Funding programme

Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) is the EU's funding programme for citizens' engagement and the implementation of EU rights and values. It replaces both Europe for Citizens and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme.

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Call overview

This call aims to raise the fundamental rights knowledge of relevant actors.

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Call detail

The Charter Strategy underlines the importance of strengthening the application of the Charter in the Member States, through awareness raising and capacity building initiatives. Accordingly, projects under this priority are intended to raise the fundamental rights knowledge of relevant actors. Building on the central role of civil society organisations and human rights defenders, funded projects could involve national, regional and local authorities as partners (co-applicants), with the aim of supporting joint capacity building and awareness raising efforts.

The projects funded under this priority could address the capacity building and awareness raising needs on the Charter in general, or they could focus on one or several of the topics below:

• ‍Rights enshrined in the Charter and awareness of the Charter’s scope of application. In accordance with its Article 51, the Charter is applicable to Member States only when they are implementing EU law. Given the specific scope of application of this instrument, unlike that of international human rights agreements, and considering the increasing number of references to the Charter in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, there is a specific need to promote an understanding of when the Charter applies, i.e. when EU law is being implemented, and of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter. Relevant projects could therefore focus on the scope of application of the Charter and/or on the contents of an individual Charter right and/or several rights.‍
• Protecting fundamental rights in the digital age. To follow up on the Annual Charter Report 2021 on fundamental rights in the digital age, the aim of the priority is to protect fundamental rights by strengthening accountability for the use of automation where rights are at stake. This includes approaches for addressing and combatting bias and multiple/intersectional discrimination based on gender and on other grounds including ethnic and racial origin, caused or intensified by the use of artificial intelligence systems. Projects could aim to develop guidelines (including measures that ensure gender sensitive implementation), technical benchmarks and tools, including for algorithm-audits. Projects are expected to develop a concrete tool or a benchmark process in an area of the applicant’s choice with demonstrated relevance for fundamental rights, without prescribing the area or the type of the tool (e.g. it could be software, a benchmark data set, a simulation environment, a procedure).

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Activities funded

The following activities can be covered:

• Awareness raising and capacity building activities aiming to increase the knowledge of civil society organisations in particular, but also human rights defenders and other key partners, on the use of the Charter, especially on its scope of application and the rights it contains;
• Facilitating cooperation between civil society organisations and other key actors on enforcing the Charter, such as NHRIs, equality bodies, Ombuds institutions and Member State authorities (at national, regional and local level);
• Training and train-the-trainer activities for professionals (such as experts, lawyers and legal advisers, communicators, policy and advocacy advisers, professionals from national, regional and local authorities), including through operational guidance and learning tools;
• Mutual learning, exchange of good practices, development of working and learning methods, including mentoring programmes that may be transferable to other countries, methods for fundamental rights impact assessments and for stakeholder consultation;
• Analytical activities, such as sex-disaggregated data collection and research, and the creation of tools or data bases on fundamental rights (e.g. databases of jurisprudence);
• Communication activities, including dissemination of information and awareness raising about the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter and redress mechanisms, relevant to the priorities of the call;
• Development of procedures, guidelines, technical benchmarks and tools, including for algorithm-audits, to help to protect fundamental rights, including gender equality and non-discrimination, where automation is used.

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Expected impact

• Increased awareness on the Charter and the fundamental rights it enshrines by CSOs, NHRIs, equality bodies, Ombuds institutions, other rights defenders, and other relevant partners, including authorities at national, regional and local levels; Increased capacity of the above actors to apply the Charter and the fundamental rights it enshrines in daily work, including for instance through fundamental rights impact assessments and participatory mechanisms to strengthen the application of fundamental rights;
• Improved cooperation between CSOs, NHRIs, equality bodies, Ombuds institutions, other rights defenders and authorities at national, regional and local levels on fundamental rights issues;
• Increased prevention of fundamental rights breaches and improved knowledge of available redress mechanisms, including - where relevant - the preliminary ruling mechanism under national and EU law, and how they can be used for the benefit of various rights holders and rights holder groups, including people and groups in vulnerable situations;
• Improved accountability of the development and use of automated systems, including specific algorithms and their output;
• Increased capacities to mitigate or otherwise address discriminatory biases in automated systems;
• Improved knowledge of fundamental rights, including gender equality and non-discrimination law, the legal requirements associated with the development and use of automated systems, and of practical approaches to ensure compliance.

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Eligibility

In order to be eligible, the applicants (lead applicants ‘Coordinator’, co-applicants and affiliated entities) must:

• For lead applicants (i.e. the ‘Coordinator’): be non-profit legal entities (private bodies);
• For co-applicants: be non-profit or for profit legal entities (public or private bodies). Organisations which are for profit may apply only in partnership with private non-profit organisations;
• Be formally established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))

Other eligibility conditions:

• Activities must take place in any of the eligible countries (EU Member States);
• The EU grant applied for cannot be lower than EUR 75 000.

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Consortium composition

The project can be either national or transnational; the application may involve one or more organisations (lead applicant and co-applicants).

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Project duration

Projects should normally range between 12 and 24 months.