The European Commission has launched a new funding scheme around rights, equality and citizenship. This blog gives an overview of the scheme. Individual calls will be launched over the coming months.

Funding Body: Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme

Overview:

Specific objectives are to:-

• Promote non-discrimination
• Combat racism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of intolerance
• Promote rights of persons with disabilities
• Promote equality between women and men and gender mainstreaming
• Prevent violence against children, young people, women and other groups at risk
• Promote the rights of the child
• Ensure the highest quality of data protection
• Promote the rights deriving from Union citizenship
• Enforce consumer rights

Support is available for training, awareness raising, networking and transnational cooperation.

Activities to be funded include:-

• Training activities (staff exchanges, workshops, development of training modules etc.)
• Mutual learning, cooperation activities, exchanges of good practices, peer reviews, development of ICT tools etc.
• Awareness-raising activities, dissemination, conferences etc.
• Support to main actors/key stakeholders

Budget: It may not be the same for all strands but many of them look like they will offer to fund 80% of project costs.

Deadlines: Separate calls are planned under each of the Programme objectives, the majority are planned for the second half of 2014, although some are set for the second quarter of the year.

Further Information: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/grants1/programmes-2014-2020/rec/index_en.htm

You can see a breakdown of upcoming calls on the International Unit website: http://www.international.ac.uk/newsletters/european-funding-bulletin-june/summaries-of-2014-work-programmes.aspx