Citizen engagement for sustainable land management through local and regional authorities

The grant opportunity titled HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-09 is part of the EU's Horizon Europe program and focuses on citizen engagement for sustainable land management through local and regional authorities, aligning with the overarching goals of the Soil Deal for Europe Mission. The objective is to enhance soil literacy and improve sustainable land management practices across Europe, addressing challenges related to soil health.

Eligible applicants include local and regional authorities, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and universities with expertise in environmental and soil sciences, social sciences, and spatial planning. Financial support is available primarily in the form of grants. The grant also allows for funding up to €60,000 for third parties that help implement participatory processes in co-designing Territorial Management Agreements.

The initiative aims to launch at least 40 Territorial Management Agreements across various regions, engaging citizens in the process to foster sustainable land management solutions. The funding amount ranges from €3 million to €12 million for each project, with the specific grant for this call being approximately €5 million.

The application process is single-stage, with a deadline set for September 30, 2025. The grant emphasizes capacity-building activities, technical support for local authorities, and the importance of inclusivity, ensuring that diverse community voices are represented, including vulnerable populations.

The expected outcomes include increased awareness among citizens and policymakers about soil health, the establishment and implementation of Territorial Management Agreements, and enhanced capabilities for local authorities in citizen engagement and sustainable practices.

The call also encourages collaboration with other relevant initiatives under the Soil Deal for Europe and mandates a commitment to knowledge sharing, sustainability, and open access to outputs.

In summary, this grant presents a significant opportunity for local governments and organizations invested in environmental sustainability and community engagement, promoting collective strategies to protect soil health and advance sustainable land management.

The EU Funding Opportunity: Citizen Engagement for Sustainable Land Management

This opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe program, specifically under the call "Supporting the implementation of the Soil Deal for Europe Mission" (HORIZON-MISS-2025-05). It aims to foster citizen engagement in sustainable land management through local and regional authorities, aligning with the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ and its objective to improve soil literacy. The call also contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

The expected outcomes of this funding opportunity are:

1. Increased Awareness: Substantially increased awareness and understanding among citizens and local/regional policymakers regarding the value of soils, soil health challenges, and drivers (both bio-physical and socio-economic) across Europe.

2. Territorial Management Agreements: An increased number of regions and municipalities across Europe adopting Territorial Management Agreements co-designed with citizens and stakeholders to foster sustainable land management practices.

3. Improved Access to Capacity Building: Local and regional authorities have improved access to capacity building activities on how to implement solutions for the protection and restoration of soil health and enhance citizen engagement in sustainable land management.

The scope of the proposed activities should:

1. Training and Technical Support: Provide training and technical support to public authorities to design and run inclusive and effective participatory processes at local and regional levels. These processes should lead to the adoption of Territorial Management Agreements that foster sustainable land management and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

2. Implementation of Agreements: Launch the implementation of at least 40 Territorial Management Agreements, with one agreement per local or regional authority involved. Provide guidelines and resources to sustain and monitor their implementation in the long term.

3. Capacity Building: Organize capacity-building activities for representatives of local and regional authorities. These activities should include training, peer-to-peer learning, and knowledge-sharing to promote the adoption of solutions for the restoration of soil health at their level of governance.

Key Requirements for Proposals:

Active Involvement: Proposals must actively involve local and regional authorities as beneficiaries or through financial support to third parties.

Financial Support to Third Parties: If providing financial support to third parties, it must be in the form of grants. The maximum amount granted to each third party is EUR 60,000. This support should enable local or regional authorities to run participatory processes to co-design Territorial Management Agreements with citizens and launch their implementation.

Citizen Engagement: Local and regional authorities involved are expected to engage citizens and stakeholders at the local and regional level for the protection and restoration of soil health.

Expertise: Proposals should bring together expertise in environmental and soil sciences, as well as transdisciplinary expertise in spatial planning and social sciences and humanities (SSH), including gender studies. This expertise should be used to design and organize training and capacity building activities for local and regional authorities, and to support them in implementing effective participatory processes.

Inclusivity: The engagement of citizens and stakeholders in the design of Territorial Management Agreements should be representative of the local community, inclusive, incorporate gender perspectives, and give attention to the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations.

Coordination: Proposals should include dedicated tasks and resources for coordination measures and joint activities with other relevant projects and initiatives funded under the Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, including engagement with relevant cluster activities.

Open Access: Proposals should demonstrate a route towards open access, longevity, sustainability, and interoperability of knowledge and outputs through close collaboration with the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO) and SoilWise.

Definitions:

Territorial Management Agreements: These are co-designed pacts between a public authority, relevant stakeholders, and citizens aimed at the protection and restoration of soil health. The Agreement should define roles, responsibilities, and actions of the parties involved, as well as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress towards desired results.

Regional Authorities: In this context, regional authorities refer to legal entities responsible for managing regions, geographical areas at sub-national level, defined as NUTS 2 and 3, corresponding to actual administrative units with their own representation/government.

General Conditions:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limits and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.

2. Eligible Countries: Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Some non-EU/non-Associated Countries have specific provisions for funding.

3. Other Eligible Conditions: Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and Operational Capacity and Exclusion: Described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and Award: Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and Award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

5c. Evaluation and Award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and Financial Set-Up: Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, up to EUR 60,000 per third party, as described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific Conditions: Described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and Evaluation:

Application Form: Templates are available in the Submission System (Standard application form HE CSA).

Evaluation Form: Templates will be used with necessary adaptations (Standard evaluation form HE CSA).

Guidance:

HE Programme Guide

Model Grant Agreements (MGA):

HE MGA

Call-Specific Instructions:

Information on financial support to third parties (HE)

Additional Documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 12. Missions

HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Budget Overview:

The call includes multiple topics with varying budgets and indicative numbers of grants. All have a single-stage submission process, an opening date of May 6, 2025, and a deadline of September 30, 2025.

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-01 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 12,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-02 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 11,000,000, indicative 2 grants

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-03 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-04 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-05 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-06 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-07 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-08 - HORIZON-CSA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-09 - HORIZON-CSA: EUR 5,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-10 - HORIZON-CSA: EUR 3,000,000, indicative 1 grant

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-11 - HORIZON-RIA: EUR 6,000,000, indicative 1 grant

Partner Search:

LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics.

Submission:

The submission session is available as of May 19, 2025. Access the Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Support:

Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, ETSI Research Helpdesk, and Partner Search tools are available for support.

In summary, this Horizon Europe funding opportunity aims to boost citizen engagement in sustainable land management by empowering local and regional authorities. It seeks to increase awareness, promote the adoption of Territorial Management Agreements, and enhance capacity building through training and knowledge sharing. The initiative encourages inclusive and representative participation, collaboration with relevant projects, and open access to knowledge and outputs. The call provides financial support to third parties and offers comprehensive guidance and support resources for applicants.

This opportunity is about empowering local and regional authorities to engage their citizens in protecting and restoring soil health. It's about creating agreements that everyone is a part of, ensuring that our land is managed sustainably for the benefit of all, including future generations. The EU is providing funding and resources to make this happen, and they're looking for projects that are inclusive, collaborative, and committed to sharing their knowledge with others. If you're involved in local government, environmental science, or community engagement, this could be a great opportunity to make a real difference in your region.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are local and regional authorities, either as direct beneficiaries or through financial support to third parties. The call also seeks proposals that bring together expertise from environmental and soil sciences, spatial planning, social sciences and humanities (including gender studies), suggesting that universities, research institutes, and NGOs with relevant expertise are also potential applicants or partners.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) under the Horizon Europe program. Financial support to third parties is also provided in the form of grants.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity encourages the active involvement of local and regional authorities, suggesting that a consortium approach is beneficial, if not explicitly required. The need to bring together diverse expertise also points towards a consortium.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility appears to be focused on the EU, given the references to the "Soil Deal for Europe Mission" and the involvement of local and regional authorities within Europe. However, the mention of non-EU/non-Associated Countries having specific provisions suggests that participation from those countries might be possible under certain conditions, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector: The program targets the following sectors: environment, agriculture/food, climate, innovation, and research, with a specific focus on soil health and sustainable land management. It also touches upon social sciences and humanities through the emphasis on citizen engagement and inclusive processes.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the focus is on the European Union and associated countries. The call refers to "non-EU/non-Associated Countries" that may have specific provisions for funding, indicating that entities from those countries could potentially participate.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project is geared towards implementation and capacity building. The call aims to launch the implementation of Territorial Management Agreements and provide guidelines for their long-term sustainability and monitoring. Therefore, the project stage is primarily demonstration and implementation, with elements of development and validation.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from EUR 3,000,000 to EUR 12,000,000. Additionally, there is a provision for financial support to third parties, with a maximum amount of EUR 60,000 per third party.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, as indicated by the statement that financial support to third parties should be provided following an open call of European dimension. The call is single-stage.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants. Additionally, they will receive non-monetary services such as training, technical support, peer-to-peer learning, and knowledge-sharing activities.

Application Stages: The application process appears to be a single-stage process, as indicated in the call information.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned in the provided text. However, the indicative number of grants for each topic suggests the number of projects that will be funded.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether co-funding is required.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call, "Citizen engagement for sustainable land management through local and regional authorities," aims to improve soil literacy and promote sustainable land management practices across Europe. It seeks to engage citizens and local/regional authorities in the protection and restoration of soil health through participatory processes, leading to the adoption and implementation of Territorial Management Agreements. The call provides funding for training, technical support, and capacity building activities, with a focus on inclusivity and the involvement of diverse expertise. Eligible applicants include local and regional authorities, research institutions, universities, and NGOs with experience in environmental and soil sciences, spatial planning, and social sciences. The funding is provided through grants, with a range of EUR 3,000,000 to EUR 12,000,000 available per project, and a maximum of EUR 60,000 for financial support to third parties. The application process is a single-stage open call, with a deadline of September 30, 2025. The call contributes to the "Soil Deal for Europe Mission" and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals related to life on land and sustainable cities and communities.