Professional Organizations Grant Scheme

  Professional Organizations Grant Scheme

The Professional Organizations Grant Scheme has the following objectives:

• 1. To promote mutually beneficial and sustainable relationship and to establish and strengthen long-term sustainable cooperation and promotion of dialogue between professional organizations in Türkiye and in EU Member States and candidate countries;
• 2. To encourage exchange of knowledge and best practices on planning and implementation of EU policies.

Indicative allocation of funds          

The proposed projects under this program could fall between the following amounts: 

• minimum: 50.000 Euro
• maximum: 300.000 Euro

A grant may not be for less than 50 % of the total eligible costs of the action.

In addition, no grant may exceed 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action The balance must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources in cash, or from sources other than the European Community budget.

Eligibility of applicants: who may apply?

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:

• be legal persons and
• be non-profit making and
• be professional organizations, active on regional or national level, furthering interest of:

• liberal professions, such as:
• - art professions - associations of journalist, writers, etc.;
• - legal professions - bar associations, notaries, etc.;
• - technical professions - chambers of architects, engineers, etc.;
• - health professions;
• farmers - chambers of agriculture;

Partnerships

Applicants must act with partner organizations as specified hereafter. Applicants must have at least one eligible partner from  EU Member State  or Candidate Country.

The following are also eligible:

• Professional organizations from EU member states and Candidate countries;
• EU umbrella/trans-national organizations of professional organizations (i.e. organizations representing a series of professional organizations based in different countries).

Applicants' partners participate in implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the grant Beneficiary. They must therefore satisfy the same eligibility criteria as applicants.

Duration

The planned duration of an action may not be lower than 6 months nor exceed 18 months.

Sectors or themes

Projects must cover the following thematic areas:

• 1. Institution strengthening for effective participation of Turkish professional organizations in the EU acquis communautaire and policies harmonization and enforcement;
• 2. Social and health policies;
• 3. Sustainable rural development.

Location

Actions must take place in Türkiye, EU Member States and/or Candidate countries.

Types of actions

Types of eligible actions may include:

• Institution strengthening - exchange of practices on advocacy and lobbying, raising of the awareness and knowledge on EU legislation and policies in the relevant sector, building capacity to participate in EU projects, development of services to members, quality assurance, codes of conducts, organisational development, etc.
• Social and health policies - exchange of experience about the organization of social and health services for vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, rural women, socially excluded people), development of action plans and programs, promotion and exchanges of experiences in the field of health and safety at work, etc.
• Sustainable rural development - building knowledge and skills on policies, methods and tools for integration of competitiveness, environment preservation and improvement quality of life in rural areas, participatory approaches for rural development policy formulation and implementation;

The projects should aim to establish long-term cooperation between Turkish organisations and their EU counterparts, going beyond the time frame for EU support provided in the frame of the present project and may include the following types of activities:

• development and implementation of training programs for the members of professional organizations on topics, related to the grant scheme thematic areas;
• thematic seminars, workshops, conferences, etc.
• study visits;
• establishment of resource centers,
• development and publication of manuals, brochures, newsletters;
• establishment and transfer of best practices and procedures;
• planning and implementation of information campaigns;
• activities assuring institutional support (e.g. steering committees, working groups).

All projects must include the following obligatory activities:

• measures and events (seminars, conferences, etc.) that allow the establishment of personal contacts between professionals from both sides;
• activities targeting promotion of the projects in Türkiye, EU Member States and candidate states and ensuring visibility of the EU support.

Applicationf documents for Professional Organizations Grant Scheme. (zip-Format-439 KB)