From June 25, 2019, LEPL Centre for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings (hereinafter - Training Center), announces a grant contest for the following direction – “Voter Education for Electoral and Civic Culture Enhancement” - of the grant contest funding stipulated under the CEC of Georgia June 17, 2019 Ordinance (available in Georgian) N128/2019.

Implementation of initiatives oriented at raising civic awareness of citizens by the CEC and the Training Center, as well as researches conducted by various organizations in the direction of Informed Voters, as well as the recommendations provided in the reports of observer missions over the past years (e.g., OSCE Observer Mission final report, President of Georgia Elections, October 28, 2018) confirm that it is important and necessary to conduct continuous awareness-raising programs to support informing citizens around electoral rights.

Considering the above-mentioned circumstances, announcing a contest is aimed at incentivizing local NGO sector to support the projects related to the enhancement of electoral and civic culture in the society.

Contest Topic: Voter education for electoral and civic culture development:

1. a) Program part:

Grant projects submitted under the competition topic shall respond to the above goal and envisage the implementation of informational/training program that is advisable to include the following topics: the history of elections in Georgia and modern times (state setup and forming elective bodies), active citizenship and the importance of engagement in governing a country through elections, electoral rights and exercising those, gender equality in elections, inclusive elections (engagement of vulnerable groups in the electoral process), electoral security, the role of stakeholders towards democratic elections, other matters for promoting elections and enhancing civic responsibility.

Note:

• The duration of trainings to be conducted by an NGO as part of the training program initiated under the grant project shall be at least 15 hours per target group (this implies training hours, excluding the break period). The failure to meet this condition is the basis for removing documentation from the contest.
• When designing a budget for the grant project, the cost of trainer’s services for the training program to be delivered to the beneficiaries may not exceed GEL 50 (gross) per hour.
• For evaluation purposes, it is important to include in the Training Program a relevant module’s goal, content, learning outcome, methodology, duration and a person responsible for the training (see the sample (available in Georgian)). It is important to indicate the source, documents and authors used in the developed training program/syllabus.

1. b) Contribution part:

In coordination with a winning NGO, in the process of project implementation Election Administration will make contribution to the project implementation. This involves the following aspects:

• DEC representatives will participate in informational meetings organized as part of grant projects and according to their competence will inform beneficiary citizens about electoral matters, including the following topics: The guiding principles of democratic electoral process (including vote secrecy principle), voters’ engagement at different stages of the electoral process and mechanisms for exercising electoral rights (including verifying in a voters’ list, using a mobile ballot box, participation in voting at a polling station), functions and role of the Election Administration and other electoral stakeholders to protect voters’ personal data, available communication channels between the Election Administration and citizens.
• The duration of awareness raising meetings implemented as contribution by DECs as part of the project is 5 hours (note that the training program to be implemented by an NGO may not comprise the same topics that are offered as part of the contribution. Furthermore, notably, the duration of mandatory training program to be implemented by an NGO – 15 hours, does not include the mentioned 5 hours).
• An NGO shall consider in a project the condition of contribution by DECs and ensure the attendance of beneficiaries at informational meetings conducted by DECs. The work of DEC representatives in conjunction to the awareness raising meetings will not be reimbursed by NGOs.
• As part of contribution, the halls within DECs will be provided free of charge for trainings to be conducted by NGOs as part of grant projects. Hence, grant project budgets shall not envisage the costs of renting training halls. Please see the annex (available in Georgian) for the location of the buildings allocated as part of contribution for training purposes. In their grant project proposals NGOs shall specify a location where they will implement training programs envisaged under the grant projects.
• During the trainings conducted by NGOs, as well as informational meetings to be held by DECs as part of contribution, the costs of participation (transportation and meals) of beneficiaries in informational meetings will be covered by NGOs. Respectively, such costs shall be included in the grant project proposal budgets.

Note:

The Training Center will provide coordination between NGOs and DECs.

1. c) Grant project beneficiaries:

Beneficiaries of the grant project may include a group of voters in general, or at least one of the target groups specified below:

• ethnic minorities (out of ethnic minority groups, it is advisable to also include Roma, Qists as grant project beneficiaries);
• voters with disabilities;
• young voters;
• women;
• internally displaced persons.

Note:

• Target group of the grant project shall comprise at least 60 beneficiaries (this detail shall be clearly specified in the project proposal). During project implementation for awareness raising and training purposes it is important to divide beneficiaries into groups of at least 15 and at most 24 participants. Attendance sheets shall be prepared for every meeting.
• In case accommodation, meals and individual transportation costs are envisaged in the awareness raising and training process, it is important to include cost per participant (by type of cost, separately) in the project budget. In the process of managing grant project risks, attention should be paid to the following: in case the number of beneficiaries during implementation is less than that indicated in the project proposal, an NGO shall refund to the grantor accommodation, meals and individual transportation costs, according to the number of participants that are not taking part. With the purpose of adherence to the above-mentioned condition, grantees shall be responsible to include a clause on the payment per actual services in contracts with service providers.

1. d) Other financial matters concerning the grant project:

It is advisable that labor remuneration cost is not higher than 35% of grant project budget, while the labor remuneration of project leader not to exceed 35% of labor remuneration fund.

During project budgeting it is important to take into account the provisions of the Law of Georgia on Accumulative Pension.

1. e) The scope of the grant project area and the funding scope are determined by areas as follows:  

Regions of Georgia	Grant project scope, by districts	Grant project funding
Tbilisi	N1 Mtatsminda	At most GEL 30,000
	N3 Saburtalo	At most GEL 30,000
	N7 Chughureti	At most GEL 30,000
	N10 Gldani	At most GEL 30,000
Kakheti Region	N11 Sagarejo	At most GEL 30,000
	N12 Gurjaani	At most GEL 30,000
	N13 Signagi	At most GEL 30,000
	N14 Dedoplistskaro
	N15 Lagodekhi	At most GEL 30,000
	N16 Kvareli
	N17 Telavi	At most GEL 30,000
	N18 Akhmeta
Mtskheta-Mtianeti Region	N19 Tianeti	At most GEL 30,000
	N28 Dusheti
	N27 Mtskheta	At most GEL 30,000
Kvemo Kartli Region	N22 Marneuli	At most GEL 30,000
	N23 Bolnisi	At most GEL 30,000
	N24 Dmanisi	At most GEL 30,000
	N25 Tsalka	At most GEL 30,000
	N26 Tetritskaro
Shida Kartli Region	N32 Gori	At most GEL 30,000
	N33 Kareli	At most GEL 30,000
	N35 Khashuri	At most GEL 30,000
Samtskhe-Javakheti Region	N36 Borjomi	At most GEL 30,000
	N37 Akhaltsikhe
	N38 Adigeni	At most GEL 30,000
	N39 Aspindza
	N40 Akhalkalaki	At most GEL 30,000
	N41 Ninotsminda
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Region	N43 Oni	At most GEL 30,000
	N44 Ambrolauri
	N45 Tsageri	At most GEL 30,000
	N46 Lentekhi
Imereti Region	N48 Kharagauli	At most GEL 30,000
	N49 Terjola
	N50 Sachkhere	At most GEL 30,000
	N51 Zestaponi	At most GEL 30,000
	N52 Baghdati	At most GEL 30,000
	N53 Vani
	N55 Khoni	At most GEL 30,000
	N57 Tkibuli
	N58 Tskaltubo	At most GEL 30,000
	N59 Kutaisi	At most GEL 30,000
Guria Region	N60 Ozurgeti	At most GEL 30,000
	N61 Lanchkhuti	At most GEL 30,000
	N62 Chokhatauri
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region	N63 Abasha	At most GEL 30,000
	N64 Senaki
	N65 Martvili	At most GEL 30,000
	N66 Khobi
	N67 Zugdidi	At most GEL 30,000
	N68 Tsalenjikha	At most GEL 30,000
	N69 Chkhorotsku
	N70 Poti
Adjara Autonomous Republic	N79 Batumi	At most GEL 30,000
	N80 Keda	At most GEL 30,000
	N82 Shuakhevi	At most GEL 30,000
	N81 Kobuleti	At most GEL 30,000

Note:  NGO is authorized to submit just one grant project proposal under the announced competition, in any of the areas by districts. For competition purposes, one winning project will be identified per area.

Grant project duration: September 25 – November 25, 2019 (2 months).

Total funding: GEL 1,217,000.

Who is eligible to participate in the grant competition:

Local non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities (hereinafter – NGO) registered in accordance with the legislation of Georgia prior to the competition announcement are eligible to participate in the competition.

NGOs shall not be eligible to participate in the competition if managers and/or the individuals in charge of implementing submitted grant project are either of the following: a member of the Central Election Commission of Georgia; a Head of a structural unit of the CEC Apparatus; a Head, a Deputy Head of the Training Center; Head of a structural unit of the Training Center; a member of a grant proposals evaluation committee, committee secretariat and monitoring group. NGO management implies individuals having the authority to lead/represent an NGO according to an extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and Non-commercial Legal Entities.

Competition documentation to be submitted for the grant competition:

To participate in the grant competition, NGOs shall submit the following documents according to the indicated rule:

          a) Grant application as per the form in the Annex N1 (hard copy and an electronic version (CD));

          b) An extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and Non-commercial Legal Entities obtained after the grant competition announcement (July 17, 2018) evidencing that the NGO does not have the following                          obligations: attachment/injunction, tax lien, registry of creditors (hard copy);

          c) a founding document (statute, charter, etc.) verified according to Georgia legislation (hard copy).

Competition documentation to be submitted for the grant competition:

To participate in the grant competition, NGOs shall submit the following documents according to the indicated rule:

          a) Grant application as per the form in the Annex N1 (hard copy and an electronic version (CD));

          b) An extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and Non-commercial Legal Entities obtained after the grant competition announcement (June 25, 2019) evidencing that the NGO does not have the following                          obligations: attachment/injunction, tax lien, registry of creditors (hard copy);

Reviewing body:

A grant evaluation committee formed according to the Grant Award Rule will evaluate proposal documentation of NGOs, will make a decision on funding/refusal to fund NGOs, in absentia of applicant NGOs.

Evaluation committee members will evaluate grant proposals according to the criteria provided in the grant proposal documentation evaluation sheet (Annex N2).

Publicity of Grant Competition Results:

Bidders will be informed about competition results via an e-mail notice to their e-mail address. Information about NGOs funded based on the grant proposals evaluation committee decision will also be posted to the CEC and the Training Center websites:

www.cesko.ge; www.electionreforms.ge

Grant competition schedule:

• Announcement of the contest: June 25, 2019;
• Timeframe for the submission of competition documents: from June 26 through July 9, 2019 (except for weekend), from 10:00 am to 18:00 pm, at the following address: 13^th km, David Aghmashenebeli Alley, fifth floor (CEC Building), Tbilisi;
• Informational meetings about the submission of contest documentation: June 28, 2019, 15:00 pm, at the address: 13^th km, David Aghmashenebeli Alley, fifth floor (CEC Building), Tbilisi. 

Follow the link for Grant Award Rule (available in Georgian).

For additional information contact us at: 261 21 11 (17)