PEACEPLUS: The Change Maker Funding Programme Investment Area 6.2 (rolling call)

Overview

These funds will be distributed in tranches over three years from early 2025 to 2027 and will be delivered on behalf of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) by Pobal.

These grants are provided under PEACEPLUS themes 

• 1: Building Peaceful and Thriving Communities
  • To promote positive relations characterised by respect, where cultural diversity is celebrated and people can live, learn, and socialise together, free from prejudice, hate and intolerance.

 and 

• 6: Building and Embedding Partnerships and Collaboration
  • To strengthen trust-building activities among citizens as a founding pillar for cross-border co-operation.
  • PEACEPLUS CHANGE MAKER FUNDING PROGRAMME INVESTMENT AREA 6.2 (Maintaining and Forging Relationships between Citizens)

Investment Areas 1.2 (Strand 1) and 6.2 will be collectively promoted as the Change Maker Funding Programme for ease of delivery to the target audience.

Focus of the Call: INVESTMENT AREA 6.2 (Maintaining and Forging Relationships between Citizens)

• The PEACEPLUS Programme is making a call for applications to the Change Maker Funding Programme (Investment Area 6.2). 
  • The focus under this Investment area is to build up mutual trust, in particular by encouraging people-to-people actions.

The Investment Area will support the delivery of people-to-people projects by local community organisations through the provision of a small grants programme. 

Funded projects will enable community groups to work on shared challenges, on a cross-border basis. This cross-border activity will build confidence and capacity and leads to further sustained contact with individuals and groups from different community, cultural, racial and political backgrounds.

Anticipated Actions: 

Peace and Reconciliation Projects Peace projects funded through the small grant programme should incorporate significant and sustained contact between individuals and groups from different community, cultural and political backgrounds; the outcomes of which are clearly linked to improved cross border relations. 

There will be a focus on joint actions to promote citizens’ co-operation and trust-building. A joint action is considered as the action organised with the involvement of organisations from at least two participating countries.

Example of actions that could be supported include: 

• Citizens co-operation: Small scale projects to promote citizens co-operation around specific shared challenges, e.g. climate change. 
• Joint events and activities: North-South joint events and activities that develop mutual understanding and cement partnership. 
• Trust building activities: for example, linking of sports clubs, cultural organisations and community groups.

The thematic focus of these projects may span a broad range of areas and groups, including, but not exhaustive:

Essential Information

Who is eligible to apply

• Non-government organisations (NGOs)
• Local community groups
• Associations, including those focused on social inclusion opportunities, ex-offenders, sports, arts, history and cultural bodies 
• Voluntary Sector Organisations
• Local Traveller and Migrant Organisations
• Disability Support Organisations
• Organisations representing any of the groups listed above
• Universities, Schools, Colleges, Higher Education, Research Institutions 
• Organisations that have a presence in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are eligible to apply

This is not an exhaustive list.

All projects should have at least two partners, i.e. two constituted groups.

Applicants are permitted to hold multiple letters of offer simultaneously as long as each individual project specifically targets different groupings, i.e. youth, older adults etc. for the purposes of monitoring and evaluation.

The programme area for the PEACEPLUS Programme is: 

• Northern Ireland 
• The border counties of Ireland (Counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan, and Sligo). This is the core programme area. 

This is the core programme area. The programme, however, has flexible geography beyond its administrative borders called a functional area. This allows organisations and institutions not based in the core programme area to get involved in projects by linking with partners within the core area. The benefits of such collaborations must be significant for the core programme area.

Expected Outputs of Programme

All applicants will be required to demonstrate how their project contributes to the Output and Result indicators and targets for this Investment Area. See Guidance for further information.

The following details describe the expected outputs for the overall programme, not individual applicants. But applicants must demonstrate how they will ensure their contribution to these indicators.

Notes

The PEACEPLUS Programme is underpinned by three Horizontal Principles:

• Sustainable Development 
• Non-Discrimination 
• Equality between Men and Women and Equal Opportunities. 

Pro-active contribution to and support of these Principles should be part of every successful project funded by the Programme.

Funding Level & Notes

A total value of €20 million has been allocated to this Investment Area with individual projects from €10,000 to €100,000. 

• Applications between €10,001 up to €40,000 will be open on a rolling programme basis. 

All call dates under Investment Area 6.2 will be published on the SEUPB website SEUPB

• Applications valued from €40,001 up to €60,001 will be advertised with various opening and closing dates throughout the programming period.

Grants are available to cover 100% of the eligible costs of the project. A

Direct costs

• External Expertise and Services: - These are (but not limited to) facilitator/mediators’ expertise, room hire, conference/hotel hire, catering, transport for participants, programmatic equipment, training materials necessary for the delivery of the project. 
• Equipment - Equipment costs, essential to the implementation of the project, included in the “Draft Budget” cover expenditure paid by the partner organisations for the equipment purchased rented or leased, necessary to achieve the objectives of the project. 
  • Equipment purchased before project approval is deemed ineligible.
• Direct Staff Costs are a subset of direct costs and will be eligible for reimbursement at a flat rate of up to 20% of all other direct costs, where the applicant has “staff in the payroll” and a portion of their time will be allocated to managing, co-ordination and delivery of the project or that they will recruit a person for the project. 
• Overhead and Administration Costs associated with the employment of staff are recoverable under the proposed indirect costs flat rate of 7% outlined below. 
  • A Flat Rate of 7% of eligible Direct Costs will be applied

Infrastructure and investment costs are not eligible.