Brussels, 26 May 2023

ECSWE applies for organisational support from the European Commission

At the end of 2022, the European Commission called for proposals for civil society organisations to apply for financial support.

European Commission wants to financially support civil society

On the 16 Novem­ber 2022, the Euro­pean Edu­ca­tion and Cul­ture Exec­u­tive Agency of the Euro­pean Union pre­sent­ed their call for pro­pos­als for oper­at­ing grants for civ­il soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions work­ing in the fields of edu­ca­tion, train­ing, and youth. Oper­at­ing grants pro­vide gen­er­al finan­cial sup­port to Euro­pean organ­i­sa­tions whose statu­to­ry activ­i­ties serve the strate­gic objec­tives of EU poli­cies. They do not sup­port a spe­cif­ic project, but the annu­al oper­at­ing bud­get of the organ­i­sa­tion. Our team of three, includ­ing Mar­gare­ta van Raem­don­ck, Georg Jür­gens and Már­ti Domokos man­aged to sub­mit all parts of the appli­ca­tion by the dead­line on the 20 Decem­ber 2022.

Our priorities and the ones of the European Commission match

As ECSWE’s dai­ly work and its tasks described in the statutes are con­nect­ed to the pri­or­i­ties of the EU, we saw the call as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to gain finances that can strength­en our work in the com­ing years. The most rel­e­vant of the match­ing pri­or­i­ties are:

• Improv­ing qual­i­ty, equi­ty, inclu­sion and gen­der equal­i­ty for all in edu­ca­tion and training;
• Sup­port­ing the green and dig­i­tal tran­si­tions in and through edu­ca­tion and training;
• Enhanc­ing com­pe­tence and moti­va­tion in the edu­ca­tion profession;
• Mak­ing life­long learn­ing and mobil­i­ty a real­i­ty for all;
• Con­tribut­ing to the geopo­lit­i­cal dimen­sion of the Euro­pean Edu­ca­tion Area.

The specific funding is approved based on the big picture

In order to apply for these funds, a two-step appli­ca­tions had to be submitted:

• Step 1 — Frame­work Part­ner Agreement
  This step was to prove that ECSWE is an organ­i­sa­tion that is eli­gi­ble for this grant. In this pro­pos­al we pre­sent­ed our work­ing fields and future plans.
• Step 2 — Spe­cif­ic Grant Agreement
  In this step we had to describe the detailed plans of the organ­i­sa­tion for 2023, and spec­i­fy the areas that would be sup­port­ed by the funds.

If suc­cess­ful, the grant would allow for ECSWE to receive the fund­ing of €175.000 per year, for a max­i­mum of three years in a row. 

Fast forward to the 25 April 2023 with the good news

ECSWE’s appli­ca­tion was suc­cess­ful. The oper­a­tional bud­get of €175.000 for our work in 2023 has been approved by the Euro­pean Commission.