Open Call For Interest: Entrepreneurship for Social and Solidarity Economy (new deadline)

Are you concerned with social and solidarity-driven entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean? Do you want to boost your activism leadership skills in this area?  Do you have a project idea that can be implemented within a regional common action framework?

Only complete applications (including Application Form, Common action proposal, CV and Nomination Letter) will be assessed, for details see below.

About Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality Programme

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 social resilience, as well as in influencing policy-making in the Southern Neighborhood and the Euro-Mediterranean Space.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, transparency and accountability. Its vision is to mobilise local communities on regional issues of common concerns to influence the agenda of public decision-makers and regional institutions, involving CSOs[1] in emerging regional platforms and thematic dialogues.

It is within this scope that we have designed and launched “Med Dialogue Fellows” as one of our key activities in support of young civil society leaders and regional networks.

Med Dialogue Fellows

The purpose of “Med Dialogue Fellows” is to enhance the advocacy skills and the networking capacities of young leaders and their organisations in the region. Young leaders committed to addressing specific challenges of regional interest will be brought together to exchange practices, build channels of cooperation among themselves and develop local actions within a coherent regional framework. “Med Dialogue Fellows” is addressed to young potential leaders in activism through three thematic areas for which open calls for interest are announced each time.

The first edition of “Med Dialogue Fellows” had for theme “Addressing the Ecological Challenges in the Mediterranean”. It gathered 31 Fellows from the following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Syria. The young leaders joined a 5-day Bootcamp organized by the Programme’s team in Tunisia on 27-30 January 2020. As a second step, the Fellows worked on the development of their project ideas, coached by our team. Finally, in June 2020, they launched simultaneously the common action “10 Days for the Mediterranean” in their own hometowns/regions.  

With this second edition of Med Dialogue fellows we continue to look 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 regional framework. The theme of this second edition is: Entrepreneurship for Social and Solidarity Economy.

Call 2: Entrepreneurship for Social and Solidarity Economy

Crises, uprisings versus authoritarianism, economic stagnation, and more recently humanitarian tragedies such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Mediterranean remains the scene of unsettling events. Protest movements and the will of the peoples for democracy and accountability on the one hand, and the economic and social inequalities in which many countries are plunged in on the other hand,  the northern and southern shores are engaged in the same struggle, that of rethinking and reinventing their model of economic, social and political development.

Crises in the Mediterranean region have resulted in the exponential growth of vulnerable groups: young people and senior citizens with precarious jobs, impoverished workers, migration waves and new labour slavery are the collateral damage of economic and political instabilities indeed. In the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, young people are massively confronted with unemployment and class inequalities. On the other hand, women are systematically excluded from economic and social processes. Corruption in public life sectors and economic policies is also hindering fair and sustainable development, despite the extraordinary capital the region offers in terms of natural resources, agricultural practices, handcraft and arts, knowledge and skills, heritage, and human creativity.

Many Mediterranean women and men have invested in reinventing their model of society, through the social and solidarity economy (SSE). The SSE is an economy of proximity resolutely oriented towards the inclusive development of territories, while respecting their cultural and environmental dimensions, and achieving social justice. SSE seeks systemic transformation, in which oppressive structures are removed, inequalities overcame, community welfare preserved, and goods produced without damaging the Planet and vulnerable groups. The Mediterranean could be considered as a fertile ground for the development of SSE which helps to promote and build the social, solidarity-based and sustainable Mediterranean of tomorrow.

SSE practices are often embodied by a new culture of social entrepreneurship which has a single purpose: social profitability beyond economic profitability, the Human Factor at the heart of change, civil society at the heart of the movement, sustainability vis-à-vis the Planet’s ecosystems. SSE exists in all sectors of the economy production, finance, distribution, exchange, consumption, and governance. It also aims to transform the social and economic system that includes public, private and third sectors. [2]

Following all these observations, we consider it relevant to launch the second call of “Med Dialogue Fellows: Entrepreneurship for Social and Solidarity Economy” that will focus on all those challenges in the Mediterranean region.

Through this second call, at least 20 young leaders will be selected, and will have the opportunity to:

1. Participate in the Med Dialogue Fellows Bootcamp
2. Develop a regional common action
3. Get involved in other activities (“mobility fund”)
4. Join our Alumni Network

About the Med Dialogue Fellows Bootcamp

The 5-day Med Dialogue Fellows Bootcamp will be organized in Morocco, during the month of September 2020 (the exact period will be set as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions applied in the country will be eased).

What is a Bootcamp?

Bootcamps are intensive trainings aimed at giving Fellows a wide range of principles, tools, methods, and technical skills to help them grow their ideas. Designed to offer an opportunity to create channels of cooperation among Fellows and develop local actions in a coherent regional framework, they will provide the possibility to meet experienced practitioners and know projects on the ground.

The indicative structure of the Bootcamp will be as following:

• Presentation of principles and practices of social and solidarity economy, Social Entrepreneurship, and review of the main related challenges in the Mediterranean region
• Common action: Fellows will present, discuss, assess, and choose the best ideas and criteria that will be developed as a common action in working groups and plenary sessions,
• A public debate: Entrepreneurs, policymakers and social scientists discuss about what is at stake in the presence of the beneficiaries,
• Study tours: Fellows shall visit local organizations that operate under the principles of Social Entrepreneurship and learn about their projects.
• Principles of sound and socially/environmentally responsible management of the common action events will be shared.

The Bootcamp will apply principles of eco-management and social responsibility. It will be steered by two short-term experts appointed by the Med Dialogue Team: a senior SSE expert and a junior group facilitator.

Practical information

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

Preparatory Webinar

A preliminary webinar session presenting the Bootcamp activity and its objectives, sharing common action’s project ideas, replying to questions, and warming-up the Fellows is scheduled before the Bootcamp takes place (expected date: 10 September 2020).

About the regional common action

The main end result of the Bootcamp is the development of a common advocacy and awareness-raising action involving all Fellows, which shall then take place simultaneously in the Fellows’ hometowns/regions within three months from the completion of the Bootcamp.  

What is a common action?

• A common action can be defined as a programme of several awareness-raising oriented actions (information/ advocacy campaigns, etc.) built upon the needs and local context of the area where they’d take place and implemented together with an organisation or a consortium of organisations.
• A common action must have a common focus, a commonly agreed framework and a central operational coordination; it meets commonly defined and coherent criteria and takes place through decentralized activities within a well-defined time frame, so as to embolden its critical mass.

Selected Fellows will be requested to develop and agree upon a common action framework at the Bootcamp. The common action is expected to encourage networking and cooperation at regional scale. It should be able to produce a multiplier effect through initiatives/ actions to be simultaneously implemented in the Fellows’ own communities. The Programme will be able to cover specific operational costs for an amount not exceeding 1,700 € per local action.

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. The TA Team will also provide the Beneficiaries with a Common action management guide.

Practical information:

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.

About getting involved in other activities “mobility fund”

In the light of the overall performance during the Bootcamp and the results of the common action, up to 10 out of the selected Fellows could be as well given the opportunity to join one of the following activities:

• Other Med Dialogue Programme’s activities to be identified, upon suggestion of the TA Team;
• Thematically relevant regional events or Study visits at thematically relevant CSOs’ offices in the North or in the South of the Mediterranean, upon demand of the Fellow.

These events or study-visits should take place in the years 2020-2021.  Each beneficiary will be entitled to support for the participation in one activity only (either Programme’s event, regional event or study-visit for an amount not exceeding 800 €). An ad-hoc request form will be developed and shared among the Fellows after completion of the common action.

About the Alumni Network

An alumni network will be created by the TA Team with the first intake of fellows. It will give the beneficiaries an opportunity to:

• Participate in online social tools and dialogue meetings aimed at building communication channels between fellows from the different countries, exchanges of experiences, ideas and exploring new opportunities together after the end of the Programme.
• Receive information on capacity building and other opportunities, through the Programme’s FB Page and other information channels,
• Promote his/her profile on the project website and social media including through video blogs (vlogs).

Alumni shall sustain the online community; the TA team will facilitate activism and networking by periodically intervening to inject ideas, information about opportunities, or other relevant content.

Who Can Apply?

Candidates submitting their application through this Call must:

• be aged between 18-36 years, 
• be nationals of the following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Syria – or belong to related diasporas, especially the Syrian and Palestinian ones,
• Be actively engaged in their communities and having demonstrated to have an impact on the ground,
• Have an expertise and experience in Social Entrepreneurship and Solidarity Economy in the Mediterranean region,
• Be part of an organization that can manage, at least, small-scale operations,
• Be able to conceive a proposal for a common action to be discussed at the Bootcamp.

Invited to submit their candidatures, are:

• Entrepreneurs, activists, or trade-unionists engaged in change toward Social and Solidarity Economy,
• Journalists investigating on or covering economic challenges and solidarity issues in the region,
• Businessmen working for the social and ecological transition in the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services,
• Social scientists focusing on reforming socio-economic models, democratic co-operatives, and organisational change,
• Public officials, politicians or administrators working on sustainable development and unemployment response policies, and economic innovation.

Through this Open Call, at least 20 candidates will be selected. During the selection, the Programme will consider 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 reserves the right eventually to directly identify up to 5 highly qualified Fellows.

Important Note: Please make sure to read all the information ahead of completing the Application Form and the Common Action Proposal Form (link).

Application Process

Applicants will need to fill in and submit the following:

1. Application Form in: AR, EN, FR
2. A proposal outline for a common action related to Social Solidarity Economy for discussion and assessment at the Bootcamp in:EN, FR , AR
3. Curriculum Vitae in EN, FR or AR, maximum 4 pages (To be uploaded with the Application Form)
4. Nomination Letter in EN, FR or AR (To be uploaded in the Application Form according to the Templates above)

Deadline for submitting applications: 17 July 2020, 16:00 CET

Only complete applications (including Application Form, Common action proposal, CV and Nomination Letter) will be assessed.

Should you have any questions regarding your application, please write to  hela.bensalah@particip.com before July 10, 2020.

Selection results will be, indicatively, announced at the latest on August 15, 2020 through our Facebook page .

Only selected candidates will be informed by e-mail.

Timetable

[1] Med Dialogue for Rights & Equality adopts the EU definition of civil society organizations, which considers “CSOs to include all non-State, not-for-profit structures, non-partisan and nonviolent, through which people organize to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic. Operating from the local to the national, regional and international levels, they comprise urban and rural, formal and informal organizations.

[2] Sources : ILO, RIPESS, THINK & DO TANK POUR LA SOLIDARITÉ.