Specific Challenge:

The resilience of societies heavily depends on how their citizens behave individually or collectively, and how governments and civil society organisations design and implement policies for mitigating risks, preparing for, reacting to, overcoming, and learning from disasters. The spread of new technologies and media are inducing dramatic changes in how individuals and communities behave, and they are affecting societies in unpredictable ways.

Background

In February 2018, the European Commission launched the European Social Economy Regions (ESER) pilot, in order to raise awareness and foster networking among social economy stakeholders at regional and local levels. This successful initiative has attracted more than 80 regions and cities to the 2018 and 2019 editions of ESER. 

WB EDIF GF – managed by the EIF - provides guarantees to financial or credit institutions, guarantee schemes including mutual guarantee organisations, micro-finance institutions and any other financial institutions - subject to fulfilling certain criteria -  established and operating in one or several Western Balkan countries  (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslav Republic of  Macedonia, Kosovo (i), Montenegro and Serbia) to encourage them to build up new portfolios of SME loans and thereby improving access to finance to SMEs in the region. 

The SME Initiative (SMEI), launched in Italy in October 2016, is co-financed by the Republic of Italy, the European Commission and the EIB Group with EIF managing the scheme on behalf of the different contributors.

The Erasmus+ Master Loan Guarantee Facility is an EU initiative managed and implemented by EIF on behalf of the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission launched in December 2014 in the context of Erasmus+, the EU programme aiming to boost student mobility in Europe.

The Erasmus+Master Loan Guarantee Facility aims to increase access to finance in order to enable students, regardless of their social background, to take a Master's Degree in another Erasmus+ programme country, as a contribution to tackling skills gaps in Europe. 

The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) is a window of the Single EU Debt Financial Instrument which supports European enterprises' growth and research and innovation (R&I).

LGF is part of COSME (Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), an initiative launched by the European Commission and managed by EIF.

The Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) is a window of the Single EU Equity Financial Instrument which supports EU enterprises' growth and research and innovation (R&I) from the early stage, including seed, up to expansion and growth stage.

EFG – managed by EIF – is part of COSME (Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), an initiative launched by the European Commission.

The objective of this Open Call for Expression of Interest, launched by the European Investment Fund, is to select eligible financial institutions to become Financial Intermediaries under the InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility (the “Facility”), window of the single EU debt financial instrument.

Introduction

These calls for proposals on projects aiming to increase citizen participation in civic activities is a part of the implementation of the programme Active Citizens Fund – Slovakia (ACF – Slovakia or programme).

The present call for applications lays down the detailed specifications to apply for Bilateral Cooperation Initiatives.

The EaSI Guarantee Instrument is funded from the EaSI Programme and is specifically dedicated to microfinance and social entrepreneurship. One of its key objectives is to increase the availability of and access to finance for vulnerable groups wishing to launch their own enterprises, micro-enterprises and social enterprises, both in their start-up and development phases.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the European Commission recently announced a new initiative to help micro-credit and social enterprise finance providers develop their businesses under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).

The objective of this instrument is to build up the institutional capacity of selected financial intermediaries that have not yet reached sustainability or are in need of risk capital to sustain their growth and development.