Social Inclusion and Common Values: The Contribution in the Field of Education and Training - EACEA/21/2018

Deadline: Feb 26, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

The European Union is committed to supporting Member States in fostering social inclusion and in building cohesive societies.

Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union states that ‘The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail’.

The European Pillar of social rights1 supports ‘the right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable [everyone] to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.’

On 14 December 2017, the European Union’s Heads of State and government2 confirmed the key role of education and culture in building inclusive and cohesive societies, and in sustaining our competitiveness. Furthermore, they stressed the need for an inclusive, lifelong-learning-based and innovation-driven approach to education and training and recalled their willingness - expressed at the Gothenburg summit - to do more in these areas, in which the EU plays an important supplementing and supporting role.

The Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching3 aims at promoting common values at all levels of education and fostering inclusive education, in line with the 2015 Paris Declaration4, as well as to supporting teachers and teaching and encouraging a European dimension of teaching. It encourages Member States and the Commission to share good practice and information and to develop policies at both national and EU levels.

Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship is one of the strategic objectives of the Strategic Framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020). Relevant and high-quality knowledge, skills and competences developed throughout lifelong learning, focusing on learning outcomes for employability, innovation, active citizenship and well-being are among the priority areas for European cooperation in this context.

Common EU values are the bedrock of our democracies and a reflection of who we are. They are especially relevant against the background of challenges such as populism, xenophobia, divisive nationalism, discrimination, the spreading of fake news and misinformation, or the risk of violent radicalisation, which can undermine our democratic foundations and institutions and the trust in the rule of law, and hinder a common sense of belonging within and amongst European societies.

 

Access to education and training for all continues to improve in Europe as a whole. However, ensuring quality mainstream education and training for all remains a challenge for many countries, and a significant educational gap persists. Inequality is increasing and has a negative impact on learning outcomes, since education and training systems tend to reproduce existing patterns of socio-economic status.

There is strong evidence56 that educational inequalities and students’ socio-economic background are linked. Students from poorer households are three times more likely to perform worse than their wealthier counterparts, and students of migrant background are more than twice as likely to be low achievers as other students.

This call addresses the contribution of education and youth to social inclusion and common values against the background outlined above.

The management of this call is delegated by the European Commission to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, hereinafter referred to as "the Agency".

 

2. OBJECTIVES, KEY FEATURES AND EXPECTED RESULTS

2.1 Objectives

This call for proposals will support transnational cooperation projects in the fields of education and training.

Each application must address one general objective and one of the specific objectives. Both the general and specific objectives of the call are exhaustive: proposals that do not address them will not be considered.

General objectives

Proposals should address one of the two general objectives below:

or

1. Disseminating and/or scaling up good practices on inclusive learning and on promoting common values, initiated in particular at local level. In the context of the present call, scaling up means replicating good practice on a wider scale/transferring it to a different context or implementing it at a higher/systemic level;

2. Developing and implementing innovative methods and practices to foster inclusive education and promote common values.

 

Specific objectives
Proposals should address one of the following specific objectives:

•   Enhancing the acquisition of social and civic competences, fostering knowledge, understanding and ownership of values and fundamental rights;

•   Promoting inclusive education and training and fostering the education of disadvantaged learners, including through supporting educational staff in addressing diversity and reinforcing diversity among education staff;

•   Enhancing critical thinking and media literacy among learners, parents and educational staff;

•   Supporting the inclusion of newly arrived migrants in good quality education, including by assessing knowledge and validating prior learning;

•   Fostering digital skills and competences of digitally excluded groups (including older people, migrants and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds) though partnerships between schools, business and the non-formal sector, including public libraries.

Projects are encouraged to involve role models in their activities, where appropriate.

2.2 Key features of the projects submitted under the present call

In line with the objective of Erasmus+ Key Action 3 to support policy reform, projects should demonstrate the capacity to generate impact not only on the partner organisations but also at the systemic level, e.g. generating multiplier effects at territorial or sector-specific level, attracting or involving major players or networks – including from the private sector, obtaining support from public authorities, enhancing awareness and visibility of activities or outputs, etc.

•   Projects focussing on dissemination/upscaling should primarily build on actions for which solid proof of their effectiveness can be provided and which show potential for being disseminated and/or scaled up.

•   Projects focussing on innovative practices in education and training should demonstrate their innovative character building on the outcomes of previous analyses, evaluations and pilot actions.

•   Projects cutting across sectors and involving non-formal learning are encouraged to create synergies between education, training, youth, culture and sport.

  Proposals should include the following elements:

•   Context and rationale justifying the proposed actions, including the challenges to be addressed at local level and the assessment of the needs of the target group(s);

•   Description of the policies and practices to be disseminated and/or scaled up (e.g. courses, teaching materials, use of role models, recommendations) or of the innovative approach proposed, including supporting evidence.

•   Description of the strategy and methodology for implementation of the proposed action, in particular of the relevant concrete activities (e.g. adaptation to new context, testing, training, capacity building, awareness-raising activities, etc.).

•   Description of the evaluation methods, which should be integral part of the project and should provide evidence on the effectiveness of the activities;

•   Plans for follow-up (replication or up-scaling in other sectors, areas, target groups, integration at systemic level, etc.) showing the project sustainability, including possible funding through EU (e.g. Erasmus+, European Structural and Investment Funds, European Fund for Strategic Investment) or national funds.

Description of how the use of role models will be integrated into the project activities - if this is the case.

Synergies with other projects are encouraged, including:

•   Other (on-going or completed) European projects on citizenship education and engagement and intercultural understanding under Erasmus+ (including the joint EU-Council of Europe schemes “Human Rights and Democracy in action” and “Democratic and inclusive school culture in operation - DISCO)”7 and the predecessor European programmes in education and training;

•   the activities supported by the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security Fund8.

2.3 Expected results

Projects should lead to results such as:

•   increased awareness, knowledge and understanding of good practices in the relevant educational institutions and communities;

•   increased use of state of the art innovative approaches in policy or practice ;

•   increased awareness, motivation and competence of educational leaders and educators with regard to inclusive educational approaches and the promotion of common values;

•   active engagement of families and local communities in supporting inclusive educational approaches and the promotion of common values;

•   more widespread and effective tools to support education and training institutions and learning providers in implementing inclusive education approaches and in promoting common values.

 

 

Examples of activities

Activities aimed at achieving the expected results listed above could include:

•   Cooperation and networking models which involve combinations of relevant (public/private) stakeholders across different sectors;

•   Adapting and applying learning practices to new target populations;

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

•   Assessing, sharing and validating good practices and learning experiences;

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

•   Supportive approaches and outreach practices from young people to young people as well as role model activities;

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

•   Operational or policy recommendations in the field of education and training that are relevant to the objectives of the Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching and of the Paris Declaration;

•   Supportive approaches and outreach practices addressing disadvantaged groups and newly arrived migrants and refugees.

 

3. TIMETABLE

(or indicative period )

a) Publication of the call

November 2018

b) Deadline for submitting applications

26th February 2019 at 12:00

(noon Brussels time)

c) Evaluation period

March – June 2019

d) Information to applicants

June/July 2019

e) Signature of grant agreement

August- November 2019

f) Starting date of the action

1st November, 1st December 2019 or 15th January 2020

 

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget available for the co-financing of projects under the present call is EUR 10.000.000.

The financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed 80 % 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.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

•   they must be submitted not later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in Section 3.

•   they must be submitted online (see Section 14 of the present guidelines), using the electronic application form and its compulsory annexes (using only the provided templates);

•   they must be drafted in one of the EU official languages. Please note that only typed applications will be considered.

The application form must be accompanied by a balanced budget using the compulsory template and must be expressed in Euro (€).

Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

In order to submit an application, applicants, co-applicants and/or affiliated entities must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form9. The PIC can be obtained by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If an applicant, a co-applicant or affiliated entity already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals.

The Participant Portal allows applicants, co-applicants and affiliated entities to upload or update the information related to their legal status and attach the requested legal and financial documents (see Section 14.2 for more information).

Only applications that comply with the admissibility requirements will pass at evaluation stage.

 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The proposals which comply with the below criteria will be the subject of a content evaluation. Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be considered for a grant. The eligibility criteria will be assessed on the basis of the information provided in the application form.

6.1 Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants are public and private organisations active in the fields of education, training and youth or other socio-economic sectors, or organisations carrying out cross-sector activities (e.g. cultural organisations, civil society, sport organisations, recognition centres, chambers of commerce, trade organisations, etc.).

National Agencies or other structures and networks of the Erasmus+ Programme, receiving a direct grant from the Commission in accordance with the legal basis of the Programme10 are not eligible to participate. Nevertheless, the legal entities hosting the Erasmus+ National Agencies or the structures and networks mentioned above, as well as entities affiliated to these legal entities, are considered eligible applicants.

Legal entities having a legal or capital link with a beneficiary, which is neither limited to the project nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation may take part in the project as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs as specified in Section 11.2. For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form. These affiliated entities have to fulfil the eligibility and exclusion criteria and therefore the appropriate supporting documents will have to be provided.

Only legal entities established in the following programme countries are eligible:

•   the 28 Member States of the European Union;

•   the EFTA/EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway;

•   EU candidate countries: the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey an Serbia

 

For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the project. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the project period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.16.3.1 (a) of the grant agreement.

The minimum partnership composition requirement for this call is 4 eligible organisations from 4 different programme countries.

If networks are involved in the project, the consortium must include at least 2 organisations which are not members of the network(s) and the consortium has to represent at least 4 eligible countries.

In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested (via the Participant Portal):

 for a private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain programme countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required); or a

 Public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity;

 Entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf.

Applicants must submit mandate letters (attached to the eForm) from partner organisations confirming their participation (original signatures required).

Associated partners: Additionally, the project may benefit from the involvement of associated partners. These organisations can contribute to the implementation of specific tasks/activities and/or support the dissemination and sustainability of the project. In principal, they will not benefit financially from the EU grant and associated partners can be established both in Programme or partner countries. For that purpose, applicants shall identify such associated partners in the 'Detailed Project Description' which is part of the Application Package and confirm this list at the stage of notification of project results.

6.2 Eligible activities and project duration

Activities must start either on 1 November, 1 December 2019 or 15 January 2020.

Only activities taking place in Programme countries (see Section 6.1) will be considered eligible for funding. Any costs relating to activities undertaken outside these countries or by organisations that are not registered in the Programme countries are not eligible.

Exceptionally, and on case by case basis, activities involving other countries than the Programme countries can be granted but must have the prior and specific authorization from the Executive Agency.

 

The project duration must be 24 or 36 months.

However, if after signing the agreement and after 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, if requested before the deadline specified in the grant agreement. The maximum extension is limited to 6 additional months.

 

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA
7.1 Exclusion from participation

The authorising officer shall exclude an applicant from participating in call for proposals

procedures where:

(a) the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, where its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, where it is in an arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended, or where it is in any analogous situation

arising from a similar procedure provided for under national laws or regulations;

(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with those of the country in which the authorising officer is located or those of the country of the performance of the contract;

(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;

(ii) entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;

(iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Agency during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the

following:

• (i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;
• (ii) corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, and in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as defined in the law of the country where the contracting authority is located, the country in which the applicant is established or the country of the performance of the contract;
• (iii) participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;
• (iv) money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
• (v) terrorist-related offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;
• (vi) child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(e) the applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union's budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or

investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.

(g) for the situations of grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, other criminal offences, significant deficiencies in the performance of the contract or irregularity, the

applicant is subject to:

• (i) facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;
• (ii) non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;
• (iii) decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;
• (iv) decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition rules or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.
• (v) decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

(h) a person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the applicant, or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant (this covers the company directors, members of the management or supervisory bodies, and cases where one person holds a majority of shares), is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (f) above.

(i) a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) above.

If an applicant is in one of the situations of exclusion listed above, it should indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. They may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines. The relevant documentary evidence which illustrates the remedial measures taken must be provided in annex to the declaration.

This does not apply for the situations referred in point (d) of this section.

In the cases provided in (c) to (f) above, in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the Agency may exclude an applicant provisionally from participating in a call for proposals where their participation would constitute a serious

and imminent threat to the Union's financial interests.

7.2 Rejection from the award procedure

The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:

(a) is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with the above section 7.1;

(b) has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information;

(c) was previously involved in the preparation of a call for proposals where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

Rejection from this procedure and administrative sanctions (exclusion or financial penalty) may be imposed on applicants or affiliated entities where applicable, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure prove to be false.

The applicants should be informed that the Agency may publish on its internet site the following information related to the exclusion and, where applicable, the financial penalty in the cases referred to in points (c), (d), (e) and (f) of the section 7.1:

(a) the name of the applicant concerned;
(b) the exclusion situation;
(c) the duration of the exclusion and/or the amount of the financial penalty.

In case of a preliminary classification in law (i.e. absence of a final judgement or a final administrative decision), the publication shall indicate that there is no final judgement or final administrative decision. In those cases, information about any appeals by the applicant, their status and their outcome, as well as any revised decision of the authorised officer, shall be published without delay. Where a financial penalty has been imposed, the publication shall also indicate whether that penalty has been paid.

The decision to publish the information is taken by the Agency either following the relevant final judgement, final administrative decision or preliminary classification in law, as the case may be. That decision shall take effect three months after its notification to the economic operator.

The information published shall be removed as soon as the exclusion has come to an end. In the case of a financial penalty, the publication shall be removed six months after payment of that penalty.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, where personal data is concerned, the Agency shall inform the applicant of its rights under the applicable data protection rules and of the procedures available for exercising those rights.

7.3 Supporting documents

The coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on their honour on behalf of all applicants and their affiliated entities certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in the above sections 7.1. and 7.2, filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals. If applicable, the relevant documentary evidence which appropriately illustrates any remedial measures taken should be provided in annex to this declaration.

This declaration is part of the Application Package (see Section 14.3).

 

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities .

8.1 Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents that will be requested from selected applicants:

Low value grants (equal or inferior to EUR 60.000):

•   a declaration on their honour

•   Grants of more than EUR 60.000:

•   a declaration on their honour and

•   the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed;

•   for newly created entities: the business plan might replace the above documents;

In the course of the procedure applicants may be requested to register and provide a Participant Identification Code (PIC, 9-digit number), serving as the unique identifier of their organisation in the Participant Register. Applicant(s) will receive instructions on how to create a PIC in due time.

 

Upon communication of the applicant's PIC, the EU Validation Services (Research Executive Agency Validation Services) will contact the applicant (via the messaging system embedded in the Participant Register) and request the latter to provide the supporting documents necessary to prove the legal existence and status and the financial capacity of the organisation. All necessary details and instructions will be provided via this separate notification.

The documents required under point 1 and 2 shall be submitted only for the coordinator of the project.

The declaration on honour is submitted as an annex to the application form. The financial statements and the financial capacity form are required at a later stage of the selection process.

The verification of financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies, or to international organisations.

For the purpose of this call, public bodies, as well as schools, higher education institutions and organisations in the fields of education, training, youth and sport that have received over 50 % of their annual revenue from public sources over the last two years shall be considered as having the necessary financial, professional and administrative capacity to carry out activities under the Call for proposals. They shall not be required to present further documentation to demonstrate that capacity. Such organisations are required to declare (at the stage of the notification of the selection results) that their organisation complies with the above-mentioned definition of public body. The Agency reserves the right to request documentation to prove the veracity of this declaration.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Responsible Authorizing Officer (hereinafter "RAO") considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, s/he may:

•   request further information;

•   propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;

•   propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing paid in instalments;

•   propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);

•   where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co- beneficiaries;

•   reject the application.

8.2 Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action or work programme. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour, and, for those applying for a grant above EUR 60.000 must include in the Application Package:

 a description of the profile of the people primarily responsible for managing and implementing the operation (accompanied, where appropriate, by a list of relevant publications) within each partner institution showing all their relevant professional experience;

 an exhaustive list of past or current projects related to the selected objectives of the call, implemented by the applicants.

 

 

9. AWARD CRITERIA

Eligible proposals will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

1) Relevance of the project (30%)

Purpose: The application is relevant to the chosen general and specific objectives of the call outlined in section 2, in the selected Lot. The project features are consistent with the features described in the call.

Consistency: The different components of the application are mutually relevant and consistent. The application is based on an adequate analysis of challenges and needs, the objectives are realistic and address issues relevant to participating organisations and the immediate and indirect target groups. Evidence of the effectiveness of the selected good

practice(s) action(s) is provided.

Scaling up: The application demonstrates the potential for scaling up good practice(s) at different levels (e.g. local, regional, national, EU) and sectors. The scaling up is likely to generate impact not only at the level of the different partner organisations but also at system and/or policy level.

European added value: The application brings added value at EU level, through results that would not be achieved at country level alone, and there is potential for transferring results to countries not involved in the project. The project outcomes have the potential to feed into the relevant EU policy agendas.

 

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