Strengthening the remembrance of LGBTIQ+ victims and other victims

What it funds:projects that preserve, research, teach and commemorate the persecution of LGBTIQ+ people and other overlooked victim groups of 20th-century genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Europe. Activities can include awareness-raising, training, education, memorial/creative projects, digitisation of testimonies and countering historical falsification. Projects must NOT address the Holocaust against Jewish people (covered under a separate topic) nor Roma victims (apply under Priority 1).

Who can apply:Lead applicants must be non-profit legal entities (public or private) or international organisations; co-applicants may be non-profit or for-profit legal entities (for-profits must partner with public or non-profit entities). At least two applicants are required (coordinator + minimum one co-applicant). Projects may include affiliated entities, associated partners and subcontractors. Eligible organisations must be established in eligible countries (EU Member States and programme-associated countries). 1

Key eligibility & administrative notes:applications submitted only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; proposals must address a single topic/priority; the lead applicant may submit only one proposal across the whole call; proposals limited to 70 pages (Part B). Detailed eligibility, award criteria and lump-sum calculation rules are in the Call document and Portal guidance.

Call title:European Remembrance - 2026. Topic code: CERV-2026 (Priority 2). Managed by: European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) 2021-2027. Opening for submission: 21 October 2026. Deadline: 24 February 2027, 17:00 CET. This topic focuses on strengthening remembrance of non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust and of LGBTIQ+ victims and other minorities targeted by genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity and other 20th-century European crimes. Projects should NOT address the Holocaust against Jewish people (covered by Topic 2) nor Roma victims (Priority 1). The action encourages inclusive, participatory remembrance, education, digitisation of testimonies, countering falsification and memory competition, artistic memory work, training, awareness-raising and transnational cooperation.

Call documents and where to apply:Apply and submit proposals electronically only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission System. Full call documentation, the Call document, Model Grant Agreement (Lump Sum MGA), Part A and Part B templates and guidance are published on the Portal and in the call fiche Call document 1.

Eligible lead applicants (coordinators):non-profit legal entities (public or private) or international organisations. Eligible co-applicants: non-profit or for-profit legal entities (public or private). For-profit applicants must participate in partnership with public entities, private non-profit organisations, or international organisations. Natural persons are not eligible, except self-employed sole traders where legal personality equals the natural person. Organisations, beneficiaries and affiliated entities must be established in eligible countries (EU Member States including OCTs and non-EU countries associated to the CERV programme or negotiating association where association enters into force before grant signature). Full list of participating countries and conditions in the Call document.

Consortium requirement:Minimum consortium: lead applicant (Coordinator) + at least one co-applicant (so at least two applicants). Single applicant proposals are not eligible for this call. Associated partners may participate without funding; affiliated entities may receive funding but do not sign the grant. Coordinator may not submit more than one application across all call topics; multiple submissions by same lead applicant will be rejected.

Eligible activities and target groups:Activities must match the topic: research and education on how genocides and crimes were organised and perpetrated; training and awareness-raising reflecting persecution of LGBTIQ+ people and other minorities; artistic memory projects and memory activism; countering falsification, denial and victims’ inversion; addressing divergent national narratives; digitisation of historical materials and testimonies; intergenerational exchanges; capacity building for multipliers (teachers, journalists, public officials, judiciary, law enforcement) and community-based remembrance. Projects must involve direct and verifiable participation of target groups where required and mainstream gender and non-discrimination across activities.

Funding type:Lump sum grant (CERV Lump Sum Grants). The action uses prefixed lump sums determined by pre-defined outputs (work packages / events) and/or an estimated eligible cost approach where applicants propose the lump-sum amount in their application and the granting authority fixes it in the Grant Agreement. For this topic the grant form is Lump Sum MGA as stated in the call fiche.

Funding rate and form:The lump sum amount will be fixed in the Grant Agreement. For actions where an estimated budget is submitted (Equality, Rights and Gender Equality and Daphne strands) applicants must propose estimated eligible costs and the Agency will apply the reimbursement rate published in the call and fix the lump sum. Indirect costs are calculated as a flat 7% of direct costs where applicable. For the Citizens engagement and participation strand actions, lump sums were prefixed on the basis of participants and countries; amounts and calculation rules are explained in the lump sum Decision governing CERV lump sums.

Project duration:normally between 12 and 24 months. Start date fixed in Grant Agreement (normally within 6 months after signature; retroactive starting date exceptionally possible but never earlier than submission date). Mandatory milestone: beneficiaries must invite event attendees to participate in the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values. Deliverables: work package reports/event description sheets, training materials, publications, digital archives, policy recommendations, dissemination outputs, and any other deliverable defined in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement. Projects should be built around work packages/events (1 lump sum = 1 work package/event).

Application type and portal:single-stage open call. Submission method: electronic submission only through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission System (no paper). Submission is in four parts (Part A, Part B, Part C KPI tool, mandatory annexes). Part A is completed directly online (administrative data, Participant Register PICs, lump sum budget calculator included in Part A). Part B (technical description) must be downloaded from the Submission System, completed and re-uploaded as PDF. Part C (KPI tool) completed online. Mandatory annexes include list of previous projects, child protection policy where activities involve children, declaration of honour, and other documents requested during validation/grant preparation.

Page limits and format:Part B limited to 70 pages for this call (excess pages disregarded). Minimum font and formatting rules apply (see Application Form instructions). CVs and annex templates available in the Submission System. The Lump Sum Calculator is included in the online Part A form (Work packages and Beneficiary Calculation Sheet).

Application structure (high level / helpful checklist):Use the Application Form structure: Part A administrative screens (Topic, participants, legal details, Part A lump-sum budget), Part B technical narrative (Project summary; 1 Relevance: needs, objectives, complementarity; 2 Quality: concept, methodology, consortium, staff, management, QA, M&E, risk; 3 Impact: dissemination, sustainability; 4 Workplan: WPs, activities, deliverables, milestones, timetable; 5 Other: ethics, data protection, child safeguarding if relevant; 6 Declarations). Attach mandatory annexes (list of previous projects, CPP when relevant, letters of support).

Evaluation procedure:single-stage, one-step evaluation by an Evaluation Committee assisted by independent experts. Admissibility and eligibility checks performed first. Award criteria and weightings: Relevance (40 points, minimum pass 25), Quality (40 points), Impact (20 points). Overall pass score: 70/100. Proposals ranked per topic; tie-breaking by scores in Relevance, then Quality, then Impact. Successful proposals invited to grant preparation; invitation does not constitute formal commitment to fund until legal checks and grant preparation are complete (legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion checks).

Application stages and number of formal stages:Submission (one-stage) followed by evaluation and then grant preparation. Practically: 1 submission; 1 evaluation; 1 grant preparation/amendment stage before signature.

Financial and operational capacity:Applicants must demonstrate stable and sufficient resources and operational capacity to implement the project. Financial capacity checks are carried out normally for coordinators unless public bodies or if requested grant amount <= €60,000. The granting authority may require additional measures (e.g. guarantees, pre-financing in instalments, joint and several liability) if capacity checks reveal issues.

Co-funding requirement:Yes. Projects must indicate own contribution or other co-financing where required. The grant awarded may be lower than requested. The call uses co-funding rates published in the call conditions; applicants should consult the Call document for the specific funding rate for their proposal. No double funding: beneficiaries must ensure that the same costs are not declared under multiple EU grants.

Geographic eligibility:Actions must take place in eligible countries (EU Member States including OCTs and non-EU countries associated to CERV or negotiating association where association enters into force before grant signature). The call documentation lists eligible countries and rules for entities from countries currently negotiating association. The topic has an EU-wide/transnational focus and transnational projects are encouraged.

Ethics and values:Projects must respect highest ethical standards, EU values (Article 2 TEU) and the EU Charter, and comply with applicable law including GDPR. Projects involving children require a child protection policy (private entities) or declaration of honour (public bodies) covering Keeping Children Safe standards. Projects must mainstream gender equality and non-discrimination; data should be disaggregated by sex, age and disability where possible.

Security and exclusion:Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or exclusion decisions are ineligible. Special rules apply for entities subject to EU conditionality measures. Projects involving classified information or security-sensitive topics should follow the security rules described in the Call document and model grant agreement.

Target sectors / thematic focus:European remembrance; history and human rights education; culture and arts for memory; civic engagement and democracy reinforcement; human rights and equality (LGBTIQ+ history and remembrance); digital archiving and heritage digitisation; education and training; media literacy and countering online distortion; youth engagement and capacity building of multipliers (teachers, journalists, civil servants).

Expected project stage / maturity:from research, documentation, development/production (exhibitions, digitisation, curricula), validation and demonstration (pilot trainings, events), to early-stage dissemination and initial steps towards sustainability and scaling. Proposals can represent national or transnational activities, with preference for transnational dimension where it adds EU value.

Reporting and payments:Grants are lump-sum based. After signature beneficiaries normally receive pre-financing (typically 60% of maximum grant; may be amended). Final payment after reporting and verification of deliverables/milestones. Prefinancing guarantees may be requested. All payments are made to the coordinator who distributes to beneficiaries according to the internal arrangements.

Application Form templates and instructions:Part A is generated in the Portal and includes administrative data and the Lump Sum Budget (Work packages and Beneficiary Calculation Sheet). Part B template must be downloaded from the Submission System: it contains Cover Page, Project Summary, sections 1 Relevance, 2 Quality, 3 Impact, 4 Workplan and Work Packages (deliverables, milestones, timetable), 5 Other (ethics, security), 6 Declarations and Annexes. Part B must respect formatting rules and page limits (70 pages). Annex 1 (detailed budget table/calculator) is mandatory for Lump Sum Grants as provided in Portal Reference Documents.

Success rates:The Call document does not publish a predicted success rate. Past CERV calls have been competitive; expected success rate depends on number and quality of proposals received for this topic and available budget (€2.5 million for Priority 2). Applicants should prepare competitive proposals addressing the award criteria with strong transnational dimension and clear impact and sustainability.

Controls and audits:The granting authority performs legal entity validation, exclusion checks, financial capacity checks and may request further documentation. For lump sum grants, verification focuses on achievement of outputs, deliverables and milestones. Irregularities, non-compliance with EU values, or double funding can lead to grant reduction, recovery or rejection.

Primary financial mechanism:Grant (Lump Sum Grants). Grant modality: fixed lump sums linked to work packages/events and/or lump sum derived from applicants’ estimated eligible costs and fixed in the Grant Agreement. No financial support to third parties is allowed unless explicitly stated in the Call document for a given topic (for this call financial support to third parties is generally not allowed).

Eligible geographic scope:EU Member States (including Overseas Countries and Territories) and non-EU countries associated to the CERV Programme or in the process of association with entry into force before grant signature. Projects should primarily operate in eligible countries and transnational projects are encouraged.

Thematic sectors:European remembrance, human rights, democracy and rule of law, equality and non-discrimination (LGBTIQ+ equality and remembrance), culture and heritage, education and training, digital archives/digitisation, media literacy and countering historical distortion, youth and civic engagement.

Expected maturity:projects may operate at research/documentation stage, development/production (exhibitions, digitisation, teaching materials), validation/demonstration (pilot events, trainings), and early dissemination and sustainability planning. Activities should include education, awareness-raising, capacity building, digitisation and intergenerational exchange.

Number of application stages to succeed:1 submission stage (single-stage). After positive evaluation, successful proposals are invited to grant preparation (dialogue and legal checks) and then signature — effectively a two-step selection-to-award flow: (1) single-stage submission and evaluation; (2) grant preparation and signature. Evaluation letters and possible reserve list notifications will be issued.

Application templates and structure:Part A (online administrative form including the Lump Sum Budget calculator); Part B (technical description PDF template) containing Cover page, Project summary, sections (1) Relevance, (2) Quality (methodology, consortium, staff, management, QA, M&E, risk management, ethics), (3) Impact (dissemination, sustainability), (4) Workplan and Work Packages (objectives, task descriptions, milestones, deliverables, timetable), (5) Other (ethics and security), (6) Declarations; Annexes: Detailed budget (for lump-sum type where required), list of previous projects (last 4 years), CVs of key staff where required, child safeguarding policy or declaration, other documents requested in call. Part B must be uploaded as PDF and limited to 70 pages. See the Application Form and Online Manual in the Portal for the exact templates and tags.

Specific technical note:For lump-sum funding under CERV the concept 1 lump sum = 1 work package = 1 event applies. Events are defined by output (number of direct participants and number of eligible countries involved) and can be in-situ or online. The Lump Sum Calculator is integrated in Part A of the submission.