The Council of Europe announces a Call for proposals for inter-city grants 2024 in the framework of the Intercultural Cities (ICC) Programme.

The grants to be awarded aim at assisting ICC Programme members (exclusively) to kick-off innovative projects and methodologies in areas of priority identified for 2024-2025. Only joint applications of two or more ICC members will be accepted. Through this approach, the ICC Programme aims at fostering cooperation between local/regional authorities within or across national borders. Eventually, the aim is to create outputs which can be widely applied across the ICC network.

The terms of the call and all relevant documents have been shared via email with ICC members.

Applications must be submitted by 15 March 2024 at 12:00 noon (CET).

Answers to all questions asked during the application process will be posted below.

 Question 1 : What types of projects are admissible?

According to section IV, §1, the general objective of the call for proposals is to fund project proposals implemented jointly by two or more local/regional authorities which are members of the Intercultural Cities (ICC) Programme, and designed to devise, test, evaluate or implement policies, strategies, tools and/or methodologies in line with the intercultural approach and its four key principles (equality, diversity, interaction and participation).

According to section IV, §1, preference will be given to projects falling within the following priority areas: Anti-Discrimination, Intercultural competence training, Active citizenship and participation, Intercultural communication and awareness-raising

According to section IV, §2,the project proposal may include, but is not limited to, the following actions:

• development of guidance/guidelines/training modules;
• capacity building for local/regional authorities and officials or specific groups such as youth or civil society;
• piloting methodologies;
• evaluation and research;
• awareness raising (except for communication campaigns);
• production, dissemination and impact evaluation of communication materials;
• city-to-city visits for learning and sharing purposes.

According to section IV, §7, the following types of action will not be considered:

• Projects/actions providing financial support to third parties (re-granting schemes). Only projects implemented directly by applicants can be considered. It is not possible to reallocate funds to finance projects implemented by third parties (non-signatories to the grant agreement).
• Projects/actions concerning only or mainly individual scholarships for studies or training courses.
• Projects/actions supporting political parties.

According to section IV, §6,The procedure shall be based on the underlying principles of grant award procedures, which are transparency, non-retroactivity, non-cumulative awards, not-for-profit, co-financing and non-discrimination, in accordance with Rule 1374 of 16 December 2015 on the grant award procedures of the Council of Europe.

 Question 2: Is it necessary to submit a joint proposal with other local/regional authorities?

The grants will fund project proposals implemented jointly by two or more local/regional authorities which are members of the Intercultural Cities (ICC) Programme. Point two of the award criteria requires the participation of at least two local/regional authorities. These applying local/regional authorities must be members of the ICC programme to be eligible. In addition, the application form must be signed by all beneficiaries (main beneficiary and other beneficiary(ies)), so it is not possible to add beneficiaries at a later date.

 Question 3: Do you know if there are any cities looking for a UK partner or is there a partner-matching stage preceding the call for proposals?

There is no partner-matching stage before the call for proposals is published. ICC members are invited to make use of the contacts they have established as part of their participation in the ICC programme or to contact the ICC secretariat to obtain contacts for specific members. Please note that for privacy reasons the Secretariat will have to ask permission to the targeted city/cities before sharing its/their contact details. A good tip would be to consult the ICC good practice database to identify potential areas of work and suitable partners. The list of ICC programme members is available here.

 Question 4: What changes can be made to the original application form?

According to section IV §4 of the call for proposals: “Any change in the format, or any alteration or modification of the original application file, will cause the immediate rejection of the application concerned.”. However, authorised modifications are indicated via comments by DLAPIL (Legal Advice and Litigation Department of the Council of Europe) in Annex I itself. Authorised changes include, for example: adding “applicant” boxes in section 1 or “grantee” boxes in section 14.