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family,
City police or local directorate of police corps[7],
Municipalities in accordance with Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipal Administration,
State budgetary and contributory organisations established in accordance with Act No. 523/2004 Coll. on Budget Rules of the Public Service,
Higher territorial units and offices of self-governing regions in accordance with Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on self-government of higher territorial units
Counselling centre or shelters6 meeting the European standards4,5

provided that at least one of the project partners or the applicant is a counselling centre or a shelter meeting the required standards 4,5.

Other partners in addition to one project partner from the list above:

any public or private entity, commercial or non-commercial, as well as non-governmental organisations established as a legal person either in Norway or in the Slovak Republic, or any international organisation[8] or body or agency thereof.

Further conditions:

The mandatory attachments to the Project Application will be the Budget, Partnership statement, Letter of Intent or other similar document proving the interest of the applicant and its partner to jointly implement the Project together, signed by the mandatory partner, completed questionnaire (including awareness-raising and education campaign plan)[9] and Test of local character of social services.[10]
Project promoters and partners shall adhere to the following approach :
- to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence;
- to contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and promote substantive equality between women and men, including by empowering women;
- to design a comprehensive framework, policies and measures for the protection of and assistance to all victims of violence against women and domestic violence;
- to promote international co‐operation with a view to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence;
- to effectively co‐operate in order to adopt an integrated approach to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence;
- including a victims-oriented, evidence-based approach to combating domestic and gender-based violence in accordance with the principles of gender equality, in line with the overall objective of the programme.
Costs on infrastructure (hard measures) must not exceed 40% of the total eligible costs of the project.
Project shall be implemented in line with applicable state aid rules.

Expected date of project contracts signature: April 2022.

Eligible activities: The project grant can be used for the following purposes and activities[11] -

provision of mandatory activities and other activities according to the special conditions for a provision of the project grant, operation, maintenance and minor repairs of existing counselling centres and shelters;
educational activities at local level and local campaigns to raise awareness on domestic and gender-based violence in the region;
networking and multi-institutional cooperation in the field of domestic and gender-based violence at local level;
support for the establishment or expansion of facilities and services for children - victims or witnesses of violence - in shelters or counselling centres;
other support activities necessary to maintain, expand and enhance services for victims of domestic and gender-based violence in the field of domestic and gender-based violence.

Eligible expenditures: except for the so-called “excluded expenditures” listed in Article 8.7 of the Regulations, all types of expenditures can be eligible, provided that they meet the conditions listed in the Call and in Article 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.

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.

Launch of the Open call for bilateral relations for establishing and development of the partnership for the call DGV02 will only be implemented only if 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 off 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] The standards are set in the Council of Europe document ‘Combating violence against women: minimum standards for support services’ and are adapted to Slovakia by the Coordinating Methodical Centre (the required standards are hereinafter referred to as European Standards)

[5] An informative list of social service providers meeting the required European standards is listed in Annex 6 of this call

[6] These are emergency housing facilities, or other forms of residential form assistance to victims of domestic or gender-based violence.

[7] In this case, the local directorate of the police corps means the regional directorate and its subordinate departments (county departments and district departments).

[8] For the purposes of the EEA and Norway Grants “International inter-governmental organizations” are defined as intergovernmental organizations as defined by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

[9] Campaigns need to be planned and implemented only at the local level; national campaigns are implemented within other components of this Programme. The campaign must be implemented by a counselling centre or a shelter.

[10] The test is needed to complete and submit on behalf of applicant and all project partners financially engaged in the project, with the exception of those applicants and project partners, which are public organizations acting within their public competences and foreign project partners.

[11] In the case that new or existing entities will be supported, the aim of which is specialization of provided services, for new entities registration is required before the commencement of the provision of basic counselling in accordance with Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on social services and on the amendment of Act no. 455/1991 Coll. and for both, before the submission of the final project report, accreditation in accordance with one of the relevant Acts – Act No. 448/2008 Coll. or Act No. 274/2017 Coll. Accreditation is not required only in the case of a shelters, as long as it provides counselling services only to accommodated clients.