Overview

Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process Stage Three: Consolidation and Moving Forward (ATNP-3) is a Programme implemented by a Consortium of eight civil society organisations from Armenia and Turkey with the financial assistance of the European Union. The Consortium partners are Civilitas Foundation (CF), Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Public Journalism Club (PJC), Regional Studies Center (RSC) from Armenia; and Anadolu Kültür, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), Citizens’ Assembly (h)Ca, and Hrant Dink Foundation (HDF) from Turkey.

The Programme aims to empower and engage civil societies of Turkey and Armenia to contribute to the enhanced regional peace and stability, democratic pluralism and social inclusion across and within their societies. The specific objectives are two-fold, and include a) enlarging the ranks of supporters of the Armenia-Turkey dialogue and normalisation through building-up on the long-term cooperation with existing partners and engaging new actors in the dialogue process, and b) exploring and mapping multi-dimensional interventions in support of Armenia-Turkey normalisation through effective engagement with local state and non-state stakeholders, as well as with international actors. The ultimate goal of the Consortium is to prepare a fertile ground for bolder political developments and larger-scale interventions that will contribute to the opening of the Armenia-Turkey land border and establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

One of the main pillars of the Programme is inclusiveness – to engage and support new actors in the dialogue process. To this end, the Consortium created a Sub-grant Scheme to invite individuals and organisations - other than the Consortium members - to propose and implement their own projects that have a potential to significantly contribute to the overall objective of the Programme and multiply the shared outcomes. The Sub-grant Scheme will allow the Consortium to engage a larger group of stakeholders in the Programme activities and increase its impact. As in the previous stages of ATNP programme, the Consortium is ready to consider and support projects addressing dialogue opportunities in the widest range of themes. However, this time the Consortium will give a certain degree of priority to project ideas that aim at:

• Enhancing the economic cooperation and business-to-business opportunities between Armenia and Turkey.
• Establishing/promoting collaboration between organizations and experts/individuals who represent the community of the people living in a vulnerable situation or with disabilities and/or promote the rights of such groups in society.
• Promoting cooperation between Armenia and Turkey on environmental and climate change related issues.
• Advancing cooperation between organisations and institutions working on educational issues incl. universities, educational centres, and think tanks.
• Exploring mobility and migration issues and/or their discourses in and between the two countries. 

However, ideas falling beyond the scopes of the above-mentioned directions or areas of involvement will also be accessed and evaluated according to the selection criteria put forward by the Consortium and other stakeholders.

The Sub-grant Scheme may support the overall budget of submitted proposals without co-funding requirement. However, the Sub-grant Scheme may also co-finance projects-in-progress or projects that are about to start with support from donors other than the European Union. In case the submitted proposal requests co-funding for a project that has not yet started, the co-funding will be possible as long as a) the other confirmed or pending source of funding is specified in the application form; b) the requested funds from the Sub-grant Scheme are clearly specified and justified, and c) the visibility of the EU and the Consortium is ensured.

Eligibility

• Applications are welcome from civil society organisations and individuals other than the Consortium partners. The Sub-grant Scheme may also provide grants to profit-making organisations in case the grant funds contribute to the overall objective of the Programme and not used to make profit. Applicant organisations should have a formal registration either in Armenia or in Turkey. Individual applicants should be either citizens of Armenia or Turkey or should have permanent residency in Armenia or Turkey. 
• Governmental/public agencies and political entities are not eligible to apply.
• Eligible Costs include project-related expenses, such as a) personnel salary (e.g. project director, coordinator, accountant, etc.) and honoraria for experts (local and/or international); b) communication costs (phone, internet, etc.); c) travel costs (transportation, accommodation, meals, travel insurance, etc.); d) purchase of a limited amount of equipment, software and stationary necessary to realise the project; e) survey/research, translation and publication expenses; f) rental of conference facilities, translation equipment, etc.; g) other expenses directly related to the project implementation. In case of applicant organizations, the Sub-grant Scheme beneficiaries will be issued a VAT exemption certificate by the authorities in Armenia and Turkey.
• Activities of proposed projects should take place either in Armenia or Turkey or both. In case additional/different project locations are proposed, applicants should explain the need in the application. 

Timeline

Armenia-based applicants should submit their applications to Eurasia Partnership Foundation (Armenia). Turkey-based applicants should submit their applications to Hrant Dink Foundation (Turkey). The language of applications is English. The opportunity is open from the date of the publication of this announcement till March 30, 2020. Applicants will receive Consortium’s feedback during April 2020. Projects can start in May 2020 with the final date of activities being April 30, 2021.

Selection Criteria and Selection Procedure

Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) (Armenia) that has 20 years of experience in programme administration and grant-making will bear the ultimate responsibility for the administration of the Sub-grant Scheme. Hrant Dink Foundation (HDF) (Turkey) will be the focal point in Turkey regarding the administration of the Sub-grant Scheme. EPF and HDF will collect the submitted applications in Armenia and Turkey respectively.

Submitted applications will be considered by an Evaluation Committee, comprising designated representatives from all members of the Consortium; representatives of the European Union may participate in an observer capacity. The initial check of the applications will be over the technical criteria - the proposal language, eligibility of the applicant, project duration and location, and amount of requested funding. Proposals shortlisted after the technical eligibility check will be further considered by the Evaluation Committee. 

The selection criteria upon which the Evaluation Committee will consider the applications include the following:

• Does the project contribute to the overall objective of the Programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process: Stage Three?
• Is the project relevant to the particular needs and constraints of the target groups it is addressing?
• Does the project include partnership between Armenia- and Turkey-based individuals and/or organisations?
• Does the project propose a minimum level of sustainability for the effort after the end of funding?
• Is the project innovative and does it offer an added value?
• Is the budget realistic and consistent with the proposed project?
• Does the applicant have enough capacity to successfully implement the proposed project?

While considering the applications, the Evaluation Committee may contact the applicant(s) for additional information and/or clarification.

Only those applications that receive the unanimous support of all the eight members of the Evaluation Committee will be recommended for funding. In case the Committee is unable to make a final decision on a particular application, it may condition the final approval upon the agreement of the applicant to introduce certain modifications in the action plan and/or budget. In this case, the applicant will be given a reasonable time (up to two weeks) to re-submit the proposal, and the Evaluation Committee will assess the re-submitted proposal before confirming a unanimous support.

Grant Award

Within a month after the award notification, the sub-grantee organisations and/or individuals will be invited to attend a Grants Management (GM) seminar. The GM seminar for the Armenia-located grantees will be held at EPF, while the GM seminar for the Turkey-located grantees will be held at HDF with participation of the EPF Grants Manager. The Armenia- and Turkey-based partners of the Turkey- and Armenia-based grantees will also be requested to attend the GM seminars in their home countries to get acquainted with the basic rules and procedures that EPF will apply to ensure proper financial and programmatic management of their projects.

Following the GM seminar, each sub-grantee will sign a Grant Agreement with EPF.

Publicity

The Consortium will manage and advise on the publicity of the funded projects. 

Overall, the sub-grantees will be obliged to follow the EU marking and branding procedures put forward in the EU Communication and Visibility Manual. In most of the cases (unless otherwise requested from and approved by the Consortium and EU,) the sub-grantees will need to mention that their projects are supported by the Sub-grant Scheme within the framework of the programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process funded by the European Union.

The sub-grantees will be included in the pool of the ATNP Consortium contacts to receive updates on the Programme, invitations to the Consortium events, and other relevant information.

Other Considerations

The Consortium reserves the right to require that the sub-grantee include an audit of the grant funds in the budget of its project; however, the total budget of the project (including an audit expense) cannot be higher than € 25,000.

In case the Consortium does not receive enough number of quality applications by the designated submission deadline – March 30, 2020, the Consortium reserves the right, to re-allocate the remaining funds to those approved projects of the Sub-grant Scheme that need additional funding or have the potential to expand or sustain their activities. If this option is not possible, the Consortium reserves the right to re-allocate the remaining funds to support other aspects of the programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process upon approval from the European Union. 

Submission Procedure

An application should include the following documents: 

• Application Form (proposal)
• Budget
• Grants Management Questionnaire (for legal entities only)

Applicants should fill out the enclosed Application Form, Budget, and the Grants Management Questionnaire (for legal entities only) in English.  These documents are also available on-line on the web-site of the Programme. 

In case the applicant is a legal entity, the application package should include scanned (PDF) copies of the Application Form, Budget, and Grant Management Questionnaire all featuring the signature of the head of the applicant organisation and the seal of the organisation. In case, the applicant is an individual, the application package should include scanned (PDF) copies of the Application Form and Budget both featuring the signature of the individual applicant. EPF and HDF guarantee the confidentiality of the submitted documents and information. 

Armenia-based applicants should submit their application packages electronically to Eurasia Partnership Foundation (Armenia) at [email protected].

Turkey-based applicants should submit their application packages to Hrant Dink Foundation (Turkey) at [email protected].

Armenia-based applicants can address their inquiries to Ms. Ani Tovmasyan at +374 10 25 15 75 (ext. 121) or +374 95 25 15 76 and/or [email protected].

Turkey-based applicants can address their inquiries to Mr. Çağdaş Özbakan at +90 212 240 33 61 (ext. 227) or [email protected].