Supporting the achievement of the objectives of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (VAW) and domestic...

CERV-2026 funds actions to support implementation of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, focusing on capacity-building and systemic measures for victim support. The call is restricted to public authorities as sole applicants or consortium leads, with partners including NGOs, non-profits, for-profits and international organisations. The indicative budget for Priority 4 is €2,000,000, project grants range from €200,000 to €600,000 for 12–24 month projects and funding is provided as CERV lump sum grants. Submission deadline is 3 November 2026 (17:00 CET) and proposals are evaluated on Relevance (40 points, 25 minimum), Quality (40 points) and Impact (20 points) with an overall pass threshold of 70/100.

What it funds

Scope summary

Grants to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children under the CERV programme. Priority CERV-2026 focuses on supporting Member State public authorities to implement the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the VAW Directive through capacity building, training of judiciary, law enforcement, health and social professionals, and systemic/structural measures to protect victims.

Who can apply:This topic is restricted to public authorities acting as sole applicant or lead applicant (national, regional or local public bodies). Consortium partners may include NGOs and specialised victim-support organisations. Projects may be national or transnational ¹.

1. 1Eligible applicants: public authorities (government bodies, agencies, statutory public entities).
2. 2Partners: public, private non-profit, private for-profit and international organisations are allowed.
3. 3Activities: training for professionals, system-level capacity building, development of tools/guidelines, and related awareness/monitoring actions.

One coordinator may submit only one proposal as lead applicant for the call, proposals must address a single topic, and applications are submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Evaluation uses relevance, quality and impact criteria; minimum overall score to pass is 70/100 ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call document, conditions, templates and topic details are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal topic page: ec.europa.eu

Call and Topic Identification

Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children

Topic title:Supporting the achievement of the objectives of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (VAW) and domestic violence in the Union and the implementation of the Directive on combating VAW and domestic violence. Topic code: CERV-2026. Call identifier: CERV-2026-DAPHNE. Programme: Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) 2021-2027. Topic publication: 07 July 2026. Submission deadline: 03 November 2026 17:00 Brussels time. Submission system: EU Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Type of action: CERV Lump Sum Grants. Form of grant: lump sum grant with funding rate of 90% and lump sum calculation methodology applied. Evaluation: single-stage submission; evaluation period November 2026 - May 2027; information to applicants May 2027; expected signature June - July 2027. More details and official documents are available in the call document and topic page on the Portal Call fiche and documents ¹.

Overall available budget:Indicative estimated call budget: €21 000 000 for the Daphne 2026 call covering five priorities, with indicative budget allocations per priority as described in the call document ¹.

Structured Opportunity Details

Below are the crowdsourced, extracted and structured answers to the categorisation and data-extraction questions for this topic. All elements are sourced from the call document and the Funding & Tenders Portal topic page and reflect the rules, eligibility and templates required for a valid submission.

Eligible Applicant Types:Eligible applicants are legal entities established in eligible countries. Specific allowed applicant types and roles depend on the priority: public bodies; private non-profit organisations (NGOs, CSOs); private for-profit organisations (partners/co-applicants only in some priorities); universities and research organisations; international organisations; entities without legal personality in exceptional cases. Restrictions by priority: Priority 4 is restricted to public authorities acting as sole applicant or lead applicant. Priorities 2, 3 and 5 require a consortium (minimum two applicants) and are expected to include public authorities or be supported by them in order to enhance sustainability. Priority 1 (regranting) can be submitted by a single applicant or a consortium; lead applicants for priorities 1-3-5 must be non-profit making organisations (programme contact points and public bodies are treated per call rules). Natural persons are not eligible except self-employed persons where national law does not create a separate legal personality. Affiliated entities, associated partners and subcontractors are allowed under the standard definitions in the Portal and AGA.

Funding Type:Primary financial mechanism: grant. Grants are delivered as lump sum grants under the CERV Lump Sum Grants model (CERV-AG-LS). The call uses lump-sum funding with a 90% funding rate and pre-fixed lump-sum methodology; rules on lump-sum eligibility and the detailed budget table apply.

Consortium Requirement:Requirement varies by priority: Priority 1 (regranting): single applicant or consortium allowed. Priorities 2, 3 and 5: consortium required, minimum two applicants. Priority 4: public authorities only and may apply as single applicant or as lead of a consortium. Associated partners and affiliated entities allowed per call rules but consortia consisting only of coordinator plus affiliated entities or associated partners are ineligible.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Eligible applicants must be established in eligible countries: EU Member States (including Overseas Countries and Territories), countries associated to the CERV Programme and countries with ongoing negotiations for association provided the association enters into force before grant signature. Activities must take place in eligible countries. Projects may be national or transnational within the eligible country set. The call accepts participation from international organisations irrespective of the eligible country rule. The call is principally EU-focused (EU / associated countries).

Target Sector / Thematic Scope:Target sectors: social policy, justice and victims support, public services and administration, civil society support, education, health (including psychosocial support), digital safety and cyberviolence counter-measures, child protection systems, training and capacity-building for justice, law enforcement, social and health professionals, research and monitoring (limited). Thematic focus: preventing and combating gender-based violence including domestic violence, sexual violence, cyber violence, harmful practices (female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced sterilisation, conversion practices), violence against children, integrated child protection systems, victim support and protection, capacity-building and regranting mechanisms, training of professionals, prevention campaigns, perpetrator programmes, multi-agency/multi-sector cooperation, EU law and implementation of the VAW Directive and Istanbul Convention.

Mentioned Countries:Explicit country references in the topic content: EU Member States are referenced collectively; Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) are included; countries associated to CERV and countries negotiating association agreements are cited as eligible pending association before signature. No single Member State is listed by name in the topic text. Therefore the explicit list is: EU (Member States), Overseas Countries and Territories, countries associated to the CERV Programme, and countries negotiating association agreements (association must be effective before grant signature).

Project Stage / Expected maturity:Expected project maturity depends on priority: Priority 1 requires intermediaries with proven experience (minimum 3 years) in CSO capacity-building and grant management; projects under Priority 1 are implementation-focused (regranting, capacity-building, monitoring) and expect operational readiness to manage calls to third parties. Priorities 2–5 expect implementation/validation/demonstration-stage readiness: setting up services, providing training, piloting prevention tools, building integrated systems and training public sector staff. Research-only projects are not eligible as primary actions; research can be included only if directly linked to implementation objectives.

Funding Amount / Budget Ranges:Total estimated call budget: €21 000 000. Indicative budget per priority: Priority 1 (Regranting intermediaries): €8 000 000; Priority 2 (Protection/support victims): €4 000 000; Priority 3 (Prevention): €4 000 000; Priority 4 (Convention/Directive implementation, public authorities): €2 000 000; Priority 5 (Child protection systems): €3 000 000. Project-level requested grant amounts and minima/maxima: Priority 1: minimum requested grant €1 000 000 and maximum €2 500 000; Priorities 2, 3, 4, 5: minimum €200 000 and maximum €600 000 per project. Note that for Priority 1, intermediaries should allocate approximately 60-70% of their grant to regranting third parties (budget category D.1).

Application Type and Submission Method:Open call published on the Funding & Tenders Portal. Submission model: single-stage electronic submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Applicants must register organisations in the Participant Register and use the Application Form Part A (online) and Part B (downloaded template to complete and re-upload as PDF plus annexes). Submission is single-stage and single-step. The submission session opened 07 July 2026 and the deadline is 03 November 2026 17:00 CET. The submission procedure is single-stage; grant preparation follows invitation after evaluation.

Nature of Support to Beneficiaries:This call provides monetary support (grants) to successful applicants. Under Priority 1, intermediaries provide Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) as regranting to grassroots CSOs; third parties receive direct monetary grants up to €60 000 per third party project. In addition to money, the call expects delivery of non-monetary services: capacity-building, training, methodological and technical assistance, networking, mentoring, development of tools, toolkits, guidance documents, awareness-raising, and support to public authorities. Therefore beneficiaries receive both monetary support and non-monetary services (the call funds both kinds of activities).

Application Stages and Process:Procedural stages: 1) Electronic submission (single-stage) via Portal before deadline; 2) Admissibility and eligibility checks; 3) Evaluation by independent experts and committee (scores against Relevance, Quality, Impact); 4) Information to applicants (May 2027); 5) Invitation to Grant Preparation for successful proposals; 6) Legal and financial checks (LE validation, financial capacity, exclusion checks); 7) Grant Agreement signature (expected June–July 2027) and project start. Practically, applicants pass two major decision gates: evaluation and grant preparation/legal checks (so the process has at least two main stages).

Number of Evaluation Stages:One-stage submission followed by evaluation and ranking by experts and committee. After successful evaluation, there is a grant preparation phase involving legal/financial checks and refinement of Annex 1. If counting discrete decision points: 1) Submission and admissibility/eligibility check; 2) Technical evaluation and scoring; 3) Grant preparation (legal/financial validation) leading to signature — effectively 2 to 3 stages depending on counting method. The submission itself is single-stage, evaluation is a single step by experts.

Success Rates:The call document does not provide explicit historical success rates for this specific call. The call is competitive and subject to quality thresholds (individual threshold for Relevance 25/40 and overall threshold 70/100). Allocation of funding is subject to available budgets and the ranking of proposals. No numerical success rate data is published in the call documentation; applicants should assume a competitive selection and prepare to meet high thresholds and award criteria.

Co-Funding Requirement:General rule: co-funding is not explicitly required as a fixed percentage by the call; projects must ensure a balanced project budget and may rely on other resources, own contributions, income generated by the project, or financial contributions from third parties. Specifics: third parties selected under Priority 1 cannot be required to provide any co-financing. The main grant is a lump sum covering a significant share (funding rate 90%); beneficiaries must show they have stable and sufficient resources to implement the project and contribute their share if relevant. No mandatory minimum co-funding percentage is required for applicants in the call text.

Templates and Application Form Structure:Application structure: Part A (online) — administrative information and budget summary; Part B (downloadable template uploaded as PDF) — technical description and narrative (page limits: 70 pages for Priority 1; 45 pages for the other priorities); KPI tool — online; Detailed budget table (Excel) — mandatory Annex for lump sum calculation; CVs of core team; activity reports (latest year) for coordinator and partners as required; list of previous projects (last 4 years); Child Protection Policy or Child Protection Policy Declaration for participants working with children; other mandatory templates available in the Submission System. The Part B template requires sections for Relevance, Quality, Impact, Workplan and Work Packages, Ethics and EU Values, Security, Declarations and Annex list. Project deliverables, milestones and mandatory reporting duties (e.g., EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values) must be entered and will be appended to Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement. Calls for Priority 1 must include detailed FSTP design (six mandatory items for regranting: objectives/results required from third parties; maximum amounts and criteria; eligible third party types; permitted activity list; selection and award criteria and evaluation procedure; communication channels for outreach).

1. 1Eligibility documentation: register in Participant Register and obtain PIC; legal entity validation documentation may be required at grant preparation.
2. 2Part A: mandatory online completion of Applicant and Partner administrative data (PIC, legal names, addresses, roles).
3. 3Part B: narrative technical description uploaded as PDF using the standard CERV template (sections and page limits enforced).
4. 4Annexes: detailed budget table (Excel .xlsx), CVs, activity reports, list of previous projects, Child Protection Policy or Declaration when applicable, Letters of support from public authorities where beneficial.
5. 5Priority 1 additional deliverables: identity fiches for each awarded third party (at award and at project closure) and a dedicated public webpage listing all third-party projects with required transparency information.

Eligibility and Priority-Specific Rules (Concise Matrix)

Key constraints and special rules:third parties under Priority 1 must be established in eligible countries; third parties must be non-profit grassroots CSOs; third-party projects must not request co-financing and can use simplified cost options such as lump sums; third-party maximum award per project is €60 000; calls for third-party proposals must remain open at least two months (open calls) and be published in relevant languages; intermediaries should ensure robust selection, due diligence and monitoring and include a Declaration of Honour in calls to prevent breaches of EU values.

Evaluation and Award Criteria:Evaluation criteria: Relevance (40 points; individual threshold 25/40), Quality (40 points), Impact (20 points). Overall pass threshold 70/100. Scoring and thresholds determine ranking; proposals passing thresholds will be considered for funding within the limits of available budget. Scoring places particular emphasis on relevance to call objectives and EU values, the operational quality and feasibility of proposed activities, impact and sustainability, and the composition and justification of the consortium.

Financial and Operational Capacity Checks:Financial capacity: coordinators (except public bodies and international organisations and projects requesting <= €60 000 grant) are subject to financial capacity checks via documents in the Participant Register (balance sheet, P&L, audit reports). The Commission may require prefinancing guarantees, prefinancing paid in instalments, or joint and several liability depending on risk assessment. Operational capacity: assessed via CVs, activity reports, list of previous projects and the quality award criterion. Public bodies and international organisations may be exempted from some checks.

All applicants must comply with EU values (Article 2 TEU) and ethical rules, including GDPR. Projects with activities involving children must provide Child Protection Policies for private entities or a signed Child Protection Policy Declaration for public entities in line with Keeping Children Safe standards. Failure to provide adequate child safeguarding documentation will be penalised in Quality scoring or may prevent signature.

Practical Advice and Mandatory Deliverables

Practical and mandatory items to prepare before submission:register organisation in Participant Register and obtain PIC; obtain LEAR if organisation administrative management is needed; prepare Part B narrative within page limits; prepare detailed budget table Excel for lump sum calculation; prepare CVs for key staff; prepare activity report of last year for coordinator (and partners for Priority 1 if applicable); prepare list of previous projects (last 4 years); prepare Child Protection Policy or Declaration if project involves children; collect Letters of Support from public authorities where strategic or requested; ensure consortium agreement or arrangements planned; prepare communications and dissemination plan including EU visibility and a plan to collect data via the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values for events.

1. 1Priority 1 mandatory work packages: WP1 Project management (includes regranting management); WP2 Financial support to third parties (budget category D.1); WP3 Capacity-building for CSOs; WP4 Communication and dissemination.
2. 2Priority 1 mandatory reporting deliverables: progress reports at months 13 and 25; final Impact Report; two identity fiches per regranting call (award and final) in Excel; publicly accessible webpage with third-party project details maintained throughout project.
3. 3All priorities mandatory deliverables: mid-term progress report (not linked to payment), participation in EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values for events, final report and project deliverables as defined in Annex 1 of Grant Agreement.

Monitoring and control expectations:intermediaries must design and describe a management and control system for selection, risk management, prevention and detection of irregularities and fraud, conflict of interest procedures, due diligence processes (including online presence checks) and must ensure third parties comply with EU values, ethics and reporting obligations. Intermediaries must ensure transparency and publish call outcomes and third-party beneficiary information on a public webpage.

Summary: What This Opportunity Is About

This CERV Daphne 2026 topic targets projects that prevent and combat gender-based violence, domestic violence and violence against children, and supports implementation of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the EU VAW Directive across the Union. The call has five distinct priorities: regranting to strengthen grassroots civil society and build capacity; protection and support services for victims and survivors; prevention activities and campaigns (including cyberviolence prevention and perpetrator programmes); building public authority capacity to implement the VAW Directive and Istanbul Convention; and strengthening integrated child protection systems. The funding is delivered as lump sum grants under CERV with specific budget envelopes and project size ranges per priority. Priority 1 is the largest and is designed to select intermediaries that will regrant to grassroots CSOs (third parties) and provide capacity-building; third-party maximum grant is €60 000. The call has strict rules on eligibility, consortium composition, child protection, transparency, and monitoring; evaluation emphasises relevance, quality and impact. Submissions are made electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal using the CERV application templates (Part A, Part B, KPI tool and Annexes), and applicants should prepare institutional documentation, child protection policies (where relevant), activity reports, CVs, and the detailed budget table for lump sum calculation. Successful applicants will be invited to grant preparation and subject to legal and financial validation prior to signature. Applicants should carefully follow the call document, the Model Grant Agreement templates, the online manual and Portal guidance to ensure compliance and maximize scoring potential.

Footnotes

1. 1Call document, templates, model grant agreements and topic page are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal topic page: ec.europa.eu

Overview and Strategic Context

This call supports the achievement of the objectives of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (Istanbul Convention) and the implementation of the new EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (Directive (EU) 2024/1385) ¹. Member States must transpose this Directive into national law by 14 June 2027 ². The project falls under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme, specifically the Daphne strand, which focuses on preventing and combating gender-based violence and violence against children ³.

Who Should Apply (Eligibility)

This priority is restricted to **public authorities** acting as the sole applicant or as the leader of a consortium. Public authorities include government bodies, agencies, or entities funded/controlled by the state at national, regional, or local levels (e.g., police, councils, regulatory agencies) ⁴.

Consortium Composition:Proposals can be submitted by a single applicant (monobeneficiary) or a consortium. While the lead must be a public authority, partners can include private non-profit organizations, private for-profit organizations, or international organizations. Partnerships with NGOs active in victim support or women's rights are encouraged ⁵.

Project Scope and Objectives

The primary objective is to support and build the capacity of Member State authorities and relevant actors in victim support to implement structural solutions for preventing gender-based violence. This directly contributes to the VAW Directive and the Istanbul Convention ⁶.

1. 1Supporting the training of judges, lawyers, law enforcement officials (including custody case professionals), and court staff dealing with gender-based violence and domestic violence cases.
2. 2Supporting the training of healthcare professionals, social services, and educational staff likely to come into contact with victims to enable identification of violence and redirection to specialist support services.
3. 3Ensuring training is trauma-, gender-, and child-sensitive as required by Article 36 of the VAW Directive and Article 15 of the Istanbul Convention.

Financial Details and Timeline

Key Requirements for Applicants

Applicants must demonstrate proven experience in implementing capacity-building activities and managing grants in the fields of gender-based violence. While a public authority must lead, including consortium partners specialized in victim support (e.g., women's rights NGOs) is highly recommended to improve scoring under the 'Quality' criterion ⁷.

Evaluation Criteria:Proposals are scored on Relevance (40 points), Quality (40 points), and Impact (20 points). A minimum of 25 points is required for Relevance, and 70 points overall to be considered for funding ⁸.

Footnotes

1. 1Directive (EU) 2024/1385 criminalizes female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and cyberviolence including non-consensual sharing of intimate material and cyber harassment Ending gender-based violence - European Commission.
2. 2Member States have until 14 June 2027 to transpose the Directive into national law info document from the european union - HCCH.net.
3. 3The CERV programme's Daphne strand provides funding for actions preventing and combating gender-based violence and violence against children An Analysis of the EU's Directive on Combating Violence Against....
4. 4Public authorities for this priority include government bodies, agencies, or entities funded/controlled by the state at national, regional, or local levels Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children.
5. 5Partnerships with relevant NGOs active in victim support or women's rights are encouraged for Priority 4 Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children.
6. 6The priority aims to support structural solutions for preventing gender-based violence, contributing to the VAW Directive and Istanbul Convention objectives Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children.
7. 7Including partners specialized in victim support is taken into account in scoring under the 'Quality' criterion Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children.
8. 8Minimum thresholds are 25/40 for Relevance and 70/100 overall Call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children.