Towns and Municipalities

  Towns and Municipalities

This Call for Proposals has two specific objectives, which all projects should respond to: 

• to establish and strengthen long-term sustainable cooperation and promotion of dialogue between the municipalities in Türkiye and in EU Member States and candidate countries,
• to foster effective, transparent and participatory local government, delivery of good quality municipal services.

Allocation of funds

Size of grants

Any grant awarded under this programme must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 50000
• maximum amount: EUR 250000

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 municipalities (including metropolitan municipalities) or unions of municipalities and
• be nationals[1] of the Republic of Türkiye and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with their partners, not acting as an intermediary.

PARTNERS

Applicants must act with partner organisations. Applicants must have at least one eligible partner from  EU Member States or  Candidate Countries (other than Türkiye). Partners from Republic of Türkiye are eligible but not sufficient to comply with the eligibility criteria for applicants.

Duration

The planned duration of an action may not be lower than 6  12 months nor to exceed 18 months.

Sectors or themes

Projects can cover sectors and themes, for which local authorities have responsibility:

• Investment promotion - attraction of foreign investments, policies for creating attractive business environment, private-public partnerships etc.
• Urban planning - urban regeneration, participatory community planning, urban cultural policy, databanks on innovative urban practices etc.
• Environment protection - waste and water management, air pollution, energy efficiency and renewable energies etc.
• Municipal services - public transport, social services, etc.
• Adult education and training - lifelong learning, etc
• Tourism and Culture -capacity building for developing projects on tourism and culture; alternative tourism.;

• Other fields of competence of municipal authorities;

It is recommendable the selected specific thematic area has to be in line with the needs and priorities of the applicant organization and cooperation foreseen to be sustained. 

Location

Actions must take place in one or more of the following countries: Türkiye, EU Member States, Candidate countries.

Types of action

The projects have to be identified in cooperation with partners and to be relevant to the needs and priorities of Turkish municipalities 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.

 The projects may include the following types of actions:

• Investment promotion - cooperation for the development of investment promotion strategies and transfer of expertise on territorial marketing, planning and implementation of pilot investment promotion schemes - development of investment promotion services, setting up of municipal investment promotion centres, organization of investment forums, exchange of good practices on private-public partnerships, etc. 
• Urban planning  - improvement of local urban planning capabilities, transfer of experience on successful urban planning policies, tools and methods, actions for enhancing public capacity for participation in urban planning, interaction to enhance the dialogue on  urban cultural policy etc. 
• Environment protection - exchange of good practices, information on systems and technologies to improve the environmental quality, transfer of expertise and advice to municipalities on planning for improved waste collection, treatment, and disposal, waste prevention, recycling and recovery, water management, energy efficiency and renewable energies, dissemination of information and promotion on EU environmental polices, capacity building of local authorities, planning of environmental programmes, fostering partnership approach between local government, civil society, and private sector to tackle environmental problems,  etc. 
• Municipal services - transfer of expertise and support for the development of sustainable urban transport plans, actions focused at improving capacities of local governments to identify, formulate and manage municipal social services, exchange of best practices and innovative approaches on community-based services, support for drawing up and implementation of new policies, techniques and approaches to municipal services, etc.
• Adult education and training - exchange of experience on planning and organization of adult education by local authorities; review of good practices on new forms and solutions for municipal adult education and training, promotion of innovative forms of funding of adult education, planning of initiatives for improving the educational opportunities for disadvantaged groups, development of cooperation between municipalities on supply of adult education, etc. (Note: delivery of adult education or training is an ineligible activity).
• Tourism and Culture; exchange of experience on tourism and assistance in defining, promoting and implementing a sustainable tourism strategy; review of good practices; cooperation for attracting tourism, including historical and cultural heritage ; transfer of expertise in alternative tourism.

The projects may include the following activities:

Activities listed under this paragraph will only be considered as eligible if they are part of a comprehensive application.

• Capacity building actions for local authorities (elected local representatives or municipal officials):

• short-term trainings;
• study visits and work placements of municipal civil servants;
• thematic seminars, workshops, conferences and other actions, which allow the project partners to meet other local and regional authorities and to create new contacts.

• Planning of new or improvement of existing municipal services and policies:

• Needs assessment or diagnostic surveys;
• Development of strategies and plans in the selected thematic area of cooperation;
• Transfer of expertise, provision of information and advice.

• Establishment and transfer of best practices, procedures, etc.
• Development and publication of manuals, brochures, etc.
• Websites, newsletters and others means for the dissemination of information.

In addition, all projects have to include the following obligatory activities:

• information campaigns and events (seminars, conferences, internet forums, etc.) in Türkiye and in EU member states that target involvement of wider community groups - grass-root organisations, NGOs, educational institutions, business;
• actions and events for promotion of the project and for ensuring the visibility of EU support and the idea of civil society dialogue.

Application Documents for Towns and Municipalities Grant Scheme (Zip-Format-471 KB)