The Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion of 2008 highlights the fact that 78 million people in the European Union live below the poverty line, 19 million of whom are children; and this in spite of having some of the most developed social protection systems in the world.
These important issues, together with the fate of the Lisbon Treaty, are just some of the many challenges facing the newly elected European Parliament.
The aim of this Call for Proposals is to find suitable projects from all Member-State organisations which aim to enhance understanding of the role of the European Parliament and how it functions, which encourage a wider public interest and participation in the decisional process, and which provide a platform for those citizens to raise issues which are important to them. Co-financing the development and launching of innovative websites and other internet-based initiatives, which use creative methods to generate interest and raise awareness about the role of the European Parliament.
This financing opportunity is open to any officially registered organisation from any Member State of the European Union who can provide evidence of experience and infrastructure necessary for running the type of project being proposed and on the scale of the activities being proposed.
This financing opportunity is open to organisations having legal personality, able to demonstrate the financial and human resources capacity to ensure continuity for the whole period described in the project proposal. Applicants must demonstrate experience and expertise the field of web-based activities.
The Directorate General for Communication will consider projects for web-based projects which fall within the context of this call, as set out above, and which offer a means of communicating with European citizens. Proposals will concentrate on providing unbiased, accurate and up-to-date information and will
include specific links to the role played by the European parliament in the decisional process, as democratically elected body, and how those decisions impact on the daily lives of the European Citizens. Proposals will clearly demonstrate the non-political and unbiased nature of the activities being proposed.
Projects sought will:
Explain and inform citizens as to the role of the European Parliament as a democratically-elected European body, and its part in the decisional process; Clearly make the connection between EU Membership, the decisions taken by the Parliament and their impact on day-to-day life of European citizens; Be complementary in character vis-à-vis the Parliament's official communications media and materials;
Take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies to allow interactivity between citizens on a national or transnational basis, and provide a platform for debate and discussion of the issues which have been, are or can in the future be addressed by the European Parliament; Produce original content, with such content constituting at least 80% of total content posted online;
Particular attention will be given to creativity and innovation in the proposed methods of communicating with the public and to the maximum exploitation of synergies with the official communications media and material of the European Parliament, notably its website.
Financing rate:
Each grant awarded may cover up to a maximum of 75 % of total eligible costs as presented in the budgetary estimate in the application form. The amount of the grant requested from the European Parliament will not be less than 5.000 € and will not be greater than 250.000 €.
This wide range of maximum grant amounts that may be requested reflects the diverse scale of projects that may be considered. It should, however, be noted that higher grant amounts will, in practice, only be considered for wide-ranging, high impact projects presented by established on-line media organisations.
Evaluation
The evaluation procedures are expected to take place between the 21st September and the 9th of October 2009.
Results
The results of the evaluation procedures will be notified by e-mail, generated automatically by our computerised system, to the named contact person. This mail will contain only the essential information regarding the results. In this manner we are able to inform all applicants as quickly as possible of the status of their application. Any request for additional information regarding the treatment of your proposal will be dealt with at a later stage and only following a written request for information, quoting the full reference number of your application and introduced by the person named as the contact or by the person named as being responsible for the application. Formulation of the final decision and communication of the results to applicants is expected to take place between the 3rd and the 13th of November 2009.
There are three ways of sending your application as follows: by registered post, by handing it in personally, by having it delivered by a private courier/express delivery company.
This call for proposals is open until 1/09/2009 at 12.00 hrs midday.
For more information:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/subventions_call_proposal_2010/Theme_03_websites.pdf
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/subventions_call_proposal_2010.htm
