How is the programme designed to deliver results?
Challenge
The EU promotes peace and the well-being of its people. It is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. To live up to its vocation, the EU needs to remember and learn from its history and to involve people in strengthening democratic societies.
Yet emerging movements challenge the idea of open, inclusive, cohesive and democratic societies and threaten the enjoyment of rights and civic participation. In particular:
- Inequalities and discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation still exist. Violence is still a reality in the daily lives of many women, children and other persons at risk.
- The rights stemming from EU citizenship—free movement, consular protection and electoral rights—are still not fully implemented, thus hindering citizens’ political and societal participation.
- Economic crises, rising inequalities, and new or persisting challenges (e.g., migration) have led some to question the EU’s fundamental rights and values, including the rule of law, access to justice, space for civil society, and the independence of the judiciary.
These challenges are common to all Member States and have cross-border dimensions. While action at national level is important, individual Member States do not have sufficient leverage to tackle these challenges on their own. Therefore, concerted efforts at EU level are required.
Mission
CERV seeks to protect and promote rights and values as enshrined in the EU Treaties and in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in order to sustain open, rights-based, democratic, equal and inclusive societies based on the rule of law.
Objectives
CERV specific objectives, which correspond to strands, are to:
- Contribute to protecting and promoting Union values by providing financial support to civil society organisations active at local, regional and transnational level (Union values strand);
- Promote rights, non-discrimination, equality, including gender equality, and advance gender and non-discrimination mainstreaming; protect and promote the rights of the child, the rights of people with disabilities, EU citizenship rights and the right to the protection of personal data (Equality, rights and gender equality strand);
- Promote citizens engagement and participation in the democratic life of the Union and exchanges between citizens of different Member States and raise awareness of the common European history (Citizens' engagement and participation strand).
- Fight violence, including gender-based violence and violence against children and other groups at risk (Daphne strand).
Budget
- EUR 773.6 millionTotal financial programming 2021-2027
| 2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
2027 |
| 98.9 |
214.9 |
91.8 |
92.1 |
92.2 |
92.2 |
91.5 |
In EUR million. Top-ups coming from NextGenerationEU are included.
Actions
CERV supports a broad range of organisations promoting and protecting Union values and rights, increasing awareness of rights, values, principles culture, history, laws and policies, enhancing capacity and fostering cross-border cooperation, and mutual knowledge, understanding, and trust.
CERV supports training, capacity building, exchanges of good practices between Member States’ authorities and bodies, and town-twinning. It supports the development of knowledge-based EU policies and legislation through surveys, studies, and analyses. It also supports the development of the capacity of key EU level networks (notably the annual work programme of EQUINET, the EU network of equality bodies).
Delivery mode
CERV will be implemented in direct management by the Commission under the lead of Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST). The implementation of some actions will be entrusted to an Executive Agency.
Performance framework: more information
Where are we in the implementation?
You will find information on the programme implementation in this webpage.
It will be updated when the programme will have started on an annual basis alongside the publication of the draft budget and the discharge.
Next publication (estimation): June 2022.
Predecessor programmes 2014-2020
CERV is the result of merging two 2014-2020 MFF funding programmes, namely the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme and the Europe for Citizens programme, which have both a strong societal focus and are clearly related to Union values. This goal is to bring more visibility, simplification, and mutual reinforcement, while acknowledging and maintaining the specificities of the single policies.
Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme
- EUR 435.3 millionBudget allocation 2014-2020
Overall execution (2014-2020)
| |
Total |
% |
| Commitments |
EUR 432.5 million |
99%
|
| Payments |
EUR 325.4 million |
75%
|
This graph includes implementation based on voted budget appropriations and carried-over appropriations.
More information on the overall execution
- In 2020, the implementation rate for commitment appropriations reached 98% and covered all objectives of the rights, equality and citizenship programme. 96 % of the payment appropriations were consumed, covering pre-financing and final payments on pre-2020 commitments and 2020 commitments.
- Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the deadline for all calls for proposals for action grants, originally planned in the course of the month of April 2020, was extended by 2 weeks, with the positive result of having received a number of applications in line with previous years. However, many individual beneficiaries of the rights, equality and citizenship programme programme contacted DG Justice and Consumers to highlight pandemic-related difficulties such as the necessity to cancel or postpone long-planned activities such as conferences, meetings, missions or launching events for studies undertaken under their EU grant. Solutions were found to accommodate beneficiaries on a case-by-case basis and to ensure, via individual contract amendments, that their grant would continue despite difficulties related to lockdown or the impossibility of executing work programmes as defined in the grant agreements. A total of 262 amendments were signed in 2020 compared to 96 in 2019.
Key monitoring indicators
| |
Baseline |
Progress |
Target |
Results |
Assessment |
| Member States that set up structural coordination mechanisms on the national Roma integration strategies |
|
>100%
|
26 |
27 compared to 26 Member States |
On track |
| Perception of consumers of being protected |
64% |
>100%
|
75% |
81% compared to 75% ratio |
On track |
% of target achieved by the end of 2020
More information on the performance of the programme
- The rights, equality and citizenship programme faciliated the implementation of policies that address essential rights and needs in people’s lives. Over the 2014-2020 period, it co-financed, more than 900 projects to promote non-discrimination, the rights of the child, rights of persons with disabilities, EU citizenship rights and data protection, and the fight against gender-based violence and intolerance. These projects supported training and capacity-building activities as crucial instruments to ensure that discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation was prohibited. The average funding contribution for a single project was around EUR 350 000, usually representing 80% of the total cost. Belgium, Greece, Spain and Italy were the leading countries in terms of funding received.
- Where data are available, the results show that the programme was on track to achieve all of its objectives by the end of 2020.
- The programme has been able to adapt to new challenges such as the rise of online hate speech due to the increased use of social media, the challenges of gender equality and the protection of children in migration.
- Calls for proposals were in general highly successful, as most received a high number of applications which allowed for a selection of high-quality projects for a full consumption of the budget available. In particular, three calls for proposals performed above expectations, both in terms of quantity and quality: these were for actions to combat violence against women and children, to fight racism and to promote non-discrimination. Only 10-20% of the applications received were then awarded a grant, for projects scoring very high in the evaluation process, indicating the attractiveness of the programme.
- The programme finances more than 30 projects every year to combat discrimination and promote equality and social inclusion. Notably, it has helped to foster social inclusion for Roma children and families, enhancing social cohesion and improving Roma children’s experience of the transition to primary school.
- Closing gender gaps and eliminating discrimination and inequalities are key to the advancement of gender equality. The programme promoted gender equality on the basis of the 2016-2019 strategic engagement for gender equality and the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011-2020), in line with the gender pay gap action plan and the initiative on work–life balance for working parents and carers. Since 2014, it has supported more than 85 projects that contributed to narrowing gender gaps over the life cycle and ensured equal participation of women and men in public forums, in leadership positions, in politics and in the corporate sector.
- Overall, the rights, equality and citizenship programme has demonstrated its high EU added value in both its positive impact on participants and target groups and in its role as a complement to other EU funding instruments and policy initiatives. Projects were also funded by looking at the complementarity with other ongoing EU-funded actions. In particular, programme has shown a high added value, as the projects carried out would not have taken place in the absence of EU funding, due to lack of resources at national level. Interventions funded were seen as generating better results and more benefits than those funded through national/local interventions, mainly due to their transnational dimension, greater flexibility and higher quality and innovation as compared to projects funded at the national level.
- The main challenge for the last year of implementation was ensuring the transition and visibility to the new citizens, equality, rights and values programme (2021-2027).
Concrete examples of achievements
- 31%of non-executive directors of boards of listed companies are women (in 2020, up from 16% in 2014).
- 81%of Europeans consider themselves to be well or very well informed about the rights they enjoy as EU citizens (in 2020, up from 32% in 2014)
- 27Member States set up structural coordination mechanisms with all stakeholders, including Roma, on the implementation of the national Roma integration strategies by 2020.
- 96%of all people consider that domestic violence against women is unacceptable, in 2018, up from 84% in 2014 (Eurobarometer).
- 131grants were awarded to prevent and combat racism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of intolerance in the period 2014-2020.
-
Programme Performance Overview
Europe for Citizens
- EUR 195.5 millionBudget allocation 2014-2020
Overall execution (2014-2020)
| |
Total |
% |
| Commitments |
EUR 195.3 million |
100%
|
| Payments |
EUR 157.8 million |
81%
|
This graph includes implementation based on voted budget appropriations and carried-over appropriations.
More information on the overall execution
- The programme is implemented through action grants and operating grants; the available budget is spent relatively evenly across the strands each year.
- In 2020, 100% of commitment appropriations were implemented according to the annual work programme and covering both strands of the Europe for citizens programme. 100% of the payment appropriations were used, covering pre-financing and final payments on pre-2020 commitments and 2020 commitments.
- The programme was affected by the COVID-19 crisis. By 9 April 2021, 271 amendment requests had been submitted, most of them related to the extension of the eligibility period. The payment implementation will be postponed accordingly.
- In 2020, the Europe for citizens programme was implemented in 33 eligible participating countries: 27 Member States and six other participating countries, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo ( ), Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
Key monitoring indicators
| |
Baseline |
Progress |
Target |
Results |
Assessment |
| Participants directly involved in projects |
|
75%
|
1.30 m |
0.98 out of 1.30 million participants |
On track |
| People indirectly reached by the programme |
|
76%
|
1.55 m |
1.18 million people reached compared to a target of 1.55 million |
On track |
| First-time applicants to projects |
|
>100%
|
40% |
60% first-time applicants compared to a target of 40% |
On track |
| Transnational partnerships including different types of stakeholders |
|
100%
|
2 |
2 out of 2 partnerships |
On track |
| Geographical coverage of the activities – number of countries involved |
15 |
100%
|
28 |
28 out of 28 Member State partners or co-partners |
On track |
% of target achieved by the end of 2020
More information on the performance of the programme
- The Europe for citizens programme played a positive overall role in encouraging civic participation and democratic engagement, while strengthening the sense of belonging together and supporting mutual understanding and identification with Europe. It thereby helped to support the European integration process in the longer term. By working directly with citizens, the programme offered a forum for involving them through a grassroots approach.
- As evidenced by the midterm evaluation, Europe for citizens has successfully demonstrated its added value at EU level both in terms of its impact on participants and through its complementary role to other EU funding programmes and policy initiatives in the fields of education, culture and EU citizenship. Aspects that have been identified for improvement mostly relate to increasing the programme's visibility, amending the monitoring indicators and strengthening the synergies with other relevant EU funding programmes and initiatives.
- The Europe for citizens programme is on track to achieve its objectives, as underlined by data obtained on the basis of indicators. Out of 1 761 applications received, 419 projects were selected, and around 1 250 000 participants were expected to be involved in programme activities. The number of projects funded, and the continuously increasing number of participants since 2014, suggests that the programme has achieved its general objectives.
- In a challenging political, social and economic climate, the programme helpds to foster the civic engagement of citizens across Europe. It has encouraged people to participate more actively in the development of the EU and to promote its fundamental values such as tolerance, solidarity and non-discrimination, through action and operating grants. A large number of projects directly address current political and societal issues, such as migration and the elections to the European Parliament.
- The rise of Euroscepticism experienced in the EU in recent years highlights the relevance of the programme and the need to encourage the development of a shared sense of European identity. Against this background, the programme has offered a public forum giving people the opportunity to express their ideas about the future of Europe through a grassroots approach.
- In the area of town twinning, the programme achieves results by increasing and encouraging mutual understanding and friendship between citizens at a local level. Networks of towns complemented the traditional town twinning by offering towns and municipalities the opportunity to develop larger-scale projects, thus increasing the projects’ impact and sustainability.
- Overall, the programme targeted civil society organisations through operating grants and civil society projects. The participation of stakeholder organisations has influenced their own perceptions of Europe. Most participating organisations noted positive effects on their knowledge of Europe and were committed to becoming more engaged with civil society.
- Since 2018, Europe for citizens has contributed to the implementation of the European citizens’ initiative, fostering people’s participation in the democratic life of the EU. The programme has most notably supported the development and evolutive maintenance of the IT tools supporting the initiatives, as well as communication and guidance. The dedicated communication campaign to raise awareness of the European citizens’ initiative led to a significant increase in the number of initiatives compared to the years prior to the start of the campaign.
Concrete examples of achievements
- 28European citizens’ initiatives were registered between 2018 and 2020.
- 976 331people were reached directly by the programme in 2020.
- 1 180 000people were reached indirectly by the programme in 2020.
- 419projects were selected in 2020.
Programme Performance Overview
