Key Action 3 - Initiatives for policy innovation - Social inclusion through education, training and youth - EACEA 05/2016

Deadline: May 30, 2016  
CALL EXPIRED

1.

Description, Objectives

This call for proposals will support projects in the fields of education, training and youth, which aim at upscaling and disseminating innovative good practices falling under the scope of the Declaration on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education of 17 March 2015 (‘the Paris Declaration’ (1)).

An application submitted under the present call must mainly address one of the two following general objectives, which should be indicated in the application form:

1. Preventing violent radicalisation and promoting democratic values, fundamental rights, intercultural understanding and active citizenship

2. Fostering the inclusion of disadvantaged learners, including persons with a migrant background, while preventing and combating discriminatory practices.

Furthermore, each proposal must address at least one and maximum three of the following specific objective(s):

1. Improving the acquisition of social and civic competences, fostering knowledge, understanding and ownership of democratic values and fundamental rights;

2. Preventing and combating any form of discrimination and segregation in education;

3. Promoting gender equality in the learning environment, combating gender stereotypes and preventing gender-based violence;

4. Enhancing access to quality and inclusive mainstream education and training with a focus on the needs of disad­ vantaged learners;

5. Fostering mutual understanding and respect among people with different ethnic or religious backgrounds, beliefs or convictions, including by addressing stereotypes and promoting intercultural dialogue;

6. Enhancing critical thinking, cyber and media literacy among children, young people, youth workers and educational staff;

7. Creating inclusive and democratic learning environments;

8. Supporting teachers and educators in handling conflicts and dealing with diversity; 

1. Preventing radicalisation in prisons and closed institutions;

2. Encouraging youth participation in social and civic life and developing inclusion and outreach practices to reach young people;

3. Facilitating the acquisition of the language(s) of instruction for newly arrived migrants;

4. Assessing knowledge and validating prior learning of newly arrived migrants;

5. Enhancing the quality of non-formal learning activities, youth work practices and volunteering.

This call comprises two lots:

Lot 1: Education and training Lot 2: Youth

Applicants must address only one of the above Lots and indicate it in the application form. This call supports three project strands:

Strand 1: Transnational cooperation projects (Lot 1 and Lot 2) Strand 2: Large-scale volunteering projects (Lot 2)
Strand 3: Networking of Erasmus+ National Agencies (1) (Lot 2)

Applicants must address only one of the above strands and indicate it in the application form.

2. Eligible applicants
Eligible applicants are public and private organisations active in the fields of education, training and youth in the areas

covered by the Paris Declaration:
— educational institutions and other learning providers;
— public authorities at national/regional/local level responsible for education, training and youth; — non-profit organisations (NGOs);
— research institutions;
— trade organisations and social partners;
— guidance and recognition centres;
— international organisations;
— private companies;
— networks of the organisations listed above are also eligible as long as they have legal personality; — Erasmus+ National Agencies in the field of youth (2); 

Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible: — the 28 Member States of the European Union,
— the EFTA/EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway,
— EU candidate countries: Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Minimum partnership composition requirements

Strand 1: 4 organisations representing 4 eligible countries. If networks are involved in the project, the partnership must include at least 2 organisations which are not members of the network (i.e. two partners of the network plus 2 organisations not members of the network);

Strand 2: 3 organisations representing 3 eligible countries;
Strand 3: 4 Erasmus+ National Agencies in the field of youth, representing 4 eligible countries.

3. Eligible Activities and Project Duration

Activities must start between 1 and 31 December 2016. The project duration is fixed to either 24 or 36 month. How­ ever, if after the signing of the agreement and the start of the project it becomes impossible for the beneficiaries, for fully justified reasons beyond their control, to complete the project within the scheduled period, an extension to the eligibility period may be granted. A maximum extension of 6 additional months will be granted, if requested before the deadline specified in the grant agreement. The maximum duration will then be 42 months.

The activities to be financed under this call may include (not exhaustive list):

Strand 1 — Transnational cooperation projects

• —  Cooperation/partnerships and networking models which involve combinations of relevant (public/private) stakehold­ ers across different sectors;

• —  Adapting learning practices, tools and materials, including curricula and course design;

• —  Conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings with policy and decision makers;

• —  Assessing, sharing and validating good practice and learning experiences;

• —  Training and other capacity-building activities (e.g. for teachers, youth workers, local authorities, prison staff, etc.);

• —  Supportive approaches and outreach practices from young people to young people;

• —  Targeted awareness-raising and dissemination activities including information material and effective communication strategies;

• —  Operational or policy recommendations in the field of education, training and youth that are relevant to the objec­ tives of the Paris Declaration;

• —  Evaluation activities.

  Strand 2 — Large-scale volunteering projects:

  • —  Voluntary activities of young people aged from 17-30 resident in an eligible country with duration from 2 to 12 months;

  • —  Targeted awareness-raising and dissemination activities, including information material and effective communication strategies; 

• —  Conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings with policy and decision makers;

• —  Operational or policy recommendations in the field of volunteering that are relevant to the situation of newly arrived migrants;

• —  Supportive approaches and outreach practices addressing young people from disadvantaged groups;

• —  Evaluation activities.

  Strand 3 — Networking of Erasmus+ National Agencies

• —  Targeted awareness-raising and dissemination activities, including information material and effective communication strategies;

• —  Conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings with policy and decision makers;

• —  Assessing, sharing and validating good practice and learning experiences;

• —  Cooperation/partnerships and networking models which involve combinations of relevant (public/private) stakehold­ ers across different sectors;

• —  Developing learning practices, tools and materials;

• —  Draw up policy recommendations and best practice examples;

• —  Supportive approaches and outreach practices addressing young people from disadvantaged groups;

• —  Training and other capacity-building activities for organisations/institutions including youth workers and volunteers;

• —  Integration of tried and tested innovations/good practices into local, regional, national and European systems and their mainstreaming;

• —  Grass-root youth work and volunteering activities for testing the gathered knowledge;

• —  Evaluation activities.

  Under Strand 1 and 3 only activities taking place in eligible countries will be considered eligible for funding. Under Strand 2, only activities taking place in EU Member States will be considered eligible for funding.

4. Award Criteria
The eligible applications will be assessed on the basis of exclusion, selection, and award criteria (1).

The award criteria for the funding of an application are:
1. Relevance (30 %)
2. Quality of the project design and implementation (20 %)
3. Quality of the partnership and cooperation arrangements (20 %) 4. Impact, dissemination and sustainability (30 %)

Only proposals having reached:

— at least the threshold of 60 % of the total score (i.e. aggregate score of the 4 award criteria) and

— at least the threshold of 50 % of each criterion

will be considered for EU funding.

5. Budget
The total budget available for the co-financing of projects under the present call is EUR 13000000, allocated as

follows:

Lot 1 — Education and training EUR 10 000 000 Lot 2 — Youth EUR 3 000 000

Budget per Lot and indicative allocation per Strand

Strand 1: Transnational cooperation projects

Strand 2: Large-Scale Volunteering Projects
Strand 3: Networking Activities of Erasmus+ National Agencies

Total: EUR 10 500 000 Lot 1: EUR 10 000 000 Lot 2: EUR 500 000

Lot 2: EUR 1 000 000 Lot 2: EUR 1 500 000

The financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed 90 % of the total eligible project costs. The maximum grant per project will be EUR 500 000.
The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available for this call.
6. Submission Procedure and Deadline

Before submitting the electronic application, applicants will have to register their organisation in the Education, Audiovi­ sual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal and receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The PIC will be requested in the application form.

The Participant Portal is the tool through which all legal and financial information related to organisations will be man­ aged. Information on how to register can be found in the portal under the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/ education/participants/portal

Applicants are requested to read carefully all information about the call for proposals and the submission procedure, and to use the documents forming part of the application (Application Package) at: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus- plus/funding/key-action-3-initiatives-for-policy-innovation-social-inclusion-through-education-training-and-youth_en

The Application Package must be submitted online using the correct e-form, duly completed and containing all relevant and applicable annexes and supporting documents. The application forms are available on the internet at the following address: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/PPMT/

Application forms which do not include all the necessary information and which are not submitted online by the dead­ line will not be considered.

Grant applications must be drawn up in one of the official EU languages. Submission deadline: 30 May 2016 — 12.00 noon CET 

7. Further information
For more details, please refer to the Guidelines for Applicants.

The Call Guidelines and the Application Package are available on the following website:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/key-action-3-initiatives-for-policy-innovation-social-inclusion-through- education-training-and-youth_en

Email contact details: EACEA-Policy-Support@ec.europa.eu