Restore4Life call for Associated Regions

The Open Call is now closed and not accepting further proposals!

We are looking for at least 5 Associated Regions1  that we can provide with technical assistance to use the outcomes and knowledge of Restore4Life to prepare roadmaps, plans, and projects to restore wetland ecosystems in their region.

The aim is to share the results and knowledge of the project on an ongoing basis with the selected ‘associated regions’ and to provide them with scientific and technical support for the implementation of wetland restoration solutions in their territory. This will involve the twinning of each Associated Region with a similar demonstration site and the provision of technical advisory services necessary to prepare roadmaps, plans and projects to restore ecosystems in the associated regions addressing possible barriers and showing the feasibility of implementing innovative solutions.

To achieve this, we will implement special formats, interactive workshops and a platform for twinning activities to continuously share Restore4Life outcomes and knowledge. All developed tools and restoration measures will be fully open, usable, and made applicable to the Associated Regions.

By joining us as an Associated Region, you will have the opportunity to access our expertise, knowledge, and tools to develop your own roadmap, plan, or project to restore wetland ecosystems in your region.

 

1 Associated regions are understood as “areas with similar ecosystems (e.g., neighbouring regions and/or regions in a different river basin and/or less-developed regions, to build capacity to implement the innovative solutions) and abiotic, biotic and socio-economic conditions to at least one demonstrator site of Restore4Life.”

Eligibility criteria:

  • Local and/or regional authorities from EU Member States2 and associated countries to the Horizon Europe Programme3
  • Applicants should have a good command of English
  • Applicants must be eligible for participation in the EC Horizon Europe Framework Programme and must ensure the following obligations of the Grant Agreement, namely Articles 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping).
 
Important:

Countries that are part of the Restore4Life consortium can not participate: Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain

Sounds interesting?

Assessment process:

The assessment panel will rate all of the eligible proposals for good practices against a scorecard linked to the following criteria:

1.Excellence:

  • Objectives fitting to the principles of Restore4Life
  • Similarity to at least one of the four Implementation Sites

2. Impact:

  • Estimated impact for Restore4Life
  • Expected benefit for the EU MISSION “RESTORE OUR OCEAN AND WATERS”

3.Implementation

  • Feasibility of planned activities/plan for co-creation, monitoring and restoration
  • Existing knowledge, ambition, resources and/or local and regional network

 

The selection of associated regions will be made by an evaluation board consisting of the Steering Committee, and an external Advisory Committee. The outcome of the evaluation will be a ranked list of all proposals, based on the scores obtained by each proposal. In case multiple proposals are ranked with the same score, a consensus meeting will be convened in order to select the ones for funding. After the evaluation of the proposals, proposals proposed for funding will be contacted.

Please note:

  • Partners from the Associated Regions have to organise workshops held with local stakeholders
  • In all cases, partners will need to stay within the €100,000 allocated

FAQ

You can download all relevant documents and access the Application form in the “Documentation” section above this FAQ.

No, the application must be submitted via local authorities. You can apply as single entity or as a consortium of two or three entities, but in case of a consortium, all applying beneficiaries should be local/regional authorities. But it is possible that the authorities decide to subcontract the work (e.g. to an NGO).

Is it possible that applying local/regional authorities subcontract work, that they can’t execute by themselves, to other institutions (e.g. universities or NGOs). The topics of subcontracting can be e.g. monitoring, executing workshops, developing a roadmap. The Authority/authorities will act as representative of the Associated Region and will receive the grant. In the end they will need to put the invoices of those tasks into their Financing Report.

The contact details you are providing in the application form need to be from the applying authority. Of course, it is possible that universities or NGOs support the authority with the application form. But if the contact details contain information from an (supporting) entity, which is not eligible, the application is rejected! In addition, the contract preparation and signature phase can not be supported by external members apart the applying authority (or authorities).

The meaning of local authorities is an organization that is in charge of the public services for a community. So normally those are governmental institutions. But each country has other regulations about the definition of regional and local authorities. In such cases we would need a proof from the legislation that your (educational) entity is defined as such an authority within your country. Otherwise the institution is not eligible.

This is depending on your country’s rules. In Germany for example National Parks are defined as regional authorities and would therefore be eligible. In other countries it may be handled as national authorities and would not be eligible. You would need to find out how the legislation is for your country and if necessary, send us an official proof that it is defined as local or regional authority to be eligible.

No, any kind of regional and/or local governmental authorities (also small public administrations) are eligible.

You can find the map for eligible countries here on our webpage. All countries listed there are eligible to apply. For France and Portugal this also includes the Outermost regions like the Azores! 

Unfortunately, the Restore4Life Open Call is restricted to EU member states and countries (already) associated to Horizon Europe. Third countries are not eligible. But other Open Calls within Horizon Europe may be suitable for you. For more information about the Associating countries in Horizon Europe (apart from the EU member states) look here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf

As long as you can’t find any restrictions in the document of Associating countries in Horizon Europe (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf), both countries are allowed to apply!

Co-financing is not an obligation, but the beneficiaries may decide on using additional funds (own or from another entity). This is up to you. 

The personnel costs are just for the official staff within the applying authority (in case of consortium all applying entities). The subcontracting costs need to be calculated within the section “Purchase costs – Services”.

There are no rules in how you want to split up the fund (just the indirect costs can be up to 25 % of the direct costs). Cofinancing, in addition, is also possible and it is up to you if you want to use it. How you split up the fund along the cost categories will not be a criterium of the selection process.

Indirect costs are costs for the applying authority/authorities that are not directly attributable to the project, but necessary for its realisation (e.g. electricity, office rent, general equipment). You can treat them as lump-sums. They need to be justified with your work plan and fit to it.

Yes, the indirect costs can be up to 25% and you can decide individually which amount you want to use in your cost calculations.

There are no timely restrictions for allocating the fund as long as you spend the money during the project duration (until February 2027).

As our goal is to create roadmaps for new restoration activities and to speed up the planning process, we are looking for regions where it is planned to implement a new project within the next years. But of course, it is possible to do this in regions where former measures have already been implemented and it should be adapted on this (but not only with monitoring). For the similarity to one of our Implementation Sites it is relevant to take the preconditions for the planned project you are applying with.

No, the roadmap we will set up together means to have a plan for the restoration; if you get all permissions in time, implementation of the restoration activities is possible within the project duration, but this is not an obligation. 

The activities we are doing together with you as Associated Region (workshops, roadmaps) will be carried out until February 2027, therefore the money of the grant needs to be spent within this period as well. The implementation of the actions planned in the roadmap can of course be done after the project duration. There is no limit from our side.

No, there are no requirements belonging the size and other features of the wetlands you will applicate with. Just the country it is situated in and the planned restoration measures need to be eligible and it should show some similarities to one of our Implementation sites. 

Privacy:

Personal data that will be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679, also known as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Contact:

For more information, please contact: info@restore4life.eu