Extended deadline | Call for selection of CSOs from the UTAG region and Transnistria to implement activities under the grant project “Resilient CSOs + Responsible Budgeting = Accelerated Implementation of the Association Agreement”

The general objective of the project is to increase and strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations to support the implementation of the conditionalities related to the Republic of Moldova's EU accession process and the Association Agreement agenda, at national and local level.

The general objective of this task

The essence of the project's first specific objective is to build and strengthen the capacities of community CSOs to monitor the budget, and to encourage their involvement in advocacy activities on aligning budgets and policies with the priorities of the Europeanisation agenda and the AA, thus helping to accelerate the reform process. To this end, through a competitive process, 6 CSOs will be selected from the 2 development regions: UTA Gagauzia and Transnistria (3 CSOs per region).

Each selected CSO will receive financial support in the form of a grant of up to EUR 20,000, allocated for the entire duration of the project to ensure funding for the activities provided for in the project. The funding will be intended to cover salary costs, relevant administrative costs and those related to bank transactions.

Grant beneficiaries will ensure the achievement of five key objectives:

• monitoring local and state budgets, including financial resources received from development partners, with particular emphasis on local and regional infrastructure projects, social services, public services and other relevant projects related to the AA and Europeanisation agenda;
• monitoring, together with the central project team, state budget expenditure for projects and policies related to the Europeanisation agenda, especially those related to: the justice sector and anti-corruption reform; employment policies; social services; energy efficiency and renewable energy; public services; and human rights, including gender equality;
• participating, together with the central project team, in visibility and advocacy activities at local level;  
• becoming local resource centres, capable of mobilising other CSOs and civic activists at local level to engage in participatory budgeting and monitoring of budget processes;
• engaging in the activities of the CSO platforms (mentioned above) by providing information in the process of drafting position papers that reflect the local/regional perspective, as well as participating in the platforms' events and advocacy activities.

Application procedure 

Interested CSOs are invited to submit an application file, in accordance with the terms of reference attached below, which will include the following documents:

• a short motivation letter, indicating the objectives and results to be achieved through the use of the grant. The letter will also indicate in which region of the country the organisation prefers to work (Transnistria, Gagauzia, as defined in the Law on Regional Development No. 438 / 2006);
• a brief description of the organisation (1-2 pages);
• the proposed budget for carrying out the project activities;
• the list of relevant projects previously implemented (no limit); 
• the organisation's registration certificate (the extract from the State Register of Legal Entities issued at least 12 months before the date of submission of the application will be requested upon signing the contract);
• the organisation's activity report for the most recent year; 
• the organisation's statute;
• the financial statements for the last 3 years (balance sheet, profit and loss account, etc.);
• the most recent audit report on the organisation's financial statements (if available).

The application must be submitted in Romanian. The extended deadline for sending the application file is 24 March 2023, 19:00, and it must be sent to the email address: procurari@expert-grup.org

Additional information can be requested by sending an email to: ecaterina@expert-grup.org (Ecaterina Rusu, project manager).

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The project is implemented by the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, as lead partner, in a consortium with IPRE, the Institutum Virtutes Civilis (IVC) Public Association and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Moldova Foundation, funded by the European Union (European Union in the Republic of Moldova) and co-funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.