Promoting an enabling civic space

This grant aims to reinforce an enabling environment for civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights defenders across the EU by supporting actions that strengthen the monitoring of civic space and the protection and resilience of CSOs. Projects can focus on establishing or improving monitoring systems for CSO environments, addressing emerging issues like digital threats, enhancing data collection and reporting, and improving coordination and support mechanisms at national and cross-border levels. Further emphasis is on providing direct support to CSOs and defenders at risk – such as legal assistance, psychosocial support, and emergency funding – as well as building strategic litigation capacity to advance enforcement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Transnational and national-level partnerships, including networks of National Human Rights Institutions, equality bodies, and Ombuds institutions, are encouraged.

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Agency	CERV (EU)
Region	EU
Country	N/A
Legal form	NGO, Other
Start date	20 May 2026
End date	15 Sep 2026
Budget	26,000,000 EUR
Coverage	Details on maximum funding, co-financing rate, and eligible costs are described in the call document.

Grant application conditions

Admissibility	Proposal must comply with page limits and layout described in Section 5 of the Call document; Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
Eligible countries	Eligibility is described in Section 6 of the Call document. This is a European Union grant.
Other eligibility conditions	Described in Section 6 of the Call document.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion	Applicants must meet capacity and exclusion criteria as described in Section 7 of the Call document.
Legal and financial set-up	Details described in Section 10 of the Call document.
Proposal objective	Projects must address monitoring of civic space, supporting resilience of civil society organisations, and/or protection of human rights defenders. Proposals should provide concrete and targeted support, such as monitoring, capacity-building, legal assistance, victim support, and strategic litigation.
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/CERV-2026-CHAR-LITI-CIVIC

Eligible expenses

Evaluation criteria

Business exclusions

Reporting

Application process

Application requirements