Call for Proposals

Deadline: 15 February 2027

29 October 2026

The Working Groups carry out Activities mandated by the Steering Committee (SC) or proposed by the Working Groups (WGs) and approved by the SC or by the Executive Committee (ExCo). Depending on funding availability, the Secretariat will regularly open calls for ECPGR-funded actions. The Fourth Call for Proposals of Phase XI is now open to receive submissions. 

Scope

Proposed Activities should address the priority activities highlighted in 'Tables 1-6: Objectives and Targets of the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe and Associated Priorities for ECPGR Phase XI (239,8 KB)'. The Tables have been annotated, highlighting Activities with a respective priority level. Activities with Priority 1 and 2 are eligible under this Fourth Call for proposals, while Priority 3 is not eligible (please see the last column of the annotated Table available here (239,8 KB)).

Proposals should indicate how Activities can significantly contribute to specific targets outlined in the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe, and provide a clear explanation of how this contribution will be achieved.

Eligibility

ECPGR Working Group members from eligible countries can be funded partners in the proposals. Other self-funded partners are also allowed to participate.

As of October 2026, the following countries are NOT eligible to receive ECPGR funds according to Rule of Procedure 2.6 (non-payment of ECPGR contributions for more than one year): Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Funding and eligible expenditures

• The total available budget for this Call is about €100,000
• Expected budget for each Activity involving only one WG: maximum €30,000 per proposal.
  (Joint proposals that maximize collaboration between crop and/or thematic Working Groups are welcome; in such cases, the budget can be increased)  

Eligible expenditures to carry out proposed Activities include staff costs, equipment, supplies, travel and meeting costs. Overheads are not eligible. There is no limitation on whether these activities should be meetings or different actions.

Activity Coordinator’s privilege

The Activity Coordinator will be assigned a fixed amount of the budget (10%) to cover the costs of coordination and preparation of the final Activity report.

Preparation for proposal submission

Proposals can only be submitted by the Chairs of ECPGR WGs. However, any member of an ECPGR WG can be an Activity Coordinator and submit proposals through the channel of their respective WG Chair. Activity Coordinators are invited to prepare proposals in close coordination with the respective WG Chair and keep the rest of the WG well informed about their initiatives. Each proposal can involve more than one WG but will be submitted by only one agreed Chair. WG Chairs/Activity Coordinators should seek Expressions of Interest from all WG members (see WG lists here) listed as participants in a proposed Activity. Expressions of Interest should indicate which contribution(s) are planned for the Activity and the level of commitment of each interested participant.

Steps for submission of proposals

1. WG Chair promotes/seeks ideas for Activities from the WG
2. WG Chair/Activity Coordinator invites WG members to sign Expressions of Interest (EoI) to participate in specified Activities
3. Based on received EoIs, WG Chair/Activity Coordinator selects the participants for the proposed Activity (this might be done in consultation with the Secretariat)
4. WG Chair fills in the online Activity proposal form and the budget table (or delegates this to the agreed Activity Coordinator, if different from the Chair)
5. In case several WGs are participating in the same proposal, the submitting WG Chair should seek the required endorsements (to be copied to the Secretariat) from each of the other relevant WG Chairs
6. WG Chair uploads and submits the documents using the online application form.

Submission of proposals

The submission of the proposal must be done by the WG Chair by completing the online Proposal Application form (below) and attaching the following forms (to be prepared by the Activity Coordinator and sent to the WG Chair, if a different person):

Proposals for Activities will be evaluated and selected by the ExCo, according to the following criteria:

1. The anticipated impact of the Activity Proposal on the effectiveness of the contribution to the achievement of the targets of the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe. The quality of the proposal and the likelihood of the Activity reaching the expected results.
 (Weighting of 45% with the following sub-criteria and weightings):

• Relevance of the theme/problem to contribute to Plant Genetic Resources Strategy targets (15%)
• Effectiveness of expected outputs for plant genetic resources conservation and use (15%)
• Likelihood of activities to reach the expected outputs as such based on technical, human and financial resources mobilized for the proposal (15%).

2. The applicability of the results to the entire European Region versus just a few countries or a single country.
 (Weighting of 15%)

3. The appropriateness, quality and diversity of the partnership submitting the Grant (i.e. countries; institutions; multi-sectoral – NGOs, public and private sector and/or others; gender).
 (Weighting of 15%)

4. Contributions (financial and/or in kind) of the applying Working Group(s) and the selected Activity members to the total cost of the Activity as well as the cost-effectiveness of the Activity in advancing the achievement of the targets of the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy.
(Weighting of 25%)

The Secretariat will verify the eligibility of each partner to receive ECPGR funding. Before granting the successful proposals, National Coordinators (NC) will be consulted for endorsement of the final list of participants in successful Activities, in particular from their respective country’s perspective. In case of objections by a NC, the ExCo will make final decisions regarding the list of participants.