Local Authorities: Partnerships for sustainable cities 2020

Deadline: Mar 27, 2020  
CALL EXPIRED

Local Authorities: Partnerships for sustainable cities (2020)

1.1.Background

In November 2018, a first call for proposals for a total amount of 53 million euro was launched. The objective of the first call for Proposals was to promote integrated urban development through partnerships built among Local Authorities of the EU Member States and of partner countries in accordance with the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development. The specific objectives were 4 folds: i) to strengthen urban governance; ii) to ensure social inclusiveness of cities; iii) to improve resilience and greening of cities; iv) to improve prosperity and innovation in cities. The Call contained four lots divided into geographical areas: Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and the Pacific; Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean; and Neighbourhood South and East.

The present call for proposals follows the same approach of the 2018 one, with some additional elements (see below the objectives of the call).   

In order to coordinate the projects financed under the two Partnership for sustainable cities calls for proposals (the one published in 2018 and the one described in the present guidelines) two support programmes will be launched during the 1st half of 2020: 

• A Coordination Support programme aiming at promoting knowledge sharing and capitalization of best practices, fostering synergies between the different components of the partnerships, as well as supporting DEVCO services to build in house knowledge about the partnership. The support contract will also be in charge of organizing the annual Coordination Committee meeting in Brussels.
• A Communication and audio-visual support contract aiming at creating a visual identity of the programme as well as producing videos promoting the objectives of the programme.      

1.2.Objectives of the programme and priority issues 

This call for proposals is divided in four geographic lots and two horizontal lots:

Geographic lots 

 Lot 1: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lot 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific

Lot 3: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Lot 4: Partnerships for sustainable cities in the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood

 

 

Horizontal lots 

 Lot 5: Partnerships for sustainable towns 

For this lot, the maximum size, population wise, of European local authorities is set at 150.000 inhabitants and 300.000 inhabitants for Partner countries. 

Lot 6: Partnerships for sustainable cities in fragile countries  

The 15 “extremely fragile” countries included in the OCDE list are eligible for lot 6. 

 

Applicants must clearly specify under which lot they are submitting the application in their project title.

 

The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to promote integrated urban development through partnerships built among Local Authorities of the EU Member States and of partner countries in accordance with the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.

Partnerships will support Local Authorities from partner countries to address sustainable urban development through capacity building and service-delivery. Peer to peer exchanges of Local Authorities are at the heart of this approach. Actions could support the building of new partnerships or contribute to upscale long-lasting partnerships and cooperation relations.

The new political priorities of the EU, and notably the “New Green Deal”, will be taken into account by raising the importance of sustainability enhancement in the different specific objectives.

The specific objectives of this Call for Proposals are:

1. Strengthen urban governance: Continued promotion of good urban governance and the necessary policy and legal frameworks at national-government level (e.g. national urban policy) is essential to allow local authorities in the developing world to effectively implement national urban policies. In order to foster a system of multi-level governance (governance at national, regional and urban/local levels), local authorities’ role as autonomous policy makers, in line with the principle of subsidiarity should be promoted. Building such a system requires political will from all levels of government. The articulation of multiple governance levels is also an important factor for the effectiveness of sustainable landscape management, which is needed to reduce cities’ impacts on the surrounding ecosystems, and to allow these to continue providing essential services to urban populations.  At city-level, this includes a territorial approach to local development allowing municipalities to take the lead in deciding what policy measures to take and how to implement them, while consulting and reporting back to communities.
2. Ensure social inclusiveness of cities: Cities represent the closest tier of government to citizens and can help ensure humanitarian and development actions adapted to them and to local specificities. Urban poverty and exclusion should be addressed through appropriate policies.  These policies should contribute to prevent both the causes and effects of inequality, marginalisation and segregation, including tackling the needs of women, children and youth, as well as the needs of marginalised and vulnerable groups such as disabled people, displaced people and migrants. Their needs should also be included in urban planning processes, and translated into concrete actions on the ground.  Examples of such actions include improved access to water and sanitation, innovations to foster increased safety and security, protection of human rights and personal welfare, access to independent and fair legal systems, and promotion of inclusive employment and growth.  The fight against inequality and marginalisation requests also integrated urban development actions, which include the use of culture as factor promoting aggregation and inclusiveness (e.g. cultural urban development in marginal areas and restauration of cultural heritage in historical urban centres).
3. Improve resilience and greening of cities: Promotion of a shift towards sustainable and green urban development. The trend towards an urban circular economy in developing-world cities should continue. This could increase the quality of life, foster urban green growth and make cities more resource-efficient through sustainable modes of production and consumption. Sustainable energy solutions are also a priority for many cities in developing countries, which have a major impact on surrounding ecosystems due to their firewood and charcoal consumption, also affecting overall urban air quality. It also contributes to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from the use of fossil energy sources or low-efficiency technologies including for transport, decreasing pollution levels, reducing waste and making cities more resilient to climate change. Better management of urban biodiversity and protected peri-urban areas, especially in planning of urban expansion, will contribute to maintaining ecological connectivity and increase city dwellers’ environmental awareness. Better accounting for natural capital, for example by means of payment mechanisms for ecosystem services, such as water funds, or greening of municipal taxes, are important drivers of sustainability. 
4. Improve prosperity and innovation in cities: The EU supports cities as actors of open innovation. This means enabling interactions between people and organisations involved in the creation, design and implementation of integrated and innovative policy actions for urban and peri-urban areas. EU development cooperation aims to make cities more innovative to foster sustainable local economies and create employment. In this context, different urban realities offer opportunities for innovative and competitive solutions to societal and environmental problems: while the metropolitan areas and the big or mega-cities are the engines of the global economy, primary and secondary cities are hubs that drive regional or local growth. Providing enabling conditions for circular economy initiatives enhances opportunities to improve both the economic dynamism and the environmental sustainability of cities. Green public procurement can be a powerful incentive for this transition.   Both public and private finance may be considered for investments in and maintaining of municipal infrastructure. Priority sectors of municipal infrastructure include: urban mobility and transport, water supply and sanitation, solid waste management, energy efficiency and renewable energy services.
5. Strengthen institutional resilience in context of fragility: addressing fragility require tailoring differentiated approaches to fragile contexts and working across the full spectrum of issues, some of which are inherently difficult and sensitive. In this call for proposals, “fragility” is considered from a governance perspective for instance  on cases where the central state is weak or ineffective, failing to exercise its prerogative or to provide basic services to the population on its territory or a part of the territory. Local authorities could therefore play a key role to build or re-build foundations for peaceful and stable society, basis for an inclusive growth and a sustainable development and laying the foundations of participatory and accountable decision-making. Local authorities could also act as coordinators of actions carried out by other actors, such as public or semi-public body / agency (example: water distribution, waste management, etc.), universities and research centres, civil society organisations or even local private sector, to unleash the potential of its territorial development. 

Specific objectives by lot:

Lot 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

The proposed actions under these lots must address:

- the specific objective (1) urban governance and 

- at least one of the other specific objective: (2) social inclusiveness, (3) greening of cities, (4) prosperity and innovation. 

Specific objectives of Lot 6

The proposed actions under this lot must address:

- the specific objective (1) urban governance and 

- the specific objective (5) strengthen institutional resilience in context of fragility.

 

Priorities of this call for proposals :

For all lots, proposals must address the four priorities (all of them) of this call. 

Applicants must clearly indicate and explain how they address the following four priorities. This will be assessed under point 1.1 of the Concept Note evaluation grid. A proposal which does not clearly address all the priorities may be rejected on this sole basis.

1. Clearly demonstrate their contribution to the achievement of SDG 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
2. Integrate in the activities the promotion of peer-to-peer learning and/or exchanges and/or short-term deployment of public officials at subnational level towards- twinning activities.
3. Promote multi-stakeholders and multi-sectors approaches.
4. Promote the EU development cooperation Rights-Based Approach, encompassing all human rights, including participation and access to the decision-making process, non-discrimination (including Gender Equality) and equal access, accountability and access to the rule of law and transparency and access to information.

Additional priorities:

The integration in the proposed action of at least one of the three additional priorities will be considered as an added-value. 

Applicants must clearly indicate which additional priority the proposed action is aiming at. Applications addressing additional priorities will receive a higher score under point 1.4 of the evaluation grid of the concept note.

1. Triangular cooperation involves Southern-driven partnerships between two or more local authorities (LA) from two or more partner countries supported by a European LA to implement cooperation programmes and projects through exchanges of knowledge, skills, resources and technical know-how. The three partners of the triangular cooperation must be represented in the partnership either as a lead applicant or as co-applicants,  with the following specific roles:

• The host (the LA established in the country where the action takes place) identifies the need for the partnership, the development challenge to be addressed and the objectives to be achieved, and hosts and manages the partnership. The host is the principal beneficiary of the partnership. It is essential that the host is in charge of identifying its development needs, the focus of the partnership and the outcomes and impacts the partnership is expected to deliver.
• The EU partner, whose engagement in the partnership responds to needs identified by the host, provides technical assistance and policy expertise for the design, establishment and implementation of the partnership’s activities. The role of the EU partner in Triangular Cooperation is an active one, bringing its expertise and experience to the partnerships so as to strengthen its effectiveness and impact.
• The co-provider, from the South, who has specific technical expertise or experience on the development challenge identified by the host and a recognised track record of successfully addressing it within its own domestic context, which is sufficiently similar to that of the host to ensure the applicability and relevance of the experience and expertise. The co-provider is not the main beneficiary of the action. Its role is to assist the host in addressing its challenge.

The host and the EU partner can be either the lead applicant or the co-applicant, while the co-provider can only be a co-applicant.

1. Smart cities: refers to the uses of information and communication technologies to increase cities' operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.
2. Job creation: refers to the critical role of Local Authorities in fostering growth and employment as well as connecting their communities to global economic networks. Local authorities often have a role related to business regulations and their enforcement across at subnational level (their role become essential in processes such as e.g. starting a business, dealing with construction permits and land registration, getting electricity, registering of property, paying of taxes, enforcing contracts). Local authorities have also often a crucial role in providing transparent information to the public on business / property / land registries. Furthermore, the territorial approach to local development in which local authorities play a central coordinating role to unleashing the full economic and social potential of territories, including private sector, local civil society, communities, other resources, is essential.

3.3.Financial allocation provided by the contracting authority

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 111,550,000 and is specified in the corresponding Multi-Annual Action Programme 2019-2020. 

The Contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds. Likewise, this amount could be increased should more funds become available.

 

Indicative allocation of funds by lot

 There will be 6 different lots under this call for proposals. The indicative allocations per lot are as follows:

Lot 1: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Total available: EUR 40,000,000

Lot 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific

Total available: EUR 20,000,000

Lot 3: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Total available: EUR 20,000,000

Lot 4: Partnerships for sustainable cities in the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood 

Total available: EUR 18,000,000

Lot 5: Partnerships for sustainable towns 

Total available: EUR 8,000,000

Lot 6: Partnerships for sustainable cities in fragile countries 

Total available: EUR 5,500,000

If the allocation indicated for a specific lot cannot be used due to insufficient quality or number of proposals received, the Contracting authority reserves the right to reallocate the remaining funds to (an)other lot(s). 

 

Size of grants

Lot 1: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lot 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific

Lot 3: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Lot 4: Partnerships for sustainable cities in the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood

Any EU requested contribution under the 4 geographic lots of this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 2,000,000
• maximum amount: EUR 5,000,000

Any EU requested contribution under the 4 geographic lots of this call for proposals may not exceed the following maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:

• Minimum percentage: 50 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
• Maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.5). 

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund.

 

Lot 5: Partnerships for sustainable towns 

Lot 6: Partnerships for sustainable cities in fragile countries 

Any EU requested contribution for the 2 horizontal lots of this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 500,000
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000

Any EU requested the 2 horizontal lots contribution under this call for proposals may not exceed the following maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:

• Minimum percentage: 50 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
• Maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.5). 

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund.

 

For lot 6 (only):

The requested EU contribution may cover the entire eligible costs of the action if this is deemed essential to carry it out. If a full financing is requested (100%), the lead applicant must justify full financing in Section 2.1 of Part B of the grant application form. The validity of the justification provided will be examined during the evaluation procedure. The absence of any justification may lead to the rejection of the application. 

If the evaluation committee considers that the justification is not valid, only the maximum percentage allowed (95%) will be accepted.

Please note that the lead applicant can either ask for a maximum co-financing of 95% or exceptionally of 100% (under the conditions described above). A percentage between 95.01% and 99.99% is not allowed and it will lead to the rejection of the application.

 

For all lots: 

As per section 6.3.10. of the Practical Guide, the grant must not give rise to profits for neither the Beneficiaries (Coordinator/lead applicant and co-beneficiaries/co-applicants) nor any affiliated entity (in the context of this call, profit is defined as a surplus of the receipts over the eligible costs approved by the Contracting Authority when the request for payment of the balance is made). Expected revenue of the action may be accepted as co-financing. However, action revenues in excess of the total costs will be considered as profit. As such, it will need to be deducted when calculating the final amount of the EU grant.

Rules FOR thIS call for proposalS

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of the actions financed under this call, in conformity with the practical guide, which is applicable to the present call (available on the internet at this address http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do?locale=en).

 

2.1.Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

1. the actors:

• The ‘lead applicant’, i.e. the entity submitting the application form (2.1.1),
• its co-applicant(s) (where it is not specified otherwise the lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) are hereinafter jointly referred as ‘applicant(s)’) (2.1.1), 
• and, if any, affiliated entity(ies) to the lead applicant and/or to a co-applicant(s). (2.1.2);

the actions:

Actions for which a grant may be awarded (2.1.4);

the costs:

• types of cost that may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.5).

 

2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants (i.e. lead applicant and co-applicant(s))

 

Lead applicant

(1) In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

Lot 1: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lot 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific

Lot 3: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Lot 4: Partnerships for sustainable cities in the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood

• be a legal person and
• be non-profit-making and 
• be a Local Authority (LA) and;
• be established in one of the following eligible countries or territories (Annex L):
  1. EU Member States;
  2. Developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD-DAC (‘list of ODA recipients’), which are not members of the G-20 group:
  3. Developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, only when the country itself is the beneficiary of the action;
  4. Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) covered by Council Decision 2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union; and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

Lot 5: Partnerships for sustainable towns 

• be a legal person and
• be non-profit-making and 
• be a specific type of organisation such as:

• Local Authority (LA) with a population limited to maximum 150.000 inhabitants for European local authorities and to 300.000 inhabitants for Partner countries; or 
• a national Association of Local Authorities (ALA) from the partner country benefiting from the action; or
• a national Association of Local Authorities (ALA) from a EU Member State; or
• a regional Association of Local Authorities (ALA) , or
• an International Association of Local Authorities.
• be established in one of the following eligible countries or territories (Annex L):
  1. EU Member States;
  2. Developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD-DAC (‘list of ODA recipients’), which are not members of the G-20 group:
  3. Developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, only when the country itself is the beneficiary of the action;
  4. Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) covered by Council Decision 2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union; and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

 

Lot 6: Partnerships for sustainable cities in fragile countries 

• be a legal person and
• be non-profit-making and 
• be a specific type of organisation such as:

• a Local Authority (LA) or;
• National Association of Local Authorities (ALA) from the partner country benefiting from the action; or
• National Association of Local Authorities (ALA) from EU Member States; or
• Regional Association of Local Authorities (ALA); or
• International Association of Local Authorities. 

• be established in one of the following eligible countries or territories (Annex L):
  1. EU Member States;
  2. Developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD-DAC (‘list of ODA recipients’), which are not members of the G-20 group:
  3. Developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, only when the country itself is the beneficiary of the action;
  4. Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) covered by Council Decision 2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union; and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

 

 (2) Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations listed in section 2.6.10.1 of the Practical Guide.  

Lead applicants, co-applicants, affiliated entities and, in case of legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over the lead applicant, the co-applicants and the affiliated entities are informed that, should they be in one of the situations of early detection or exclusion according to Section 2.6.10.1 of the practical guide, personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the early detection and exclusion system, and communicated to the persons and entities concerned in relation to the award or the execution of a grant contract.  

In this respect, lead applicants, co-applicants and affiliated entities are obliged to declare that they are not in one of the exclusion situations through a signed declaration on honour (PRAG Annex A14). 

In Part A, Section 2 and Part B Section 5 of the grant application form (‘declaration(s) by the lead applicant’), the lead applicant must declare that the lead applicant himself, the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies) are not in any of these situations.

The lead applicant must act with co-applicant(s) as specified hereafter.

If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as the Coordinator in Annex E3h1 (Special Conditions). The Coordinator is the main interlocutor of the Contracting authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.

 

Co-applicant(s) 

Under all lots, the lead applicant must act with at least one co-applicant as specified hereafter. 

In the specific case of the triangular cooperation, a minimum of 2 co-applicants is requested. All actors of the triangular cooperation must be represented in the partnership, meaning lead applicant and at least 2 co-applicants.

For lots 1 to 5, the partnership must include an entity (either the lead applicant or the co-applicant) established in a EU Member State as well as an entity (either the lead applicant or the co-applicant) established in the beneficiary country where the action will take place (see section 2.1.4 “Location”).

Lot 1: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lot 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific

Lot 3: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Lot 4: Partnerships for sustainable cities in the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood

Under lots 1 to 4, co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant of the corresponding lot and referred to in Section 2.1.1.

Lot 5: Partnerships for sustainable towns 

Lot 6: Partnerships for sustainable cities in fragile countries 

Under lot 5 and 6, co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant of the corresponding lot and referred to in Section 2.1.1.

Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant. 

Co-applicants must sign the mandate in Part B Section 4 of the grant application form.

 

(3) Applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures (see Section 2.4. of the PRAG) at the moment of the award decision cannot be awarded the contract.

If awarded the Grant contract, the co-applicants will become beneficiaries in the Action (together with the Coordinator). 

Each proposal will have to clearly indicate the level of involvement and participation in the action of applicants (lead applicant, co-applicants) and affiliated entities. That will be evaluated in Section 4.3 of the evaluation grid of the full application.

Please note that all information encoded in PROSPECT must be exhaustive and in line with the content of the concept note/full application. The administrative check will be performed taking into consideration only the information available in PROSPECT in sections 1 – ‘Contact’, 2 – ‘Project’ and 3 – ‘Co-applicants’. Please make sure that there are no inconsistencies between the information in PROSPECT and those in the concept note/full application text.

Complaints about administrative rejections related to this kind of inconsistencies will not be considered and will not lead to a modification of the decision.

 

2.1.2 Affiliated entities

The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).

Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):

Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.

This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:

(i) Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:

Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:

• Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;

 

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