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 promote exchanges between citizens of different countries, in particular through town twinning.

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Expected Outcome

• An increase in and encouragement of mutual understanding and friendship between citizens at a local level;
• Support for citizens from local communities to experience and recognise the added value that the EU provides through a grassroots approach;
• An increased sense of belonging to the EU;
• Encouragement of a long-lasting bond between municipalities and between citizens.

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Objective

The objective of this call for proposals is to promote exchanges between citizens of different countries, in particular through town twinning, to give them practical experience of the wealth and diversity of the common heritage of the Union and to make them aware that these constitute the foundation for a common future

This call aims to support projects that bring together a wide range of people from twinned towns, from different socio-economic background, gender and countries. By mobilising members of the public at the local and EU levels to debate specific issues on the European political agenda, this call seeks to promote mutual understanding, inclusion and cultural diversity and develop opportunities for civic engagement at the EU level.

‍Read more in the call document.

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Activities that can be funded

Activities related to Town-Twinning may include, among others:

• workshops,
• seminars,
• conferences,
• training activities,
• expert meetings,
• webinars,
• awareness-raising activities,
• cultural events, festivals, exhibitions,
• gathering and consultation of (sex-disaggregated) data,
• development, exchanges and dissemination of good practices among public authorities and civil society organisations,
• development of communication tools and the use of social media.

Read more in the call document.

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Eligibility

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries) must:

− be legal entities (public or private bodies)

− be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:

• EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
• non-EU countries: countries associated to the CERV Programme (list of participating countries)

Other eligibility conditions:

• Lead applicant and its associated partner(s) must be a public body or a non-profit organisation with legal personality formally established in one of the eligible countries. They must be towns/municipalities and/or other levels of local authorities or their twinning committees or other non-profit organisations representing local authorities.
• The project must be transnational and must involve municipalities from at least two eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State.
• Activities must take place in any of the eligible countries participating in the project.
• Events must involve a minimum of 50 direct participants, of which a minimum of 25 participants are " invited international participants

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Consortium compostion

Only applications by single applicants are allowed (single beneficiaries).

Proposals must involve municipalities from at least 2 eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State.

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Budget

The estimated available call budget is EUR 4 000 000.

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Project duration

Projects should normally range between 6 and 12 months.