On 31 May 2018, the European Commission published two new calls for proposals for sport projects that cover mobility in sport and promotion of European values through sport.
- Call for proposals: “Exchanges and mobility in sport”
The total budget of the call is estimated at 1.200.000€. Sport organisations can apply for the call on their own and can receive up to 240.000€ of funding with a maximum co-financing rate of 80 %. The Commission plans to fund around 5 projects in this field.
Beyond concrete actions aiming at giving the opportunity to staff of sport organisations to improve their competences, the expected outcomes include regular exchange schemes for sport staff and the establishment of European networks of coaches and sport staff. The action will be implemented through 4 different lots:
- Cooperation with the Western Balkans
- Cooperation with the Eastern Partnership
- Cooperation with Latin America
- Cooperation with Asia
For all lots, applicant organisations need to prove established cooperation/contacts with entities established in at least two other EU Member States and in at least one country of the relevant region. The organisations in question should be specified in the application form.
The main activities eligible under this call for proposals are for instance: exchange of coaches; placements; periods of trainings/study; job-shadowing.
- Call for proposals: “Promotion of European values through sport initiatives at the municipal level”
The call has an overall budget of 1.000.000€ for the co-financing of projects. Through this call, the European Commission aims at supporting organisations that promote local sport initiatives with the goal of disseminating the positive values of sport. This preparatory action will be implemented in two lots:
- Lot 1 has the objective of encouraging capacity building in order to support organisations that promote common values through the development of sport at municipal level throughout the EU. The maximum amount to be awarded under this category is 300.000€ with a maximum co-financing rate of 80 %. Sport organisations can apply for the call on their own. The Commission plans to fund 1 sport project with this lot.
- Lot 2 aims at supporting the establishment of networking links and mutual information sharing activities between municipalities in areas related to sport. To hand in an application for this lot, the applicant must be a public body active at local or municipal level. The Commission expects to fund 3 or 4 local projects with a maximum grant of 230.000€ (with a maximum co-financing rate of 80 %).
The main activities eligible under this call for proposals are for example to undertake capacity-building activities to improve the applicant organisations' governance and self-sufficiency or to establish partnerships with other municipalities in the EU in areas related to sport, health and well-being.
Projects within the two calls, need to be implemented between 1 January 2019 (may not start later than 31 March 2019) and 31 December 2020 and the minimum duration of projects is 6 months. Deadline for applications is the 26 July 2018 (12:00 Brussels time).
Applications for both calls will be rated on relevance of the project (40 points), quality (40 points) and management of the project (20 points), with a minimum threshold of 24/40 for the first two and 12/20 for the third criteria as well as an additional threshold 70 points for all three criteria. From past experience the total points needed for applications under pilot calls is however significantly higher due to a high number of applications. This high interest in these pilot calls does illustrate the potential of EU funding for local initiatives addressing EU-wide challenges.
FURTHER INFORMATION
EAC/S15/2018: “Call for proposals: Exchanges and mobility in sport“