Find EU-funding for your projects now!Search for FundingSearch for programsReset all filters

  1. Select the type of organisation that you are interested in to implement projects.

    The role of an organisation involved could by lead partner, regular project partner, associate partner, and observers.

    Info
    Type of organisation

  2. Select countries that you are interested in to implement projects.

    The funding regions are defined by countries only. In case only part of a country (certain NUTS regions) is eligible for funding relevant information is provided in the description of the programme.

    Info
    Funding region

  3. Select themes that you are interested in to implement projects.

    16 different thematic keywords were predefined when the database was set up. Each call is classified according to this system either with one, two or more themes to facilitate the search for suitable calls.

    Info
    Topics

  4. You can use free text when searching for interesting calls. All you need to do is to enter a phrase in the text bar that EuroAccess is to look for in its database.

    When looking for a phrase in the free text bar, the system will perform an exact-match search. This means that it will search the database for the exact words, in their exact order. However, you can opt for two different approaches:

    1. You can use “AND”, in this way: One AND Two. EuroAccess will look in the database for the fields which records contain both One and Two, regardless of their order and their position in any sentence.

    2. You can use the “OR”, in this way: One OR Two. In this case, EuroAccess will search the database for fields that contain either the word One or the word Two. It will retrieve all the fields with one of these words or with both.

    However, you should prefer phrases or complex words over simple words in you text searches.

    Info
    Keyword
    Selection of eligible entitiesReset all

  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

    A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government.

    Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level.

    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

    Selection of eligible countriesReset all
    Selection of topicsReset all

  1. Governance, partnership: Projects aimed at increasing the application of multilevel and transnational or cross-border governance, designing and testing appropriate governance structures and mechanisms. Also cooperation between public institutions on any theme.

    Innovation capacity and awareness-raising: Actions that increase a person’s or organisation’s capacity for innovation (not innovation as such), and that establish the capacity to diffuse and apply innovation; projects that stimulate innovation in different areas and innovation capacities; strengthening and empowering of innovation networks.

    Institutional cooperation and cooperation networks: Projects working on the improvement of institutional cross-border co-operation and capacities, on renewing and simplifying administrative management through long term cooperation between institutions (e.g. Euregion), on establishing and sharing regional knowledge and intercultural understanding and cohesion. It also deals with cooperations between universities, health care facilities, schools and sports organisations, as well as with management and capacity building.

    Activities focussing on agricultural products, organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products; furthermore the development of the food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products and any topics related to animals and fishing.

    Agriculture and fisheries and forestry: Projects focussing on agricultural products (i.e. fruits, meat, olives, etc.), organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products. Also the development of the agro-food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products. Any topics related to animals (i.e. health, management) and fishing (i.e. sustainable fishery, aquaculture).

    Soil and air quality: Projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Climate change and biodiversity projects assisting mitigation and adaption to climate change and environmental impacts of climate change. Development of low carbon technologies and strategies, reduction of CO2 emissions from all sectors. Promotion of biodiversity, new instruments to enhance biodiversity and natural protection.

    Soil and air quality projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Water management projects about management and distribution of drinking water, integrated sustainable water management, monitoring systems for water supply and improving drinking water quality; also water treatment (wastewater), in particular, innovative technologies to improve wastewater, treatments in the purification of industrial and domestic wastewater and water reuse policies. Waterways, lakes and rivers: This deals with any topics on waterways, lakes and rivers, from improving water quality, protecting and developing of ecosystems or sustainable wetland management.

    Activities that protect, promote and enhance cultural and natural heritage, increase the attractiveness through preservation and valorisation of common cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable manner, and improve and develop cultural and natural heritage objects, services and products. Cultural heritage management, art and culture, (maritime) heritage routes, access to cultural and natural heritage. Also all topics on cultural services such as festivals, concerts, art workshops.

    Tourism projects dealing with the promotion of natural assets, and the protection and development of natural heritage, as well as increasing the touristic attractiveness through the better use of natural, cultural and historical heritage. Also projects about improved tourist services/products, development of ecotourism models, tourism development strategies.

    Sustainable management of natural resources projects focussing on the protection, promotion and valorization, and sustainable management and conservation of natural areas (habitats, geo parks, protected areas, etc.). Also projects focussing on preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage and landscape, as well as protecting the marine environment.

    Projects on waste management (innovative services and strategies), ecological waste treatment, treatment techniques/systems; waste disposal and recycling (improvement of recycling, innovative recycling technologies, recovery of organic waste, repair & re-use centres and networks); also prevention of pollution and pollution control (ecological and circular economy, marine littering, etc.).

    Labour market and employment: creating employment opportunities and/or optimising jobs, academic (un)employment and job mobility, workforce attraction and improvement of employment conditions for different groups.

    SME and entrepreneurship: strengthening SME capacities, boosting entrepreneurial activities in different sectors and for different groups, supporting social entrepreneurship, creating business support/advisory systems for start-ups/spin-offs/incubators, improving the competitiveness of SMEs, and promoting new business processes.

    Community integration and common identity projects that build identity, create a more cohesive society, promote positive relations through an increased provision of shared spaces and services.

    Demographic change and immigration is about projects tackling major societal challenges like demographic change in different areas and migration, in particular, aging society (active aging, best agers, silver economy strategies) and related new public services (adaptation of key services and infrastructure), social and spatial segregation, and brain drain. Also all topics on migration (policy tools, strategic planning, integration).

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    Education and training projects on expanding educational opportunities, reducing barriers in the field of education, improving higher education and lifelong learning, training and labour mobility, educational networks, higher vocational education, common learning programmes.

    Topics on energy management, energy-saving methods, evaluating energy efficiency measurements, energy rehabilitation/efficiency in buildings / public infrastructure, promotion of energy efficiency, cooperation among experienced energy efficiency firms, institutions and local administrations, co-generation.

    Projects focussing on wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy, increasing the production of sustainable renewable energy and improving research capacities in biomass. Also projects focussing on storage and management of renewable energy, new technologies, sustainable regional bioenergy policies and financial Instruments for investments on renewable energy.

    Social projects concerning people with disabilities and excluded groups; enhancement of the capacity of children, young people, women and elderly; creation of infrastructure to improve access for disabled people, integration of socially vulnerable people; innovate in the care of victims of gender violence, social inclusion of women, etc.

    This deals with the development of health and social services and improved accessibility and efficiency for different groups (elderly, children, etc.). It is also about new healthcare models and medical diagnosis and treatments (dementia, cancer, diabetes, etc.), hospitals, care management, and rare diseases, as well as improving wellbeing and promoting sports.

    Projects about (organised) crime, efficient and secure borders, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the police in the prevention of drug crimes, the development of safety services, or tackling security and organised crime issues.

    Activities related to:

    • Transport and mobility covering all sorts of transport (incl. urban transport) and mobility.
    • Improving transport connections dealing with traffic and/or transport connections, rehabiliation/modernisation, better connectivity, improving accessibility/connections, but also public transport.
    • Multimodal transport and logistics and freight transport focusing on using different means of transport, developing multimodal connections, optimising intermodal transport chains; offering multimodal logistics solutions and providing access to clean, efficient and multimodal transport corridors and hubs; establishing cooperation among logistic centres and developing multimodal mobility strategies.

    Activities related to:

    • urban development, such as planning and design of cities and urban areas, urban renewal, urban-rural links (climate, sustainable mobility, water efficiency, participation, sustainable land use, smart cities, public urban areas, regeneration)
    • regional planning and development, such as the implementation of regional development policies/instruments and programmes, sustainable land use management plans, integrated regional action plans, spatial planning, and marine protected area management.
    • rural and peripheral development, referring to remote, sparsely populated areas, rural community development, and rural economics, in particular access to remote areas and policies for rural areas.
    Keyword search
Apply selection

Filter Search for grants

back to the overview

Deadline expired

The deadline for this call has expired.

Call key data

Call for proposals for action grants for promoting stable debt advice for promoting stable debt advice services

Funding Program

Single Market Programme

Call number

SMP-CONS-2024-DA

deadlines

Opening
26.03.2024

Deadline
06.06.2024 17:00

Call budget

€ 1,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 120,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

This call for proposals implements the Single Market Programme (SMP Consumers) and more specifically Action 2.1 of the 2023-2024 SMP Work Programme for "Calls for proposals for action grants to provide financial contributions to organisations representing consumer interests in Members States or offering assistance to consumers in Member States".

Call objectives

Applicants must outline specific activities in their proposals aimed at achieving one or more of the following consumer-focused objectives in the Member State where the applicant operates:

  • Establish physical and/or virtual places dedicated to providing consumers with debt advice, enhancing service reach and convenience.
  • Boost the accessibility of debt advice services towards consumers by hosting engaging meetings, events, and other initiatives to raise awareness and actively involve consumers.
  • Develop consumer-centric networks with integrated reference points of debt advice experts, facilitating direct links and swift redirection of consumers to tailored guidance, to ensure immediate access to expert advice for those facing financial difficulties, enhancing consumer support.
  • Enhance the operational efficiency of existing structures offering debt advice, directly improving service quality and availability for consumers.
  • Implement capacity-building initiatives including comprehensive staff training to foster knowledge exchange among debt advisors with the purpose of enhancing the support provided to consumers.

Each proposal must articulate the specific benefits it will bring to consumers within the targeted Member State, highlighting the importance of ensuring stable, ongoing access to high-quality debt advice services.

Debt advisory services will support consumers in facing financial difficulties and guide them to repay, as far as possible, their outstanding debts. It is crucial that consumers maintain a decent level of life and preserve their dignity.

Debt advisory services will offer to consumers personalised and independent assistance including legal counselling, money and debt management as well as social and psychological assistance. The assistance should be provided by professional operators which are not creditors, credit intermediaries, credit purchasers nor credit servicers, and are independent from them.

read more

Expected effects and impacts

The proposed activities outlined are expected to significantly boost the accessibility and quality of debt advice services for consumers in the EU Member States. These enhancements are expected to arise from the creation or reinforcement of infrastructures dedicated to offering comprehensive debt advice to consumers. The aim of the proposed activities is to ensure that consumers in need of guidance on managing debt have access to services that are both high in quality and tailored to their individual needs.

Expected results

In their proposal, applicants must comprehensively list and describe their proposed actions, initiatives, and activities within their proposals, providing detailed explanations on how these efforts will directly contribute to achieving the specified objectives. It is crucial to outline the management and execution plans for each proposed action, initiative, or activity, ensuring that descriptions are both detailed and precise, with a clear focus on tangible outcomes for consumers.

Applicants should base their proposed activities on the analysis of the state of play providing information and reliable data on the adequacy of existing debt advice services, identifying gaps in service provision or areas where quality can be enhanced. The analysis of the state of play shall include for example: projections on the number of consumers who will benefit from the enhanced services, as well as the expected qualitative improvements in the provision of debt advice.

The applicant must provide a clear picture of how the proposed action will contribute to improving the accessibility and reliability of debt advice for consumers, thereby offering significant added value in the respective Member State.

In addition to outlining the current landscape of debt advice services, proposals must detail how the project intends to address identified shortcomings and improve upon the existing framework.

Proposals shall clearly demonstrate the potential quantitative and qualitative impacts of the newly created or reinforced structures, ensuring that the improvements are substantial and measurable.

By focusing on these aspects, each proposal will underline a tailored strategy to significantly elevate the level and quality of debt advice services, making them more accessible and beneficial to consumers in the Member State.

The scope of eligible actions, initiatives, and activities can include, but is not limited to (non-exhaustive list):

  • Establishment of access points: Creating accessible physical locations and/or leveraging digital platforms (e.g., chat services) to offer consumer-oriented debt advice. These access points should be designed to provide easy, user-friendly and direct access for consumers seeking assistance with debt management.
  • Consumer engagement and education: Organizing events, meetings, and campaigns to raise awareness towards consumers about debt advice services. This includes efforts aimed at engaging consumers, informing them about managing debt and promoting the availability of debt advice services.
  • Collaboration, reference points and best practices: Initiating and supporting the development of experts’ networks among current and prospective debt advisors to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practices. This includes establishing reference points within these networks for the swift redirection of consumers to appropriate debt advisory services.
  • Research and action plans: Supporting research projects and action plans that aim to establish or strengthen the infrastructure for providing debt advice services. This includes creating robust, stable frameworks that ensure the continuity and reliability of these services for consumers.
  • Continuity and stability: Implementing measures to secure the ongoing availability and stability of debt advice services, ensuring that consumers can consistently rely on these essential supports.
  • Capacity building and training: Enhance the skills of current staff and train new debt advisors. Focus on improving the efficacy and reach of debt advice services, with measures to equip advisors with the knowledge and tools needed to better serve consumers on a stable basis.

The following actions, initiatives, and activities are considered to have particular significant relevance for the purpose of this call:

  • Cross-border cooperation and exchange of best practices between debt-advisory centres established in different EU Member States.
  • Facilitating creation of new debt advice structures in regions where such structure are not existing.
  • Providing debt advice services to particularly vulnerable consumers

When explaining the relevance of their proposed project the applicants shall explain how the proposed project builds up on previous projects (if any) that were funded by public funds or sources. In that context applicants shall explain what the added value of the proposed project would be.

The proposed activities shall bring benefit to the consumers of the same country where the applicant(s) is(are) established. The proposed cross-border activities will be considered as added value.

read more

Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Armenia (Հայաստան), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Liechtenstein

eligible entities

Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs)

Mandatory partnership

No

Project Partnership

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must: 

  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
    • public bodies or
    • private non-profit bodies such as NGOs, charities, consumer associations
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries: listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Single Market Programme (list of participating countries)

Specific cases:

Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible.

International organisations — International organisations are not eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons. 

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’ . Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible). 

Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations (see above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature (with retroactive effect, if provided in the agreement).

other eligibility criteria

Proposals may be submitted by a single applicant as well as by a consortium. In case of a multi-beneficiary grant - Consortium composition: each of the entities within the consortium has to be eligible as per conditions above.

All consortium members must originate from the same eligible country.

Applicants may submit maximum two (2) proposals for different projects under the same call (and be awarded funding for them). Applicants may participate in maximum two (2) different proposals.

If there are more than 2 (two) proposals submitted in which the same applicant participates, only 2 (two) applications will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw the others (or they will be rejected).

In addition, if there are several proposals for very similar projects, only 1 (one) application will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw the others (or they will be rejected).

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Additional information

Topics

Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

24 months

Additional Information

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System ( NOT the documents available on the Topic page — they are only for information).

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)
  • mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates available to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re-uploaded):
    • detailed budget table

Your application must be readable, accessible and printable. Proposals are limited to maximum 70 pages (Part B). Evaluators will not consider any additional pages.

Call documents

Call document SMP-CONS-2024-DACall document SMP-CONS-2024-DA(843kB)

Contact

SMP-CONS
EISMEA-CONS-grants@ec.europa.eu
Website

To see more information about this call, you can register for free here
or log in with an existing account.
Log in Register now

back to the overview