Informal online public consultation
Upcoming EU support for Active Citizenship and Implementation of Children’s Rights Agenda
About this consultation
The EU Delegation is preparing a Call for Proposals to be launched at the beginning of 2020, with the aim to support two priorities:
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Active Citizenship for Transparency and Accountability: To activate civil society actors (CSOs, activists, informal groups, social partners, youth organisations etc.) at local level to participate in the public life of their communities, contributing to improving local democracy and stimulating them to act as watchdog on transparency, responsibility and accountability of local government and institutions.
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EU Agenda for Children's Rights: To support civil society to effectively network and collaborate with local and central governments, through structured policy dialogue processes and concrete pilot actions at the local level, with the goal of implementing and monitoring the EU Children's Rights Agenda, as well as the new legislation and action document for the protection of child rights in Albania.
The EU Delegation is interested in collecting ideas and suggestions to improve this call for proposals.
Consultation period: 10 December 2019 (launch) – 17 January 2020 (deadline)
Topics: 1) Active Citizenship for Transparency and Accountability and 2) Children’s Rights Agenda.
Organised by: EU Delegation to Albania
Objective of the consultation
The EU Delegation wishes to receive views on the appropriateness of the proposed areas to be addressed and is interested in suggestions for the definition of priorities and their implementation. Respondents can provide contributions on priorities, target groups, geographical areas etc. At the same time, respondents can suggest useful modalities to address the priorities identified. In order to structure the consultation, a few guiding questions are provided below for each of the two priorities. These guiding questions should not prevent respondents from providing additional suggestions and ideas.
Target groups
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Civil society organisations, including non-traditional actors, such as individual activists, councils, informal groups etc.
Consultation outcome
The results of the written public consultation will be examined and suggestions may be considered by the EU Delegation in the final guidelines for this EU-funded call for proposals. The EU Delegation foresees to publish this call in the first quarter of 2020.
The EU Delegation will publish a summary of the contributions (without mentioning names of contributors) shortly after the end of the consultation period. A link to the results will be published here.
Background
The upcoming call for proposal is thought as a way to strengthen CSOs capacities, engagement and public participation in the reform process and EU Integration through policy dialogue and actions, both addressing local dimension and needs as well as national policies, such as Children’s Rights Agenda.
The first priority identified, Active Citizenship for Transparency and Accountability, is planned to boost the participation and involvement of the non-traditional CSOs (i.e. activists, networks, city councils, informal groups and civic actions, youth groups, school groups, foundations, employers/employees' organisations) in the shaping of local policies and promotion of EU principles, in monitoring enforcement of legislation and implementation of local policies, in introducing a culture of transparency and accountability in the Local Government Units. In the framework of this priority, projects awarded are expected to contribute to create active citizenship through innovative ideas and interventions, including through collaboration with local authorities and through the use of financial support to third parties (via sub-grants). A specific focus should be placed on the gender dimension, supporting the engagement of women’s organizations as accountability agents in budgetary, legislative, and policy-making processes at all levels. Priority should be also put on youth engagement at various levels as well as on involvement of the private sector as a driver of change, locally and at national level.
The second focus of the upcoming call is to support the EU Agenda for Children's Rights and the implementation of the law on protection of children's rights in Albania and building a coherent approach for gender-responsive policy implementation at local level. For instance, priorities could be focused towards strengthening child protection system, establishing models of prevention of institutionalization of children without parental care, family strengthening support, inclusive education for girls and boys, strengthening the voice of children and young people at local and central level etc. The call may include different lots responding to priority areas of the Agenda for children in Albania and promoting EU Guidelines for the promotion and protection of the rights of the children. Results from these actions will serve as models for more inclusive, evidence based policy dialogue and stepping up efforts in promoting, protecting and raising awareness fort the implementation of children rights in practice.
The active participation of children and youths from marginalised communities and gender equality goals will be explicitly and consistently addressed and incorporated as part of the call for proposals. In particular, actions should contribute to objectives related to equal access for girls to quality education free from discrimination, protection of girls from all forms of exploitation, coercion and violence, challenging and changing discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes. Financial support to third parties (via. sub-grants) could be considered under this call.
Guiding Questions
Questions below are only indicative and are meant to provide guidance to respondents but should not limit the possibility to provide additional suggestions and ideas to improve the quality and the outcomes of the call for proposals. Input can be provided to one or all the questions below
1) Active Citizenship for Transparency and Accountability
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How relevant is this priority and how can it be better specified or broken down into sub-priorities or focus areas?
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In your view, what are the needs to be addressed in supporting and strengthening capacities and the impact of civil society in the area of good governance at local and national level?
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In your view, what are three priorities in the area of good governance and accountability that require an increased role of civil society groups (activists, social partners, business community, youth, etc.)? Please, propose themes/sector on which the Call should focus primarily.
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In your view, how could this call promote opportunities for networking, exchanges within the civil society sector and across the spectrum of local governance stakeholders – civic, public and private? Please, suggest interlocutors/partners with which cooperation should be boosted (private sector? diaspora? school groups? etc.).
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In your view what would be the best modality to engage with and activate the non-traditional civil society organizations (such as networks, coalitions, activists) beyond capacity building and financial support? What would be the ideal size of the grants and of sub-grants (size of EU contribution)?
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In your view how could the call ensure that young people, girls and women, and the most excluded groups are well engaged and involved in the action?
2) Support to Children’s Rights Agenda.
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How could concrete pilot actions at the local level improve the situation of particularly marginalised children, youths and their families: actions could address children, families, community workers, local social/health/legal services, local media?
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How could an effective cooperation and policy dialogue on the advancement of children rights at the local and national level look like? How could the sustainability of various models be ensured through such support?
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How can the system approach and monitoring and evaluation of interventions supporting vulnerable children at the local level be improved? How can it assist local social plans to mainstream children and girls’ rights? How can it provide evidence-based data to feed policy dialogue at the local and national level.
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In your view, what are three areas of priorities of the National Agenda on children's rights that would require more attention through such support ?
How to submit your response
You can send your written contribution in English to the following address: delegation-albania@eeas.europa.eu(ideally one page, maximum two pages).
Protection of personal data and privacy statement
Disclaimer/ clarification on impact of your participation
Please note that any contribution you make to this consultation is on a voluntary basis, and will not be funded. In addition, while the European Commission will carefully look at your suggestions, it is not bound by them and will take its own decision as far as the content of the call guidelines is concerned.
Your participation in this informal consultation does not exclude you from making a proposal in the upcoming call (as long as eligibility requirements are fulfilled). At the same time, please note that your participation in this consultation will not give you any advantage in the evaluation either. Indeed, equal treatment is ensured and entities that have given suggestions in the consultations and those that did not will be treated equally. Furthermore, should your suggestions be retained, this also does not give you any advantages in terms of points attributed by the evaluation committee.
