Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality lance un appel à manifestation : Med Dialogue Fellows- Relever le défi écologique en Méditerranée Retour vers les opportunités

Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality

Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality is a 3-year (2019 – 2022) EU-funded Technical Assistance regional Programme with the overall objective to strengthen the role of CSOs active at the regional scale, in building sustainable development, regional cohesion and resilience, as well as in influencing policy-making in the Southern Neighborhood and the Euro-Mediterranean Space. Mobilising local communities on regional issues of common concerns to influence the agenda of public decision-makers and regional institutions, and involving CSOs[1] in emerging regional platforms and thematic dialogues, makes its unique character.

Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality represents the continued commitment of the European Union in supporting the civil society in Southern Neighbourhood countries. It recalls the importance of the civil society as an agent for change, an essential component for democracy, whose participation in public processes and in policy dialogues would lead to more inclusive and effective policies, sustainable development, and accountability. It is also a strong reminder of the centrality of the civil society in EU’s various development policy frameworks, regional, thematic, and bi-lateral cooperation programmes, etc.

Med Dialogue Fellows

We are looking for young leaders who are committed to addressing Mediterranean policy challenges beyond national borders, in order to facilitate the development of regional networks, mutual skill-building, promoting advocacy, building channels of cooperation and developing local actions within a common framework. The main purpose of this activity, is to strengthen civil society’s young female and male activists in their capacity to strategise, cooperate together, and advocate for rights and equality in the region.

Call 1: Addressing the ecological challenge in the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean is a unique eco-region. Its temperate climate, which has been domesticating the African heat and the Atlantic cold for millennia, and has produced extraordinary biodiversity, is in great danger today. Global warming, which is expected to severely hit this region, unsustainable fishing, forest fires and urbanisation are about to radically impoverish the beauty of our wild and rural sceneries and the richness of our biological heritage. Preserving the Mediterranean eco-region is not only a matter of preventing species’ extinction, nor only about defending our most celebrated healthy and diversified diet, or simply preventing the destruction of landscapes which have been created by Human Beings and Nature over the centuries. It is also about struggling against an advanced process of commodification of goods which belong to all humankind, the planet and future generations: water, soil, seeds and species, and air. There cannot be cultural diversity without biological diversity, and none of them are possible if we do not question the current development pattern. For all these reasons, the first call of “Med Fellows: Addressing the Ecological Challenge” will focus on all those challenges facing the Mediterranean region.

Through this 1st call, 20 young leaders will be selected, and will have the opportunity to:

1. Attend a Webinar (a preliminary session) presenting the activity and its objectives, sharing common action’s project ideas, replying to questions, and warming-up the participants (expected date: 20 December 2019)
2. Get mentored through the following activities:

• Participation in a 4-day long bootcamp (expected date: 2^nd half of

January 2020),

• Development of a common action: One of the end results of the bootcamp is the development of a common advocacy and awareness-raising action involving all participants, which shall then take place simultaneously in the participants’ home towns/regions within three months from the completion of the bootcamp.
• Involvement in Programme’s other activities or else (Activism Days, Thematically relevant regional events or Study visits, etc.). Beneficiaries under this component will be selected based on their commitment and performance during the bootcamp and the development of the common action. The Programme will cover their participation costs: travel, accommodation and hospitality.

The Med Dialogue Fellows Bootcamp

The 4-day Med Dialogue Fellows Bootcamp[2] will be organised, indicatively, in Tunis, Tunisia on 27-30 January 2020.. The bootcamp will apply principles of eco-management.

Bootcamp structure:

• Presentation of Principles of ecology and review of the main ecological challenges in the region
• Public Debates: Activists, policy-makers and scientists discuss about what is at stake in the presence of the beneficiaries,
• Common action: Participants will discuss and choose the best idea that will be developed as a common action through working groups and plenary sessions,
• Principles of sound operational management as well as of environmentally sound management of the common action events will be provided,
• Participants shall visit local organisations for the preservation of the environment and learn about their projects,
• A cultural activity will offer the opportunity to address eco-challenges through creative arts.

Practical information:

Travel and accommodation expenses, visa fees as well as daily allowances are taken in charge by Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality. The meeting languages at the bootcamp are English, Arabic and French. Translation from/into Arabic will be provided, if needed.

The Common Action

Selected participants will be requested to develop at the bootcamp a common action[3]  to be then implemented in their own communities. The Programme will be able to cover specific operational costs for an amount not exceeding 1,700 € per local action. The financial procedures related to this support will be defined in the framework of a service contract. Operational costs might include:

• Logistics-related costs (rental of technical facilities or meeting rooms, etc.),
• Travel and accommodation costs,
• Thematic or advocacy-related expertise costs,
• Publication costs, visibility and campaigning material or similar costs.

In order to better supervise the implementation of the common action, the TA Team will appoint a senior short-term mentor to develop and carry out an administrative and financial follow-up methodology and a quality assessment methodology on the implemented common action. Beneficiaries will be required to submit a final financial and narrative report within 20 days from the implemented action. The report will include a short video documenting the action (maximum 1-5 minutes of length).

Through this Open Call, up to 20 candidates will be selected. During the selection, the Programme will take into account the following aspects:

• Fulfilment of the criteria listed above,
• Balanced representation of all the target countries,
• Gender balance,
• Indication of the capacity to assume responsibility for the common action proposed.

The Programme’s team reserves the right to eventually directly identify up to 5 highly qualified participants.

Important Note: Please make sure to read all the information in the Call Guidelines, ahead of completing the Application Form and the Common Action Proposal Form.