Support to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Support to Human Rights and Democracy (HR&D)

The European Commission (Delegation to Cambodia) is running a restricted two-stage call EuropeAid to support civil society and human rights and democracy actions in Cambodia with a total indicative budget of €5,993,000 split across two lots. Lot 1 (civil society) has an indicative allocation of €4,313,000 with grants from €600,000 to €850,000 and Lot 2 (human rights and democracy) has an indicative allocation of €1,680,000 with grants from €300,000 to €500,000. Applicants must submit a concept note via PROSPECT (PADOR and Participant Register registration required) by 11 December 2026 (11:00 Brussels time) and invited applicants will be asked to submit full applications, with actions running between 24 and 48 months. Proposals must follow the published Guidelines, standard grant contract and PRAG rules, demonstrate local partnerships and co-financing, and meet eligibility, monitoring and compliance requirements set out in the call documents.

Call at a glance

Essential facts

EU action grant for Cambodia to strengthen civil society, civic space, human rights protection and locally led participation in governance and public policy.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documentation, application forms, annexes (budget, logframe, PADOR forms) and submission portal pages are available on the EU Funding & Tenders portal: F&T Portal.

Opportunity summary and key facts

Budget, grant sizes, and financing rules

Eligible applicants and partners

Lead applicant eligibility differs per lot but in both lots the lead applicant must be a legal person, non-profit and a non-governmental organisation or civil society organisation as defined in the Global Europe regulation. Lead applicants must be effectively established under the national law of the country concerned and have their head office in an eligible country; permitted locations explicitly include Member States of the European Union and Cambodia and eligible countries under NDICI-Global Europe. No nationality restriction applies to applicants, co-applicants and affiliated entities in general, but establishment rules affect local status and co-financing rates.

Consortium requirement and partnership arrangements

This is a multi-actor grant requiring a lead applicant and the involvement of co-applicant(s) and, where relevant, affiliated entities. Local involvement is mandatory: if the lead applicant is not established in Cambodia it must act with at least two local co-applicants; if established in Cambodia the lead applicant must act with at least one co-applicant. Projects must target only one of the two lots; applicants may address multiple priorities within the chosen lot if coherently integrated. The lead applicant becomes the coordinator and is the single interlocutor with the contracting authority and bears overall responsibility for reporting and financial management.

Geographic and thematic scope

Project maturity, duration and eligible activities

Application process and stages

Evaluation, assessment and contractual requirements

Evaluation follows multi-step administrative checks and technical evaluation. Concept notes are scored out of 50 using relevance and design criteria; full applications are scored out of 100 across financial and operational capacity, relevance, design, implementation approach, sustainability and budget cost-effectiveness. Minimum thresholds apply and applications that fail financial capacity sub-scores are rejected. Provisional selection yields a ranked list and a reserve list. Final award is conditional on eligibility checks and submission of supporting documents, declaration on honour, SEA-H self-evaluation where required, and any required financial guarantee.

Procurement, subcontracting and financial support to third parties must comply with Annex IV procurement rules. Financial support to third parties (sub-grants) may be provided under strict conditions and must be explicitly described in the full application, including objectives, selection criteria, maximum amount per third party and monitoring arrangements.

Application templates and required annexes

Applicants must use the standard grant application forms provided as annexes to the guidelines. Required documentation includes the concept note form (Annex A.1) at stage 1 and the full application form (Annex A.2) at stage 2, Annex B budget template (worksheets 1a/€1B/1c depending on reimbursement/FNLC use), Annex C logical framework template, Annex F PADOR offline registration if necessary, Annex H declaration on honour, Annex L SEA-H self-evaluation questionnaire, Annex G standard grant contract and its annexes, and any additional documentation requested in the guidelines. The application forms specify page limits, font size and format requirements for the concept note and full application narrative sections.

Selection, award, reporting and verification

Eligibility of costs, procurement and financial rules (summary)

Eligibility and exclusion requirements

Applicants must not be in exclusion situations (bankruptcy, final convictions for fraud/corruption, serious professional misconduct, significant deficiencies in performance of previous EU contracts, participation in criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related offences, trafficking in human beings, etc.). Declarations on honour and supporting documents must be provided for grant amounts above thresholds. The contracting authority may apply exclusion or administrative measures, including recovery, suspension and exclusion from future awards, if criteria are not met.

Key compliance obligations and safeguards

All beneficiaries must comply with EU values, code of conduct, anti-corruption and anti-bribery rules, respect environmental law, core labour standards and demonstrate zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. Successful applicants other than natural persons must complete the SEA-H self-evaluation (Annex L) for grant amounts above thresholds. Visibility obligations apply and derogations for visibility can be requested for security reasons and must be agreed in advance.

Application practicalities and support materials

Applicants must register in PADOR and the Participant Register and submit concept notes and full applications in PROSPECT. The guidelines include user manuals, e-learning videos, the PROSPECT user manual, PRAG reference documents and a wide set of annexes including budget, logical framework, standard grant contract, templates for PADOR offline registration, declaration on honour and ToRs for expenditure verification and third party assessment. Questions may be submitted to delegation-cambodia-tender-cfp@eeas.europa.eu within the deadlines indicated in the guidelines. IT support for PROSPECT is available via ec-external-relations-application-support@ec.europa.eu.

Categorisation and quick reference answers

How to prepare a compliant application: practical checklist

Quick risk and readiness note

This call is tailored to strengthen Cambodian civil society and rights protection in a constrained civic space. Applicants should demonstrate strong local partnerships, realistic budgets and robust risk mitigation for security and visibility, monitoring systems including data collection for FNLC where used, and compliance capacity for EU grant management and procurement rules. Proposals that combine community-rooted action with evidence-based policy engagement, localization and sustainability plans will be favoured.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call Guidelines and annexes (including grant application form, budget templates, logical framework and contract templates) are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal as published with the call. See the call documents and templates for complete procedural, eligibility and budget rules: webgate.ec.europa.eu

Support to Civil Society Organisations and Support to Human Rights and Democracy

Opportunity Summary

This is a restricted call for proposals of the European Commission for actions in Cambodia under two NDICI Global Europe thematic programmes. It supports locally rooted civil society, inclusive governance, human rights protection, civic participation and resilience in a constrained civic space. Applicants first submit a concept note. Only lead applicants whose concept notes are preselected will be invited to submit a full application.

The opportunity is identified as EuropeAid and is implemented through the European Commission. The call has a total indicative budget of €5,993,000 and is divided into a civil society lot and a human rights and democracy lot 1.

The call is strategically linked to the EU Cambodia Multiannual Indicative Programme 2021 to 2027, the EU Civil Society Roadmap for Cambodia, the NDICI Global Europe Regulation and the EU Human Rights and Democracy thematic programme.

Key Facts

The portal metadata may display the deadline in a different time format from the grant guidelines. Applicants should treat the Brussels time shown in the guidelines and PROSPECT as controlling 2.

Lot Structure and Policy Focus

Lot 1: Civil Society Organisations

Lot 1 is funded under the NDICI Global Europe Civil Society Thematic Programme 2025 to 2027, action ACT-62807, budget line 14.020220. Its global objective is to contribute to an inclusive, empowered and locally rooted civil society in Cambodia that participates effectively in governance and development processes and supports sustainable and inclusive community development.

The specific objective is to support local CSOs, particularly grassroots, women-led and youth-led organisations, to strengthen participation, capacities, partnerships and influence in development and public policy processes through coalition building, evidence informed engagement and improved access to organisational support and resources.

Lot 1 priorities are:

Relevant sectors may include water, health, education, energy transition, skills development, job creation and green growth. Actions in other relevant sectors are not excluded.

Typical Lot 1 activities include community consultations, policy dialogue, evidence based advocacy, participatory research, coalition building, capacity strengthening, public awareness, inclusive leadership, climate and environmental governance, pilot initiatives, small grants, organisational development, financial sustainability planning, mentoring and fair partnership models.

Lot 2: Human Rights and Democracy

Lot 2 is funded under the NDICI Global Europe Human Rights and Democracy Thematic Programme 2025 to 2027, action ACT-62897, budget line 14.020211. Its global objective is to contribute to the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia by safeguarding civic space and strengthening locally led action for rights holders and at-risk actors, both online and offline.

The specific objective is to strengthen civil society and community based actors to protect human rights defenders, victims and at-risk groups, respond to violations of fundamental freedoms and enable safe, meaningful rights based participation and accountability at community level in contexts of restricted civic space.

Lot 2 priorities are:

Typical Lot 2 activities include legal aid, referral and accompaniment, psychosocial support, community protection, monitoring and documentation of violations, digital security, safe communications, emergency response, advocacy, community rights awareness, youth led digital engagement, local accountability and participation initiatives.

Applicants must choose one lot only for each application. Lot 1 should focus on civil society strengthening, participation, localisation and organisational sustainability. Actions primarily focused on human rights defenders, legal aid, fundamental freedoms, violations monitoring, digital security, emergency response or restrictive civic space belong under Lot 2.

Funding Allocation and Grant Size

The grant must normally finance between 51 percent and 90 percent of the total eligible costs of the action. The maximum contribution may reach 95 percent where all applicants and affiliated entities are established in the locations specified by the guidelines. International organisations are not entitled to claim the higher 95 percent rate.

The balance of the action budget must come from sources other than the EU general budget or the European Development Fund. Applicants should identify confirmed or realistic co-financing and avoid relying on uncertain contributions.

Financial support to third parties may be included in either lot but cannot be the main purpose of the action. The normal maximum amount per third party is €60,000, although a higher amount may be permitted where necessary to achieve the action objectives.

Duration and Geographic Scope

Actions must last at least 24 months and no longer than 48 months. The principal implementation location is Cambodia.

Activities may exceptionally take place in other eligible NDICI Global Europe countries where they directly benefit Cambodia, are linked to Cambodian circumstances and contribute directly to the action outputs. Activities in the European Union may also be included for dialogue, peer learning or engagement with regional and international fora, but must remain marginal and clearly justified.

Eligible Applicants

For Lot 1, the lead applicant must be a legal person, non-profit making, and a non-governmental organisation or civil society organisation. It must be effectively established in an EU Member State, Cambodia or another country eligible under the NDICI Global Europe Regulation.

For Lot 2, the lead applicant must be a legal person, non-profit making, and a non-governmental organisation or civil society organisation. There is no nationality restriction for applicants, co-applicants or affiliated entities, subject to the partnership conditions in the guidelines.

For both lots, the lead applicant must be directly responsible for preparing and managing the action and must not act as an intermediary. It must not be in an exclusion situation under the applicable EU financial rules.

Civil society organisations are understood broadly and may include independent non-profit structures such as NGOs, organisations representing Indigenous Peoples, women and youth organisations, community groups, cooperatives, social partners, environmental organisations, research organisations, universities, independent foundations, non-profit media and other independent associations.

Partnership Requirements

A lead applicant established outside Cambodia must work with at least two local Cambodian co-applicants. A lead applicant established in Cambodia must work with at least one co-applicant. Cambodian applications are encouraged to promote local ownership.

Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, become co-beneficiaries if the grant is awarded and must satisfy the applicable eligibility conditions. They must sign the required mandate.

Affiliated entities may participate where they have a structural legal, capital or membership link with the lead applicant or a co-applicant. The link must generally predate the call and exist independently of the action. Affiliated entities do not become beneficiaries but may incur eligible costs if the grant rules are satisfied.

Associates may have a real role in the action but cannot receive grant funding, apart from eligible travel costs and per diem. Contractors must be procured in accordance with the grant contract rules and cannot simultaneously act as applicants, affiliated entities, associates or recipients of financial support.

Each organisation should participate in only one role in an action to reduce conflicts of interest and clarify responsibilities.

Application Restrictions

Cross Cutting Requirements

All proposals must apply a human rights based approach built around universality, meaningful and inclusive participation, non-discrimination and equality, accountability and the rule of law, and transparency and access to information.

Gender equality and women's empowerment are integral requirements. Proposals should use gender analysis, gender responsive methods and sex disaggregated indicators where relevant. Women should be treated as leaders and decision makers, not only as beneficiaries.

Applicants should mainstream climate action, environmental governance, non-discrimination, disability inclusion, Indigenous Peoples' rights, youth participation and the needs of marginalised groups. Proposals should address the distinct risks faced by different groups and locations, including urban, rural and remote communities.

Applications must include a robust monitoring system and should use SMART indicators, relevant EU corporate indicators and appropriate human rights, democracy and gender result indicators. The logical framework should include baselines, targets, timing and credible data sources, or explain why these are not yet available and budget for their development.

Eligible and Ineligible Actions

Eligible actions must be coherent projects with measurable results, a defined timeframe and a sound intervention logic. The design should be based on recent reliable information, consultation with target groups and stakeholder participation.

Financial Support to Third Parties

Applicants may establish small grant, micro-grant or sub-grant schemes where these contribute to the action objectives. The full application must specify the intended results, eligible activity types, eligible recipient categories, selection criteria, criteria for determining grant amounts, maximum amount per recipient, monitoring arrangements, risk mitigation and supporting records to be maintained.

Recipients of financial support cannot be beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associates or contractors in the same action and cannot be listed under EU restrictive measures. Preference is encouraged for Cambodian community based organisations, grassroots organisations, women organisations and youth organisations.

Cost Rules and Funding Model

Grants are based on reimbursement of eligible costs, potentially combined with other permitted financing forms. The budget is both a cost estimate and an overall ceiling for eligible costs. The contracting authority may correct arithmetic errors, unrealistic amounts and ineligible costs before contract signature, but cannot increase the grant or EU co-financing percentage as a result of those corrections.

A contingency reserve may be included up to 5 percent of estimated direct eligible costs. It may be used only with prior written authorisation from the contracting authority.

Indirect costs may be financed at a flat rate of up to 7 percent of estimated total eligible direct costs, excluding volunteer costs and project office costs. Indirect costs must not duplicate costs under another budget heading. Organisations receiving an EU operating grant may not claim indirect costs on costs covered by that operating grant.

In-kind contributions are generally not eligible costs and cannot be treated as co-financing, except for authorised volunteer work. Commonly ineligible costs include debt service, provisions for future liabilities, costs financed by another EU action, most land or building purchases, currency losses, bonuses, negative interest, credit to third parties and salary costs of national administration personnel.

Application Procedure

PADOR registration is mandatory for organisations unless technical, security or confidentiality reasons prevent online registration. In that case the applicable offline PADOR form must be submitted with the full application. PROSPECT submission is mandatory for this call 6.

Concept Note Requirements

The concept note is the only document evaluated in the first phase. It must contain all information needed to assess relevance, design, target groups, expected results, activities and alignment with the selected lot. Additional annexes should not be sent at this stage.

The concept note should state an estimated EU contribution and indicative percentage of eligible costs, but a detailed budget is required only from applicants invited to the second phase.

The full application may not materially alter the concept note. The EU contribution may not vary by more than 20 percent from the initial estimate. Changes to co-applicants, affiliated entities or duration are permitted only in duly justified circumstances and within the limits of the call.

Full Application Requirements

The full application must include the full application form, detailed budget, logical framework, action plan, methodology, sustainability arrangements, experience information and declarations. The full application form includes maximum page limits for the action description, methodology, action plan and sustainability section.

Applicants should prepare statutes or articles of association, declarations on honour, PADOR information, financial accounts and evidence of financial and operational capacity. For action grants above €750,000, the lead applicant must provide the required external audit report where applicable or the prescribed financial documentation. Other supporting document requirements depend on grant size and applicant category.

Applications must be in English and should be internally consistent. Missing documents, major discrepancies, an incomplete checklist or inaccurate budget information may result in rejection without an opportunity to correct the application.

Evaluation and Selection

Concept notes are scored out of 50. The main headings are relevance of the action with a maximum of 20 points and design of the action with a maximum of 30 points. The contracting authority ranks eligible concept notes by score and limits preselection to applications whose aggregate requested contributions correspond to approximately 200 percent of the available budget for the relevant lot or call envelope.

Full applications are scored out of 100. The evaluation covers financial and operational capacity, relevance, design, implementation approach, sustainability, budget quality and cost effectiveness. Section 1 on financial and operational capacity has a maximum of 20 points. An application is rejected if it scores less than 12 points in that section or receives a score of 1 in any of its subsections.

The final award is subject to verification of eligibility and supporting documents. A reserve list may be created and used if additional funds become available or selected applications fail the final eligibility check.

Indicative Timetable

The full application date and later dates are provisional and may be updated by the contracting authority. The binding full application deadline will appear in the invitation sent through PROSPECT 3.

Contractual and Compliance Conditions

Successful applicants must comply with EU values, applicable environmental legislation, core labour standards, anti-corruption rules, conflict of interest requirements and the European Commission policy of zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Successful organisations generally must complete the SEA-H self-evaluation questionnaire. The requirement does not apply to grants of €60,000 or less and certain exempt categories, but the grants under this call generally exceed that threshold.

Beneficiaries must follow EU communication and visibility requirements, including appropriate use of the EU emblem and funding statement. A derogation may be agreed in exceptional cases involving security, political sensitivity or the interests of beneficiaries or the contracting authority.

The contracting authority may require a financial guarantee before payment of the first pre-financing instalment. It may also suspend or cancel financing in cases of fraud, corruption, serious irregularities, unusual commercial expenses or breach of contractual obligations.

Applicant Strategy and Practical Assessment

This opportunity is best suited to established non-profit NGOs and CSOs with demonstrable experience in Cambodia, credible local partnerships, sound financial management and the ability to manage a two to four year project with a grant of at least €300,000.

Overall Assessment

The call represents a substantial but competitive opportunity for Cambodian and internationally partnered civil society organisations. Lot 1 is oriented toward participation, localisation, organisational resilience and fair partnerships, while Lot 2 is oriented toward protection of rights holders, human rights defenders, civic space and community accountability.

The strongest applications are likely to combine a specific Cambodian problem analysis with locally led implementation, credible protection or governance methods, measurable results, strong partnerships, realistic budgets and a convincing plan for sustainability beyond the grant period. Procedural compliance is critical because the restricted procedure, mandatory systems, strict forms and staged evaluation create several points at which an otherwise strong proposal can be rejected.

Applicants should use the official guidelines, application forms, budget template, logical framework and standard grant contract as the controlling documents before finalising an application 78.

Submission and Reference Links

Footnotes

1. 1Authoritative opportunity page: EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity. The detailed requirements are set out in the Guidelines for grant applicants and their annexes available through the opportunity page.
2. 2The deadline shown in the opportunity metadata is 11 December 2026 at approximately 10:00 UTC. The grant guidelines express the deadline as 11 December 2026 at 11:00 Brussels time. Applicants must rely on the time displayed in PROSPECT at the point of submission.
3. 3The full application deadline is indicative and is communicated to preselected applicants through their PROSPECT profile. The guidelines indicate 23 April 2027 at 11:00 Brussels time as the provisional date.
4. 4The information session is scheduled for 13 November 2026 at 09:00 Cambodia time. Registration was to be requested by 2 November 2026 through DELEGATION-CAMBODIA-EVENTS@eeas.europa.eu, with a maximum of two participants per organisation.
5. 5The call guidelines state that questions should be submitted to delegation-cambodia-tender-cfp@eeas.europa.eu no later than 20 November 2026 at 11:00 Brussels time. Replies are scheduled by 30 November 2026. Applicants should monitor the official call page for amendments and published answers.
6. 6Registration and submission systems: PROSPECT, PADOR and the European Commission Participant Register.
7. 7The call is governed by the European Commission Practical Guide to Contract Procedures for EU External Actions, commonly known as PRAG. Applicants should also use the published standard grant contract and annexes when preparing the budget and compliance arrangements.
8. 8The programme information and requirements in this report reflect the opportunity metadata and published call guidance available for EuropeAid. Applicants should verify the latest version of every document before submission.