CERV-2026-CITIZENS-VALUES

CERV-2026 is a Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme project grant for non-profit civil society organisations acting as intermediaries to provide capacity building and financial support to third-party CSOs that protect and promote Union values, fundamental rights, equality, democracy and the rule of law. The call has an indicative budget of €114 million and funds projects requesting €2.5 million to €6 million each, reimbursing 94% of eligible costs for durations of 36–48 months. Mandatory components include significant onward financial support to third parties (maximum €60,000 per re-granted project) and continuous capacity-building, with strict requirements on organisational independence, due diligence, risk management, gender mainstreaming and safeguarding. Applications are submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal and the deadline is 24 February 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time.

What it funds

Scope and priorities

Grants to intermediaries (CERV Project Grants) that provide capacity building and financial support to third-party civil society organisations (CSOs) working to protect, promote and raise awareness of Union values and fundamental rights (democracy, rule of law, equality, media freedom, countering disinformation, civic participation).

Who can apply

Eligible applicants are non-profit civil society organisations legally established in EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories). Consortia are allowed; applicants must demonstrate at least 3 years recent experience in CSO capacity building and in awarding/managing grants to CSOs.

Key financial facts

Practical details

Footnotes

1. 1Full requirements for financial support to third parties (selection procedure, eligible recipients, maximum amounts, calls publication and monitoring obligations) are described in the Call Document: Call document (PDF).

Essential facts and deadlines

Eligibility and who should apply

This call is aimed at legal-entity civil society organisations with at least three years recent experience in CSO capacity building and in awarding and managing grants to CSOs. Applicants must be non-profit legal entities established in an eligible country (see below). The call requires intermediaries that can manage a re-granting scheme and a capacity-building programme for local, regional or national CSOs.

Funding, financial design and third-party re-granting

What the grant finances: eligible activities

Application process, required documents and templates

Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission System (single-stage). The application comprises Part A (administrative forms filled in online), Part B (technical description uploaded as PDF), Part C (KPI tool) and mandatory annexes. Page limits: Part B limited to 70 pages for this call; evaluators will disregard excess pages. All participating beneficiaries and affiliated entities must be registered in the Participant Register (PIC) and validate legal status prior to grant preparation.

Evaluation, award criteria and timeline

Single-stage submission followed by one-step evaluation. An evaluation committee assisted by independent experts will assess admissibility, eligibility, operational capacity and award criteria. Successful proposals will be invited to grant preparation; invitation does not constitute a formal commitment until legal checks and validation are completed. Reserve lists will be used where appropriate.

Operational requirements, checks and obligations

Beneficiaries must demonstrate financial and operational capacity. The Participant Register validation will require legal documents. Financial capacity checks apply primarily to coordinators and actions with larger grants. The grant agreement includes obligations on record-keeping, reporting (continuous and periodic), publication of re-grant call results, monitoring of third-party projects, reporting on irregularities and risks, and compliance with EU values and ethics. Prefinancing guarantees may be required in some cases.

Applicant support and contact

All submissions are via the Funding & Tenders Portal. For call-specific queries contact the managing unit: EACEA-CERV@ec.europa.eu. For technical problems use the IT Helpdesk. Consult the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, the Call Document and Model Grant Agreement available on the Portal for full guidance and templates. Topic Q&A may be published on the Portal for clarifications after call opening.

Eligibility and selection practicalities (concise checklist)

Assessment of application mechanics and scoring

Evaluation places heavy weight on Relevance and Quality (80% of total). Applicants must convincingly show independence, reach to grassroots and remote CSOs, detailed mechanisms for fair and transparent re-granting, measures to avoid double funding, conflict-of-interest mitigation, monitoring and reporting, and realistic capacity building with measurable indicators. Projects failing the Relevance threshold will be rejected even if scoring well on other criteria.

Co-funding and financial contributions

For the re-granted third-party amounts, applicants should NOT require co-financing from third-party applicants (the call specifies that applicants for financial support to third parties should not be required to provide any co-financing). For the intermediary project itself, applicants must present a balanced budget and may show own contributions, income generated by the action or other funding sources; the call does not universally require mandatory co-financing but expects applicants to ensure project viability and may require evidence of stable resources and financial capacity. The funding rate and in-kind rules are specified in the Model Grant Agreement and Annex 2.

Application form structure and templates (guidance for Part B)

Use the standard CERV Application Form. Part B (technical description) must be uploaded as a PDF and follows a structured template. Key sections applicants must populate in Part B include: project summary; 1 Relevance (background, needs analysis, complementarity and EU added value); 2 Quality (concept and methodology, consortium set-up, project team, management and monitoring, cost-effectiveness, risk management); 3 Impact (ambition, dissemination, sustainability); 4 Workplan, WPs and detailed deliverables/resources/timing; 5 Ethics and EU values; 6 Declarations. Annexes to attach: CVs, annual activity reports, previous project list and any call-specific documentation.

Evaluation scoring checklist (how to maximize points)

Summary: What this opportunity is about

This CERV call finances large intermediary grants to experienced civil society organisations in EU Member States to set up re-granting schemes and capacity-building programmes that strengthen civil society’s ability to protect and promote EU values, fundamental rights, equality, media freedom and the rule of law at local, regional and national levels. Projects must combine financial support to third-party CSOs (each capped at a maximum re-grant of €60,000) with comprehensive capacity development, monitoring, due diligence, risk management and transparency measures. Applications are large-scale (grant requests €2.5M–€6M), competitive and submitted through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using the CERV application templates. Successful intermediaries will implement multi-year programmes (36–48 months) that increase CSO resilience, promote civic participation and support the enforcement and awareness of EU rights and values.

For full call documentation, detailed templates, the Call Document and Model Grant Agreement see the topic page on the Funding & Tenders Portal and the call fiche and annexes 1.

Footnotes

1. 1CERV-2026. Call document, templates and annexes are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu

Executive summary

CERV-2026 is a Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme action grant for civil society organisations acting as intermediaries. Its purpose is to strengthen local, regional and national civil society organisations that protect and promote Union values, fundamental rights, equality, democracy and the rule of law. Selected intermediaries must combine capacity building with the onward provision of financial support to third-party civil society organisations.

The call has an estimated available budget of €114 million. Applicants may request between €2.5 million and €6 million per project, with an EU funding rate of 94 percent of eligible costs. Projects should last between 36 and 48 months. The submission deadline is 24 February 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time.

The opportunity is particularly suited to established, independent, non-profit civil society organisations with demonstrable experience in CSO capacity building, grant-making, outreach to grassroots organisations and management of substantial multi-country or national support schemes.

Authoritative sources

The official Funding and Tenders Portal topic page and call document should be treated as controlling sources for the application. The call is managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency.

Call profile

What the funding is about

The call seeks to protect, promote and raise awareness of fundamental rights and Union values by increasing the capacity, resilience and effectiveness of civil society organisations. It uses an intermediary model, meaning that the main beneficiaries receiving the EU grant are expected to redistribute part of the funding to other eligible civil society organisations and provide them with structured capacity-building support.

The supported ecosystem should include grassroots, small, remote and rural-based organisations, which often have limited access to funding, specialist expertise and institutional support. Applicants are expected to demonstrate how they will reach organisations that are geographically isolated, under-resourced, vulnerable or otherwise less likely to access conventional EU funding.

The call is aligned with the protection of democracy, fundamental rights, equality and the rule of law. It also addresses threats to civic space, including restrictions on civil society, disinformation, attacks against civil society organisations and human rights defenders, strategic lawsuits against public participation, online threats and discriminatory practices.

The proposal should include a robust assessment of the civic space and civil society landscape in the countries or regions covered. The needs assessment should consider gender differences and, where possible, an intersectional approach addressing the interaction between gender and other characteristics or sources of disadvantage.

Mandatory activity components

Every project must include both of the following components:

1. Financial support to third parties, consisting of the design and publication of calls, outreach, evaluation, selection, contracting, payment, monitoring, risk management and final assessment of supported CSO projects.

2. Capacity building for civil society organisations, including technical assistance, training, mentoring, coaching, peer learning, organisational development, fundraising support, digital security, resilience building, communication and policy or legal expertise.

Financial support to third parties must represent a significant part of the project budget and must be clearly described in the application. Capacity building must be treated as a continuous, results-oriented process rather than as a series of isolated training events.

Eligible thematic activities

Examples of activities that may be supported directly or through onward grants include:

Who can apply

Eligible applicants must be legal entities, either public or private bodies, established in an EU Member State, including overseas countries and territories. Applicants must be non-profit-making civil society organisations.

A proposal may be submitted by a single applicant or by a consortium. The formal consortium requirement is therefore at least one eligible applicant, although consortium participation may be strategically useful where different organisations provide country expertise, grant-management capacity, financial controls, outreach networks and thematic expertise.

The applicant or consortium must demonstrate recent proven experience of at least three years in both CSO capacity-building activities and awarding and managing grants to CSOs. These two experience requirements may be fulfilled by one organisation or divided between consortium members, provided that responsibilities are clearly allocated.

Natural persons, international organisations, EU bodies other than the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Programme Contact Points and entities subject to applicable EU restrictive or conditionality measures are not eligible participants. Entities without legal personality may participate only in exceptional circumstances where national law permits and equivalent protection of EU financial interests can be demonstrated.

The applicant or consortium should be independent from governments, public authorities and political, religious or commercial interests. Independence is a central relevance criterion and will be examined through operational, financial, personal, accountability and transparency considerations.

Third-party recipients of onward financial support

Third-party organisations supported through intermediary calls must be established in an EU Member State, including overseas countries and territories. They must be non-profit civil society organisations that respect the values in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Natural persons cannot receive onward financial support. Beneficiaries of the main grant, affiliated entities, associated partners and contractors of the intermediary are not eligible to apply to calls for third parties issued under this opportunity.

Funding structure and amounts

The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested. The European Commission may decide not to allocate the full call budget or may redistribute available funds depending on the proposals received and the evaluation results.

Onward financial support must be a significant budget component. The intermediary must specify the maximum amount for each third party, the method for calculating the exact award, eligible organisation types, a closed list of eligible activity types, the evaluation and award procedure, outreach channels and compliance measures for EU values.

Onward calls should remain open for at least two months for single-stage procedures and for the first stage of two-stage procedures. Calls must be published on the intermediary website in relevant EU languages and also entered in the dedicated Funding and Tenders Portal section for competitive calls.

Financial and cost conditions

The 94 percent funding rate applies to eligible costs established in the grant agreement. The grant uses a mixed budget structure that may include actual costs, unit costs and flat-rate elements. The final amount depends on eligible expenditure and compliance with the grant agreement rather than simply on the initial budget estimate.

Eligible budget categories include personnel, volunteers, subcontracting, travel and subsistence, equipment, other goods and services, onward financial support to third parties and indirect costs. Non-deductible and non-refundable VAT may be eligible, subject to the applicable rules. Depreciation rules apply to equipment.

Volunteer costs may be declared through the applicable unit-cost mechanism. Travel and subsistence should generally use the authorised unit costs, although actual costs may apply where a particular expense is not covered by the applicable unit-cost decision.

Costs relating to project websites, communication, dissemination, independent financial audits of third-party projects and certain meetings organised by the granting authority may be eligible under the conditions set out in the grant agreement.

Projects must maintain a balanced budget and sufficient resources for successful implementation. Double funding of the same action or cost is prohibited. Combination with an operating grant may be possible only where the project remains outside the operating grant work programme and costs are clearly separated.

Project duration and implementation architecture

Projects should last between 36 and 48 months. The start date will normally be after grant signature and usually within one to six months of the grant entering into force. A retroactive start may be accepted only exceptionally, for duly justified reasons, and never earlier than the proposal submission date.

The application must organise the work through the following mandatory work packages:

Additional work packages may be added where necessary. Applicants should ensure that responsibilities, decision-making, financial controls, monitoring arrangements and country coverage are clearly allocated between consortium members.

Mandatory deliverables and controls

Applicants must establish procedures to prevent, detect, mitigate and report conflicts of interest, fraud, irregularities, non-compliance with EU values and reputational risks. They must also monitor third-party implementation through proportionate desk-based and, where appropriate, field monitoring.

Evaluation and award criteria

A proposal must achieve at least 25 out of 40 points for Relevance and at least 70 out of 100 points overall to be considered for funding, subject to available budget and completion of legal, financial and exclusion checks.

Where proposals receive equal scores, priority is first given to the proposal with the higher Relevance score, followed by Quality and then Impact.

Application requirements

Applications must be submitted electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal. Paper applications are not accepted. All beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submission and obtain or use a participant identification code.

The application comprises Part A, Part B, Part C and mandatory annexes. Part A contains administrative and budget information and is completed online. Part B contains the technical description and is downloaded from the submission system, completed and uploaded as a PDF. Part C contains programme key performance indicator information and is completed online.

Part B is limited to a maximum of 70 pages for this call. Pages exceeding the limit will not be considered by evaluators. The proposal must be readable, accessible and printable and must use the templates generated or provided through the submission system rather than relying on older general templates.

Mandatory supporting documents include standard CVs of the core project team, the latest annual activity report for each applicant, a list of key previous projects from the last four years and a child protection policy where project activities involve children under 18.

The proposal should provide clear evidence of the applicant's independence, financial and operational capacity, relevant grant-management experience, country expertise, prior capacity-building work, governance structure, internal controls and ability to reach remote and grassroots organisations.

Ethics, equality and safeguarding

Projects must comply with the highest ethical standards, Article 2 values of the Treaty on European Union, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, applicable EU and national law and the General Data Protection Regulation.

Gender equality and non-discrimination must be mainstreamed throughout the project. Applicants should use gender analysis, seek gender-balanced participation, consider multiple discrimination and collect data disaggregated by sex, disability or age where possible.

Onward calls must require applicants to reflect gender differences in their proposals, and award criteria must take promotion of gender equality into account. Application processes should be proportionate and adapted to the technical and managerial capacity of grassroots organisations.

Projects involving children require a suitable child protection policy covering recruitment and vetting, staff conduct, reporting procedures and continuous training. The intermediary is responsible for ensuring that supported third parties with direct contact with children meet relevant safeguarding standards.

Activities that contradict EU interests or fundamental values, involve proselytising or directly support political parties are not eligible. All third-party recipients must sign an appropriate declaration concerning respect for EU values and may be subject to due diligence before funding is awarded.

Key risks for applicants

Recommended preparation approach

Overall assessment

This is a large-scale, strategically significant CERV opportunity aimed at capable civil society intermediaries rather than individual small organisations seeking a direct project grant. The strongest applications are likely to combine institutional independence, substantial grant-management experience, credible access to grassroots organisations, a high-quality country-level needs analysis, transparent onward funding procedures and a measurable long-term capacity-building strategy.

The call offers substantial funding but carries significant governance, compliance and delivery responsibilities. Applicants should treat the onward-grant mechanism, risk-management plan, EU-values due diligence, gender mainstreaming, safeguarding and monitoring framework as core design elements rather than administrative appendices.

The final application should be checked against the live Funding and Tenders Portal topic page, the call document, the CERV Model Grant Agreement and any later corrigenda or topic updates before submission. 1

The official topic page identifies the live deadline, submission system, call conditions, budget overview and supporting documents. The official call document provides the detailed eligibility, activity, evaluation, financial and implementation rules: Official Topic Page and Official Call Document.