Visegrad Grants – Open Call for Applications

Deadline: 1 February 2020
Open to: cross-border and transnational regional projects in Visegrad region, Eastern Partnership and Western Balkans countries
Benefits: a 100% covered project grant

Description

The Visegrad Fund is launching the first call for applications for Visegrad, Visegrad+ and Strategic grants in 2020. With grants, Visegrad Fund supports cross-border and transnational regional projects in Visegrad region, Eastern Partnership and Western Balkans countries.

The Visegrad Foundation is providing funding to a diverse range of activities in all areas of life. From small cross-border projects that strive to improve mutual understanding in the border areas to multilateral initiatives with potential to benefit people across the whole region.

Eligibility

Organizations that aim to share knowledge, enhance innovation and engage citizens in the Visegrad region and across Central and Eastern Europe are encouraged to apply. If you are a small civic group focused on the local community, or an experienced, nation-wide organization feel free to apply!

Five basic criteria to assess the quality of project proposals are applied. In addition, it is also considered the relative strength of the application compared to other applications received for the same focus area and geographical balance of the supported projects. The evaluation of applications is advisory and not of a decision-making nature. The decisions on support are made by the Council of Ambassadors.

The Visegrad and the Visegrad+ Grants 

Visegrad grants support regional partnerships among NGOs and civil society organizations, public institutions and municipalities, private companies and nonprofit organizations as well as education and research centers that contribute to cooperation in the Visegrad region.

Visegrad+ Grants support projects which contribute to the democratization and transformation processes in selected countries and regions, especially non-EU member states in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries.

To apply for Visegrad or Visegrad+ Grants, your project must address one of the objectives of the grant program from one of seven focus areas eligible for funding:

  • Culture and Common Identity
  • Education and Capacity Building
  • Innovation, R&D, Entrepreneurship
  • Democratic Values and the Media
  • Public Policy and Institutional Partnership
  • Regional Development, Environment and Tourism
  • Social Development

To read more about the conditions for applying for Visegrad Grant click here. For Visegrad+ Grant, please check out this page.

Strategic Grants

Strategic Grants support project addressing annual strategic priorities of the Visegrad Group. Strategic priorities are announced annually by the V4 country holding the rotating presidency over the group, which from July 2019 to June 2020 is Czechia. The three main strategic priorities are:

  • Returning to the Roots – Projects focusing on emphasizing cooperation of all V4 members in the Visegrad region, also in the context of the 20. anniversary of the IVF’s establishment
  • Small Things Matter – Projects focusing on cooperation at the local level aiming to enhance already established contacts as well as developing new initiatives. Also projects enhancing the IVF’s visibility at the local level
  • 30 Years after the Fall of the Iron Curtain – Civil Society Matters – Projects focusing on the importance of development and cooperation of civil societies within V4 and  the neighbouring regions EaP and WB6

Learn more about the conditions for applying for Strategic Grant here.

Benefits

The Visegrad, Visegrad+ and Strategic Grants cover up to 100% of project budget with 15% for overheads. Each project proposal shall present a deliverable-based budget, i.e., budget based on estimated costs related to the delivery of concrete outputs

Additional support from actors other than the Fund is highly encouraged—be it of financial (financial contributions by the applicant, partners and/or other donors or sponsors) or non-financial nature.
Project budgets shall be realistic and respect the “value for money” principle. All cost estimates shall be based on the project’s expected expenditures in EUR (€) based on average price.

How to Apply?

You can submit your project proposals via My Visegrad during the submission period which opens 30 days before the deadline—February 1, June 1, October 1 at 12.00 PM (noon).

Consulting your project proposal is possible via e-mail, phone, skype or by appointment. Any consultation can take place up to 14 days before the application deadline.

For the step-by-step guidance on how to prepare your application, download the Grant Guidelines and watch the video guide with useful tips below.

For more information on how to apply, please visit the official website.