The objectives and principles of the Fund and the programme shall be consistent with the description of the Fund in the Blue Book. The Blue Book is subject to final approval by the Donors by the end of 2024. This Manual may be subject to minor changes and updates further to changes in the Blue Book.

The Civil Society Fund aims to support a vibrant and resilient civil society that protects and promotes democracy, the rule of law and human rights. A healthy democracy relies on a vibrant and resilient civil society that gives a voice to citizens and holds governments accountable. Civil society organisations play a vital role in protecting and promoting democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, and in countering discrimination. They contribute to reducing social and economic disparities by fostering informed public debate, taking part in policymaking, building social trust, and strengthening the participation of all, including minorities and groups that are marginalised, in democratic processes and civic activities. For the European green transition, civil society can advocate for systemic changes.

Civil society organisations may lack the capacity to fulfil their role effectively. Additionally, civil society in Europe faces increasing challenges, such as restrictive regulatory environments, limited access to resources, intimidation and harassment, and obstacles to participation in decision-making. The digital transformation of civic space offers unprecedented opportunities but also poses challenges to civil society. These challenges threaten the ability of civil society to fulfil its mission. Civil society’s role and engagement of citizens remain critical in protecting the values of the EU and citizen’s participation as enshrined in Articles 2 and 11 of the Treaty of the EU as well as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.  

The Civil Society Fund aims to support a vibrant and resilient civil society that protects and promotes democracy, the rule of law and human rights. A vibrant and resilient civil society is a pre-condition for a healthy democracy, giving a voice to citizens and holding governments accountable. Civil society organisations contribute to reducing social and economic disparities by fostering an informed public debate, taking part in policymaking, building social trust, and strengthening the participation of minorities and groups marginalised in democratic processes. They play a vital role in protecting and promoting human rights and countering discrimination. 

The below sections provide more details on how the EEA and Norway Grants approach the Civil Society Fund to enable it to support this aim.

4.1. Results-based management and the programme model

Results-based management in the EEA and Norway Grants

Results-based management is used for the whole of the EEA and Norway Grants, beyond the Civil Society Fund. The FMO will publish a practitioners’ guide on result-based management for the EEA and Norway Grants. This guide will be for the EEA and Norway Grants as a whole, with a focus on the programmes managed by the national authorities in the Beneficiary States. Funds Operators and other civil society stakeholders are welcome to consult the guide when published for further information and guidance.

The EEA and Norway Grants follow the principles of result-based management. It is a management strategy by which all stakeholders ensure that they contribute to the achievement of the desired results. Results-based management is enshrined in Article 1.4.5 of the Programme Implementation Agreement and its principles have been successfully institutionalised in the previous 2014-2021 Financial Mechanism.  

Results-based management looks beyond ‘what we want to do’ and instead orientates our mindset towards ‘the results we want to achieve’. By clearly defining expected results, periodically collecting information, reporting on progress, and taking timely actions, results-based management is a management strategy that facilitates the achievement of desired results. When implemented well, it is a source of knowledge creation and utilisation. It enables Fund Operators and other stakeholders to understand what is working, what is not, and why. In this way, results-based management promotes organisational learning, strengthening and accountability. Stakeholders will have a clear sense of what they want to achieve and the progress towards that achievement. All programmes and activities funded by the EEA and Norway Grants, including the Civil Society Fund, follow a results and risk management approach. As such, result-based management is an integral part of the programme model in the EEA and Norway Grants.

A programme is a structure setting out a strategy with a coherent set of measures to be carried out through projects to achieve agreed results, where the highest-level results are the objectives of the Grants. For a schematic representation of a programme model in the Grants, see the figure below. The figure is only intended for illustration purposes, and does not provide any indication of the expected number of calls or pre-defined projects.

A programme follows a cycle of design, implementation and closure. For the Civil Society Fund, result-based management entails key tasks throughout the programme cycle with design, implementation and closure. 

The programme model for the EEA Civil Society Fund 

4.2 Objective, outcomes, outputs

The objectives and areas of support of the Fund and the programme shall be consistent with the description of the Fund in the Blue Book. The Blue Book is subject to final approval by the Donors by the end of 2024. This Manual may be subject to minor changes and updates further to changes in the Blue Book.

Each programme in the EEA and Norway Grants is based on the priorities from the Blue Book. The Blue Book is a document outlining the priorities and programme areas for the EEA and Norway Grants.

The Fund objective for the Civil Society Fund is inherited from the objective in the Blue Book. The Blue Book chapter on the Civil Society Fund defines the Fund objective as follows: 

“A vibrant and resilient civil society protecting and promoting democracy, the rule of law and human rights”.

All efforts should be mobilised towards contributing to the realisation of the Fund objective. 

The Fund objective will be achieved by supporting civil society organisations that are aligned with the values of the Grants and are involved in activities such as advocacy, monitoring, strategic litigation, civic education, and citizen engagement, training and capacity building, as well as research and analysis to inform policy making.  

The Fund objective itself contributes to the Grants’ overall objectives, which are: reduced economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area; and strengthened bilateral relations between Donor States and Beneficiary States.

The Grants objectives and the Funds objective are above the Civil Society Fund programme’s ‘line of accountability’. This means that while the programmes are expected to mobilise all efforts to contribute, they are not expected to directly achieve the Fund objective or the Grants objectives or measure results at this level. This is because these objectives are high-level, and the effects may be indirect, lagging, and subject to many other external and contextual factors and contributions. The contribution to the Fund objective, and with that to the Grants objectives, can be inferred from the results achieved for the outcomes.

The Blue Book chapter sets the overall strategy for how to contribute to achieving the Fund objective by defining ‘areas of support’. The ‘areas of support’ are the thematic areas that are eligible for support under the programme. These are thematic areas that have been identified as key to achieving the objective of a vibrant and resilient civil society protecting and promoting democracy, the rule of law and human rights. It also lists the key stakeholders, including target groups, to be considered and engaged for contributing to the realisation of the Fund objective.  

The ‘areas of support’ under the Programme are the following: 

• Democratic values, civic engagement, and media literacy 
• Civil society participation in democratic processes 
• Human rights, anti-discrimination, and social inclusion 
• Gender equality, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and LGBTIQ+ rights 
• Climate action, environmental protection, and a just green transition 
• Organisational development and an enabling environment for civil society. 

To help Fund Operators and other civil society actors involved in the Grants contribute to the Fund objective, the FMO has translated the different ‘areas of support’ into outcome and output statements. 

All areas of support are mandatory and have already been translated into the outcomes and outputs of the Civil Society Fund programme results framework.

The Civil Society Fund programme is designed with three thematic outcomes, plus a bilateral outcome and a regional outcome. The three thematic outcomes are based on the ‘areas of support’ from the Blue Book, while the bilateral outcome is directly linked to one of the two Grants objectives: strengthened bilateral relations between Donor States and Beneficiary States. The regional outcome goes across the thematic outcomes and contributes to the Fund objective of a vibrant and resilient civil society protecting and promoting democracy, the rule of law and human rights across borders.

For each outcome statement, there is a corresponding results chain with outputs. The outputs logically support the achievement of the outcomes and are also based on the ‘areas of support’ from the Blue Book. 

Together, the combined outputs and outcomes form the Civil Society Fund results framework that all Fund Operators must use as their programme results framework. As the outputs and outcomes are all based on the ‘areas of support’ from the Blue Book, they are all assessed as eligible for support.

Programme results at both the outcome and output levels are derived from the projects contracted by the programme. Projects are contracted through calls for proposals or directly as a pre-defined project (PDP). Typically, multiple projects contribute to the combined programme results at both outcome and output levels.

Each project must be situated only under one of the three thematic outcomes and not under multiple outcomes, except for the bilateral outcome. In addition to contributing to one single thematic outcome, all projects that include bilateral cooperation must also report on bilateral results for the bilateral outcome. All projects that have donor project partner(s) report results under the bilateral outcome, in addition to the thematic outcome they are situated under.

Within the same thematic outcome, projects may contribute to one output or more outputs.

All projects will report their qualitative (narrative) project-level results to the Fund Operator who reports to the FMO in the project level information in GrACE. Only the most important quantitative project results are collected and aggregated by the Fund Operator and reported to the FMO against the indicators in the programme results framework. See more about indicators in Annex B: Results framework indicators. The Fund Operator will also highlight qualitative (narrative) project-level results to the FMO in their narrative reporting. See more in the chapter on reporting.

4.3. Bilateral objective

The Grant-level objective of strengthening bilateral relations is as important as the Grant-level objective of reducing social and economic disparities. 

The EEA Civil Society Fund contributes to strengthening bilateral relations between CSOs in the Beneficiary State and CSOs and other entities in the Donor States, in line with the overall objective of the Grants on strengthened bilateral relations. Bilateral cooperation in the Civil Society Fund is also expected to make a positive contribution to the overall Fund objective.

Bilateral cooperation refers to networking, exchange, mutual learning, sharing and transfer of knowledge, experience, and good practice between CSOs and other entities in the Beneficiary State and in the Donor States. Bilateral cooperation in the Civil Society Fund should be mutually beneficial and sustainable, based on a strategic and long-term perspective, and leverage the respective strengths of entities in the Donor States and in the Beneficiary States.

The bonds between the countries involved in the EEA and Norway Grants are already strong due to shared values. This is an integral part of the Civil Society Fund, where the Donor States and Beneficiary States stand together in protecting and promoting democracy, rule of law and human rights. 

In the context of the EEA Civil Society Fund, the Grant-level objective of strengthened bilateral relations is operationalised in the bilateral outcome: Strengthened bilateral cooperation in the civil society sector. 

4.4. Examples of activities

The Fund Operator can support a broad range of activities and strategies to achieve the outputs and outcomes and contribute to the Fund objective. 

The supported activities may lead inter alia to reduced disinformation and hate speech, healthier information spaces, stronger independent media, a more participatory local democracy, and inclusive approach to policy development.

The programme shall have a strong focus on developing the capacity and resilience of civil society. This is tied in particular to the area of support focused on organisational development, but also underpins the other areas of support. CSOs and other civic actors will be equipped with new skills to engage volunteers, diversify funding, connect with target groups, and communicate in complex operating environments. In addition, the programme shall support civil society in defending civic space, ensuring an enabling environment for civil society, and advocating for better legislation and practices for civic engagement.

The following list elaborates on the areas of support by giving examples of types of activities that are eligible under the programme. The list is non-exhaustive. Examples of activities include: 

• Research and analysis to inform policy  
• Advocacy to support a cause or policy  
• Participation in policy and decision-making processes  
• Civic education and training  
• Awareness-raising activities 
• Outreach and community organising to encourage citizen activism, volunteering, and civic participation  
• Cultural activities for promoting social change 
• Investigative journalism and independent media activities  
• Measures for increasing media literacy and countering disinformation 
• Strategic litigation  
• Watchdog activities and monitoring of policy development and implementation  
• Legal aid, psychological assistance, and other forms of support for human rights defenders  
• Outreach to and interest representation of target groups in marginalised situations 
• Social innovation and social enterprise development 
• Intercultural dialogue  
• Mentoring to support organisational development  
• Capacity-building activities of CSOs 
• Networking of the civil society sector 
• Partnerships between CSOs and public and private sector entities 
• European and cross-border cooperation
  
  

4.5 Result chains with inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes

The results chain (example in the figure below, and elements detailed in the table below) is a simple model that illustrates how the programme’s inputs and activities are expected to lead to direct outputs, and the achievement of outcomes over the implementation period. The model also shows that programme outcomes contribute to a high-level objective (the Fund objective). 

There should be a logical link between outputs and outcomes – if the outputs are achieved, then logically the programme should also achieve good results at outcome level and contribute to the Fund objective. 

Like all models, the results chain represents a simplification of a complex reality. However, it is a useful starting point for thinking about a programme’s design.

Overview of result chain elements

The figure below shows an example of result chain for the Civil Society Fund focused on the outcome ‘Civil society organisations  that promote democracy, the rule of law and human rights strengthened’, derived from the area of support on civil society organisations’ organisational development.

Result chain example 

There are assumptions for how one level in the result chain connects to the next. Assumptions are the necessary conditions for the programme’s logic to work as expected. For instance, in the above example, it is assumed that if CSOs are supported to develop their organisations, then they will be stronger as CSOs and will better deliver their mandate. For each assumption, it is useful to either provide evidence or plan for evidence, for example through an evaluation. For the assumption on supporting organisational development, the FMO commissioned an external assessment of organisational grants which is available on the EEA and Norway Grants website. The Fund Operator should consider any assumptions that may be unrealistic or not based on reasonable evidence. If so, this part of the programme may need to be reconsidered.

Risks are potential events or circumstances that may prevent a programme from achieving its desired results if they were to materialise. Risks are always present, and we do not need to try to design out every risk from a programme. If we did so, we may end up with a programme design that lacks ambition or added value. However, it is important that we consider the potential likelihood and consequence of the most important risks. If the potential likelihood and consequence is low, then a risk may be accepted and simply monitored through the programme lifecycle. If the potential risk has a higher likelihood of materialising and higher potential consequences, then risk management measures may need to be considered from the outset. If a certain risk is very high, then Fund Operators may need to reconsider the approach, following discussion with the FMO.

As shown below, the higher up in the result chain, the less control stakeholders have on the achievement of the desired result.

 Level of control, influence and interest for results

4.6 Results framework  

Combined, the result chains with the outcomes and outputs derived from the areas of support make up the Civil Society Fund programme results framework, as illustrated below (for a flat table format see the table in Annex B: Results framework indicators).

A results framework is an explicit articulation of the programme’s expected results, including outcomes, outputs, often depicted in table format and with indicators. 

Illustration of the Civil Society Fund programme result framework

The illustrated results framework above shows the Fund objective at the top as the highest-level result for the Civil Society Fund programme. In line with the principles of Results-Based Management, this highest-level result should guide design and implementation. The Civil Society Fund results framework is set on a high level and provides the overall framing of the results expected in the Fund across countries. As the results framework is on a high level, the output and outcome statements are relevant across all countries. For example, working to increase civic engagement to strengthen democratic values is relevant across all countries. 

However, the Fund Operator should contextualise how these outputs and outcomes are relevant to the political, social, historical, and economic conditions in their country. This is initiated in the bid for the role of Fund Operator and finalised before Programme Implementation Agreement signature.

The Civil Society Fund results framework is for the programme as a whole. As described in the section on the programme model, programme results at both the outcome and output levels are derived from the projects contracted by the programme. Projects may have their own results frameworks. Ideally, if projects have their own results framework it has some overlap with the programme results framework, either by building on or by otherwise noting how it feeds into the programme results framework.

4.7 Risk management

Results-based management is closely linked to risk management. Risks that are not managed may affect the programme’s results. Risk management is a continuous, proactive, and systematic process of identifying, assessing, and managing risk in line with the accepted risk levels to provide reasonable assurance as to achieving the expected results.

Because risks that are not managed may affect the programme’s results, the Fund Operator is responsible for identifying and assessing the risks to achieving the expected Programme outcomes and outputs, as well as identifying and taking appropriate actions to mitigate those risks. 

In their bid the Fund Operator identifies the main risks in achieving expected results, per outcome. After Fund Operator selection, the next step is for the selected Fund Operator to submit a risk assessment six months after entering the Programme Implementation Agreement. 

In the implementation phase, the Fund Operator updates this assessment annually as part of the Annual Programme Report. The risk assessment is a forward-looking exercise that identifies and scores risks that may occur during the upcoming year.

Example of Fund Operator risk assessment

For more information on risk, including on the risk assessment in the Annual Programme Report, see Annex A: Risk management.

4.8 Fund specifics

The following conditions are important for fulfilling the Fund objective and shall be adhered to by all programmes under the Civil Society Fund: 

• All programmes shall include measures to reach out to under-served geographic areas and target groups that are marginalised.
  
  
• At least 20% of the re-granting amount shall contribute to organisational development and an enabling environment for civil society.
   
  
• The provision of social services can only be supported if these services are necessary for enhancing advocacy, community participation, and/or civic engagement.
  

For social services, this means that social services should not function as standalone activities within a project. Instead, the project must be primarily focused on advocacy, community participation, and/or civic engagement, with these services playing a crucial role in achieving those objectives.

4.9 Country specific focus areas

The Civil Society Fund includes country specific focus areas, that vary between countries. The focus areas include:

• Addressing challenges arising from the invasion of Ukraine.
• Countering gender-based violence.
• Good governance, transparency, and anti-corruption.
• Inclusion and empowerment of refugees and migrants.
• Inclusion and empowerment of Roma, including support for Roma-led organisations and Roma women and girls.
• Intercultural, interethnic, and/or interreligious understanding or dialogue and inclusion.

The country-specific focus should be achieved by one or several of the below tools: 

• Build consortia including expertise regarding the country-specific focus. 
• Implement targeted calls for proposals to address the country-specific focus. 
• Develop pre-defined projects that address the country-specific focus.  
• Establish clear criteria for project selection that prioritise initiatives aligned with the country -specific focus. 
• Allocate a minimum amount to targeted measures addressing the country-specific focus.

The bidders for the role of Fund Operator should confer with the Terms of Reference for the country where they are bidding, for which country specific focus area are included. Fund Operators should confer with their Programme Implementation Agreement which country specific focus area are included.