Local Development Programme: The RSDF relaunched the small grant scheme “Access to funding-2021”
The Romanian Social Development Fund (FRDS), Programme Operator for the “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Enhanced Roma Inclusion” Programme (Local Development), funded by the EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014 – 2021, relaunched on Thursday, April 8, 2021, the small grant scheme “Access to financing”, under the name “Access to financing – 2021”.
The grant scheme aims to support local public authorities in their efforts to supplement their local budgets, by attracting funding to ensure the implementation of those measures, provided for in local development strategies and plans, which aim to improve living conditions. in poor, isolated, marginalized communities.
Thus, through the call for project proposals Access to Financing – 2021, local authorities can receive funds for the elaboration of technical documentation necessary for the realization of community investments consisting in the construction / extension / rehabilitation / modernization:
– social infrastructure (projects aimed at infrastructure for social services, education, health, employment);
– water supply infrastructure (projects aimed at ensuring the water supply of units providing social services);
– sewerage infrastructure (projects aimed at wastewater disposal for units providing social services);
– roads, bridges and footbridges (projects targeting roads of county interest, roads of local interest, bridges and footbridges that facilitate the access of disadvantaged groups to social services);
– housing (projects targeting social housing).
The investments aimed by the technical documentation, which are to be drawn up with the financial support of this grant scheme, must be eligible under national or European funding programs.
The grants available in the call can be requested only by local public administration authorities (communes, cities / municipalities or counties) and aim at making investments exclusively at the level of rural or small urban territorial administrative units (with a population under 20,000 inhabitants, according to the census since 2011), on whose territory there are marginalized communities, which include people living in precarious conditions and have a low level of employment in the labor market. These people will be the direct beneficiaries of the investments to be made through the funding to be obtained in the future, based on the technical documentation prepared by the beneficiaries of the grant scheme.
The amount available in the call is 595,705 euro and comes from the EEA Grants 2014 – 2021 (85%) and public co-financing (15%). The minimum amount of the grant that can be requested is 5,000 euros, and the maximum is 40,000 euro. The deadline for submitting projects is June 17, 2021. All documentation related to the call is available online at www.dezvoltare-locala.frds.ro.
We remind you that so far within the small grant scheme “Access to financing” two financing sessions have been opened, related to the years 2019 and 2020, through which 17 projects have been financed, in a total value of approx. 400,000 euro. Funded projects aimed at developing technical documentation regarding the rehabilitation of road infrastructure, modernization and construction of bridges, construction and rehabilitation of schools and kindergartens, and modernization of medical infrastructure at the local level.