The deadline for CSOs to submit their applications to the first calls of Union Values Programme was 2 pm on 20 March 2023.
The call for applications was open to cohesive and active civil society organisations that committed themselves to building new partnerships, developing as organisations, and expanding their methodological knowledge while implementing concrete campaigns.
The first calls of the three-year programme were named "In Partnership" and "In Development" and were open to applications via the dedicated online interface on the kozosertekeink.hu website. A total of 310 applications were received by the deadline.
Of these, 120 were submitted in the ‘In Partnership’ category. Here we expect applications from larger, more experienced CSOs, active at national or regional level which commit to work with smaller, rural organisations to share their knowledge and skills and to implement joint projects together with them to protect, promote and raise awareness about European values and rights. The maximum grant available in this category will be € 60 000 for projects lasting 12-24 months.
190 applications have been submitted in the ‘In Development’ category, which aims to support smaller CSOs, mainly operating outside the capital which, while working on European values, would also focus on their own internal development and improve their operation. The maximum grant available in this category will be € 20 000 for projects lasting up to two years.
After receiving the applications, the staff of the organisations implementing the Union Values Programme - Ökotárs Foundation, Autonomia Foundation, Carpathian Foundation-Hungary and the Hungarian Association for Community Development - will examine whether the applicants meet the formal requirements. Each application will then be sent to two external evaluators, who were also selected by the intermediary through an open call for applications from among more than 50 applicants. The evaluators will score the proposals against the 9 criteria set out in the call for proposals and provide a written evaluation of the proposals, listing their strengths and weaknesses.
The ranking, based on the average of the scores of the evaluators, will be judged by a committee consisting of the head of the Ökotárs Foundation, Autonomia Foundation, Carpathian Foundation-Hungary and an external expert, which will make the final decision about the applications to be supported, to be expected at the end of May. After that, the organisers will notify each applicant individually about the result.
After the first two calls for proposals, another call will be launched soon: in early April, we will also open the call for proposals for action, so that citizens can continuously apply for actions, advocacy and mobilisation activities responding to current issues and acute problems over the next year and a half. These smaller-scale, shorter campaigns are also open to organisations applying under the current call for proposals, up to a maximum total of € 60 000.
The Union Values Programme is supported by the European Union's Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, which aims to strengthen and promote European values by supporting civil society in the EU Member States.