About

The European Commission is pleased to invite expression of interests to strengthen civil society organisations in EU partner countries.

CSO are indeed key actors in protecting and promoting democracy, rule of law and human rights, which are fundamental values of the European Union. They play key role for conflict prevention, resilience, peace and security in fragile and/or conflict-affected contexts and are furthermore often the basis of resilience at community level. They are key partners in devising and implementing policies and programmes that meet people's needs, reduce inequalities, and fulfil the central commitment of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind.

Activities funded under the programme will support a broad range of civil society actors including and prioritising, but not limited to, women and youth organisations. 

Categories

• Human Rights and Democracy (HRD): The global objective is promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law in Uzbekistan.

• Civil Society Organisations (CSO): The global objective is to strengthen local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as independent actors of good governance and development in Uzbekistan.

Objectives

• Human Rights and Democracy (HRD): The specific objective(s) are:

  • Protecting and promoting civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights;

  • Enhance the capacity of local civil society activists and CSOs to actively engage in promoting youth inclusion and empowerment, gender equality and women's empowerment, media literacy, and environmental sustainability and climate change initiatives;

  • Safeguarding fundamental freedoms, including harnessing the opportunities and addressing the challenges of new technologies: to create and maintain an environment conducive to the full exercise of all fundamental freedoms, online and offline.

• Civil Society Organisations (CSO): The specific objective(s) are:

  • strengthening capacities of local CSOs to engage in policy dialogue at national level and in dialogue, implementation and monitoring of national development programmes and plans;

  • to increase the capacity of civil society organisations to perform their role as independent development actors more effectively and to enhance efforts to promote a conducive environment for CSOs;

  • to improve capacity and ability of local CSOs to uphold and promote an enabling environment and democratic space in Uzbekistan, to support local administrations in the implementation and monitoring of the national initiatives and plans on decentralisation and implementation of the Agenda 2030 SDGs.

Priorities

• Human Rights and Democracy (HRD): The priorities are:

  • strengthening capacities of civil society, women and youth organisations in fighting against discrimination in all its forms and especially violence against women, and contributing to policy dialogue on gender equality and women’s rights and enabling the active participation and inclusive growth and decision-making through women empowerment.

  • strengthening capacities of civil society organisations to exercise fundamental freedoms, to promote and protect freedom of opinion and expression by ensuring transparency and accountability, as well as strengthening media and digital skills and countering hate speech in the media.

  • promotion of representation, participation and active engagement of youth in decisions-making and reform processes promoting inclusion and respect of fundamental rights of members of vulnerable groups (minorities, persons with disabilities)

• Civil Society Organisations (CSO): The priorities of this call for proposals are: 

  • democratic governance, Green Deal (i.e. climate change, environment), sustainable economic growth and jobs, empowerment of women and youth, mass media and journalism.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 2,255,000. 

• Human Rights & Democracy (HRD):

  • Total for Human Rights & Democracy (HRD): EUR 1,010,000

  • Maximum amount: EUR 505,000

• Civil Society Organisations (CSO):

  • Total for Civil Society Organisations (CSO): EUR 1,245,000

  • Maximum amount: EUR 415,000

Eligible Activities

• The following types of actions/activities may be financed under this call:

  • Actions for strengthening of existing civil society platforms, networks and coalitions, including building of information sharing mechanisms;

  • Institutionalisation of consultation mechanisms between civil society and national or local public institutions;

  • Advocacy, lobbying and development of strategies by civil society organisations to push for legal reform and to influence policy-making;

  • Support to and capacity building trainings for Human Rights Defenders, including the promoting of a safe and enabling environment for civil society.

Ineligible Activities

• The following types of action are ineligible:

  • actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses;

  • actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;

  • actions and measures that may result in violation of human rights in partner countries or causing significant adverse effects on the environment or the climate;

  • actions which consist exclusively or primarily in capital expenditure, e.g. purchase of land, buildings, equipment or vehicles, except in special circumstances.

Eligibility

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

  • be a legal person and

  • be non-profit-making and

  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental civil society organisation, and

  • be effectively established in a Member State of the European Union or in Uzbekistan, and

  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and 

  • affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

Post Date: July 08, 2025