Call for proposals on capacity-building in the area of rights of the child

Call updates

Nov 6, 2020 6:36:09 PM

Call update flash info - summary of the evaluation results - can be consulted here.

Jun 7, 2020 1:53:24 PM

The call flash info document has been published here.

May 6, 2020

Deadline extended: 13 May 2020

Feb 18, 2020 8:47:46 AM

FAQ for the call REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2020 can be found here.

Feb 4, 2020 3:09:30 PM

Links to interviews with experts taken at a conference on the rights of the child funding under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme in October 2019 were added under Topic description, Bibliography. They could be of interest to potential applicants.

Jan 29, 2020 8:37:07 AM

Please note that in the proposal Part B template, the section 4.1 Activities & work packages, we introduced a limit to the number of deliverables (10-15) and we modified the examples of deliverables.

Jan 15, 2020 12:30:02 AM

The submission session is now available for: REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2020(REC-AG)

Call for proposals on capacity-building in the area of rights of the child

ID: REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2020

Type of action: REC-AG REC Action Grant
Deadline Model : single-stage
Planned opening date: 15 January 2020
Deadline: 29 April 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time

Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme

Call name: Call for proposals for action grants 2020
Call ID: REC-AG-2020

Scope:

Priorities and activities to be co-financed

1. Priorities

This call for proposals will focus on the following priorities:

Priority 1. To increase general awareness and knowledge, including among children, of children rights and in particular, but not limited to, the right to be heard and express their voices on issues that matter to them.

Priority 2. To design, test, establish and evaluate mechanisms of child participation at local level.

Priority 3. To assess national legislative and policy frameworks for child participation, with a view to designing and implementing tools to promote child participation at national level.

2. Description of the activities

Under the first priority, activities shall include:

public campaigns promoting children’s rights in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
trainings and the production of training material for professionals as well as child friendly material on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;
activities with children to increase their knowledge on their rights and what their rights mean in the European Union context.
For all the above, projects can aim at reaching children, parents, families, teachers, professionals who work in contact with children and youth, media, politicians and decision makers. Activities can take place in, inter alia, schools, youth clubs, community centres, child care facilities, health care facilities, reception facilities, the justice system, etc.

Proposals are encouraged to use, disseminate and build on already existing materials promoting children’s rights.

Under the second priority, activities shall include :

the design, implementation and evaluation of child participation mechanisms at local level, for example, children city councils, children advisory boards, and consultations with children;
peer learning and peer support among local authorities from the same or a different country, aimed at fostering exchange of knowledge and good practices on how to embed child participation in local decision-making processes.
Under this second priority, it is strongly encouraged to involve a public authority to actively participate in the projects. This will be assessed under the award criterion (b) quality of the proposed action.

Under the third priority, activities shall include:

mapping of existing national legislation and practice to assess how child participation is embedded in national frameworks;
development of strategies and plans to foster child participation at national level, as well as of handbooks, check-lists, training material, to build capacity on child participation;
design and implementation of child participation mechanisms at national level.
Under this third priority, it is strongly encouraged to involve a public authority to actively participate in the projects. This will be assessed under the award criterion (b) quality of the proposed action.

3. Expected results

increased awareness on and general knowledge of children rights, and their practical implementation, among the general population, professionals working with children, and children themselves;
increased space provided by local authorities for children to make their voice heard on issues that matter to them, as well as increased capacity to take children’s opinion into account in local decision making process;
strengthened knowledge and expertise on how to embed child participation in decision making at local and national level – throughout the whole participaiton process (listening to; following-up; and proving feedback);
enhanced inclusive, meaningful and imptacful child participation at local and national level.

Support of public authority

It is strongly encouraged to involve a public authority, including regional and local authorities, to actively participate in the projects. This support will be expressed through Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application and will be assessed under the award criterion b) quality.

These public authorities can be: Ministries and/or agencies responsible for children rights/ child protection (social services, social protection, justice, children's ombudspersons and/or national human rights institutes for children, responsible regional authorities, municipalities etc. The rationale for the choice must be documented and explained in Part B Project description and implementation.

Child protection/safeguarding policy

If a project foresees direct contact with children, every beneficiary of funding (including partners) needs to provide their child protection/safeguarding policy, if they work directly with children during the project. Each partner must provide their own child protection policy (not a cumulative one per consortium).

A child protection policy should include standards that cover four broad areas (for more information please see “Child safeguarding standards and how to implement them” https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/standards_child_protection_kcsc_en_1.pdf):

policy: how the organisation is committed to preventing, protecting and responding to harm to children
people: clear responsibilities and expectations on its staff and associates and supports them to understand and act in line with these
procedures: the organisation creates a child-safe environment through implementing child safeguarding procedures that are applied across the organisation
accountability: the organisation monitors and reviews its safeguarding measures. What are the mechanisms in place within the organisation.

A child protection policy must include clear information about the recruitment of all staff – including trainees and volunteers, including background checks (vetting).

A child protection policy must include clear procedures and rules to staff, including reporting rules, and continuous training on this should be in place.

The child protection policy should be available online, i.e. transparent to all those who come in contact with the organisation.

The child protection policy document is to be submitted as Annex 4 and will be assessed under the operational capacity criteria.

Child participation

All proposals are expected to respect the child's right to participate[1] and all project activities must clearly integrate and protect the child's right to be heard[2]. Proposals must make children's involvement central and integral in every stage of the project’s design, implementation and evaluation.

Geographical scope and partnership

All projects under this call can be either national or transnational and should be elaborated in close partnership with and/or be led by appropriate key players. Applicants must document that they have the prior commitment of participating key players.

Monitoring and evaluation

Appropriate attention has to be given to developing a robust evidence base and involving reliable monitoring, evaluation and reporting procedures. This should include defining the expected impact of the activity in measurable terms and defining a robust methodology and indicators to measure the impact of the activity.

Sustainability of projects and dissemination of results

Applications should also include a clear communication, dissemination and sustainability plan, with measures to maintain and monitor results after the end of funding. Applicants should also describe the potential for scaling up the measure, should the activities produce the expected results. The projects should aim at ensuring their durability, including through the involvement of the relevant authorities in the project itself, and appropriate dissemination, including at the end of funding (by promoting and enabling access to their results to the widest possible audience).

4. Bibliography

United Nations Convention on the rights of the child
General Comment no 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard
Compilation previously funded projects on violence against children and the rights of the child, 2013 – present: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/rights_child/compilation_previously_funded_projects_rights_of_the_child_and_violence_against_children.pdf

Child participation

Commission study evaluating legislation, policy and practice on child participation in EU28: Final report - Children and young people's summary - Research summary - Resource catalogue - Reports for each of the 28 Member States
Council of Europe Recommendation on the participation of children and young people under the age of 18 (2012)
Council of Europe: child participation assessment tool
The Lundy model of child participation
Inclusion Europe participation rights children with disabilities
Laura, Lundy (2007) "Voice" is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child', British Educational Research Journal, 33:6, 927- 942
Ireland, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, National Strategy on Children and Young People's Participation in Decision-Making 2015-2020 (17 June 2015), p. 21-22. Scotland, The impact of children and young people’s participation on policy making (2018)

Child safeguarding policies

Keeping Children Safe standards
Comic Relief’s safeguarding framework
[1]Aligned with Article 24 of the Charter, relevant EU law and the UN Convention on the rights of the child

[2]As set out in UNCRC Article 12 and General Comment No 12