Kosovo Youth Participation Project – KYP

Implemented by CARE International and SHL – Kosova

Announces:

CALL FOR LOCAL ACTIONS ON: Improving the Position of Disadvantaged Youth and their Participation

Date of issue: 16 January 2023 Deadline: 15 February 2023

This Call for Local Actions is issued within the Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) scheme to improve the position of disadvantaged youth, increase youth involvement, and raise general awareness on the necessity of youth participation.

The call for applications is announced for the local actions that will be eligible for financing if organized either by formal grassroots youth organisations or informal groups and with a clear and doable plan of actions. The local actions are organized in the frame of the project “Kosovo Youth Participation – KYP”, funded by the European Union and implemented by CARE, Office in Kosovo in partnership with local organization SHL-Kosova. CARE Deutschland e.V. has been awarded a grant contract in the frame of the call for proposals: European Commission (Lot 2 –Participatory democracy, youth engagement), which aims to help disadvantaged youth, mobilisation in decision-making, voluntarism and employability.

About CARE International work in the Balkans

CARE’s work in the Balkans started in 1993, when it provided humanitarian support to people affected by war. In the late 90-ties, CARE shifted its focus in the region from humanitarian post-war assistance and rehabilitation to socio-economic development, engaging in interventions directed at conflict prevention and peace-building, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence.

CARE International in the Balkans places the quality of its program at the centre of its mission and has developed a regional strategy that encompasses two main program directions: Gender Equality and Social and Economic Inclusion. CARE’s Gender Equality Program aims to empower women vulnerable to violence, discrimination and poverty, to reach better life opportunities and social justice and to work on prevention of peer violence and building of tolerance among young men in the Western Balkans. The goal of the Social and Economic Inclusion Program is to strengthen capacity and create opportunities for the marginalized, socially excluded and poor to integrate into society and access rights. CARE’s engagement and contribution lies in strengthening sustainability of key regional, national and/ or local civil society organizations and networks promoting equality and diversity, in the context of social inclusion and non-violence.

About the Kosovo Youth Participation project – KYP

The overall objective of the KYP Project is to support youth with fewer opportunities, especially young women, from rural areas and small towns of Kosovo, in order to create additional prospects for their increased social and economic participation. The specific objectives of the project are: to increase democratic participation, civic engagement and social inclusion of youth with fewer opportunities, marginalised and/or with different abilities, particularly women. The project focuses on three main components:

• Increased participation of disadvantaged youth in decision-making, local communities, and the central level.
• Enhanced engagement and employability of marginalized youth, in particular young women, through skills development and involvement in volunteering initiatives.
• Fostered democratic dialogue across Kosovo youth, through raised awareness on and promotion of gender equality, solidarity, inter-cultural relations, and counter stereotypes and disinformation.

Objective of the call: Local Actions

As an additional measure to raise the general visibility of youth and awareness of their specific status and needs within the local communities, the informal youth groups formed within the project will be encouraged to plan and implement local actions which will emphasize their activism. The KYP project will support up to 15 local actions, involving up to 1000 youth from the target municipalities/regions. Through local actions which will be organized, the communities will raise awareness on the necessity and benefits of the higher participation of youth in social life.

The call for local action within the KYP project will support local actions with the amount of approximately 1000 EUR per each and covering the municipality of Deçan/Dečani, Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje, Gjakova/Đakovica, Junik/Junik, Obiliq/Obilić, Peja/Peć, and Suharekë/Suva Reka. Duration for full implementation of each supported local action shall not pass one month in total.

• Why a Call for Local Actions?

The local actions should be aimed at the general population, striving to improve a general understanding of the problems young people are facing in Kosovo and create a more enabling environment for the social participation of youth.

• What is a Local Action?

Local action is a short-term or mid-term grassroots action plan oriented to address the most pressing issues in the city, community, or area where you belong. Through local actions, youth must demonstrate and convey a strong message to the wider audience, their peers, and local-level institutions, thus raising awareness on the difficulties youth face in certain communities.

Application Guidelines and Criteria

This call is designed specifically for young people between the ages 15 – 25 specifically, but not limited; priority will be given to young people who have newly gained knowledge from the 2-day training on Capacity Building on Human Rights, Representation, Advocacy, Activism, and Youth Mobilization of youth from rural areas and small towns on youth mobilization and activation. The local actions should be aimed at the general population, striving to improve a general understanding of the problems young people are facing in Kosovo and create a more enabling environment for the social participation of youth.

The local actions (a) will be eligible for financing if organized either by formal grassroots youth organizations, or informal groups and with a clear and doable plan of action.

Activities that will be supported should:

• Clearly show the engagement of youth and advocacy on a specific youth concerning issue within the community.
• Identify and describe the outcomes and impact
• Clearly state the impact and to what extent will people/ youth have improved to (service X).

Types of Activities that will be supported (but not limited):

• organization of public gatherings,
• promotional events,
• local media campaigns,
• public debates,
• advocacy initiatives with youth engagement,
• action-oriented initiatives which clearly display changes in the youth living environment;
• guest appearances at local manifestations etc.

Cost Eligibility

The presented cost shall be entirely related to the action and shall serve only for that purpose. Each applicant should submit a clear and cost-effective budget. All costs should be VAT-exempt.

Kosovo Youth Participation outputs

• Agree on the work plan and meetings with institutions local and central level.
• Coordinate with the responsible person regarding the topics based on the report from the Capacity Building Training and inputs from the participants.
• Coordinate with the responsible person throughout the local activity.
• Monitor the local action progress.
• Provide logistical support when possible for the realization of the task local action.

Copyright and ownership

All the deliverables from these activities are property of CARE/ KYP project.

Application Criteria

All interested applicants should submit their application via email: linda.simitciu@kyp-ks.com and cc: zane.haxhaj@care.org no later than 15.02.2023. Applications may be submitted in Albanian, Serbian or English language. The two required documents that should be submitted within the deadline are:

1. Action Plan (Annex 1)
2. Budget Plan (Annex 2)
3. Non-formal groups should submit their CV’s and ID cards of the persons involved

• Tips for a strong application
• You can incorporate an artistic component
• Demonstrate how many and how will you engage youth
• Articulate the engagement of the local level officials and institutions

Selection Process

The local actions will be revised and evaluated by the Project Selection Committee members consisting of CARE representatives and SHL-Kosova. The selection process will take place during the month of February 2023.

The selection will be based on the following set of criteria:

• Relevance with the objectives of the project as well as the recent developments in target municipality (max. 30 points).
• Quality of the proposed Local Action: (clarity and feasibility of the local action/action plans with youth engagement)(max. 30 points).
• Proposed budget, cost efficency: (are costs justifiable and matching with the local action requirements)(max 20 points).
• In line with the actual laws and it engages the approval (permition) from the local authorities (max.20 points).

Timeline

The incomplete applications and/or applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. The application will be considered incomplete if not the two documents are not submitted as required. Applicants may submit their requests for clarifications by 03 February 2023 at 16:00, via email to:linda.simiciu@kyp-ks.com and cc: zane.haxhaj@care.org.