A-AAGORA - 2nd CALL FOR ASSOCIATED REGIONS

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Beneficiary & submission

Proposals need to be submitted through this LINK. Proposals submitted by any other means, will not be admitted. English language. Budget in EURO TIMELINE Evaluation and selection: March 2024 Granting completed: April 2024 Project implementation: From May 1st 2024 Project end: May, 31st 2026

Further information

We are pleased to announce the launch of the 2nd call for Associated Regions to participate in the A-AAGORA project. The A-AAGORA consortium aims at supporting 4 additional ’Associated Regions’, considering the maximum financial support of EUR 70,000, ranging the 4 referential basins (Atlantic+Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean, Danube/Black Sea). A minimum of 1 representative of each basin is expected to be selected, whereas a minimum of 2 for the Atlantic-Arctic basin shall be selected. Applicants are expected to propose the implementation of demonstration activities in their Region. The application should focus on at least one of the restauration activities, using a Living Lab Approach, meaning that solutions are implemented, tested and monitored with the involvement of local citizens and stakeholders, and can change and evolve as the project learns what is best for the Region. The selected 'Associated Regions' will actively participate in a strong result-oriented cooperation framework, facilitating bidirectional knowledge transfer, proactive engagement with local stakeholders, and technical assistance for capacity building towards implementation of restoration solutions, adapted to their territories. ‘Associated Regions’ will also become active members of A-AAGORA Community of Practice (CoP), a forum for the exchange of experiences and best practices for sake of the sustainability and extension of its objectives beyond these project’s duration. Access to innovative ideas, techniques and results shall enhance (and eventually steer) their genuine motivation to plan and implement significant activities in the near future. In the short-term (within the 1st year after selection) - we expect to ensure that, at each ’Associated Region’, meaningful local frameworks are thoroughly assessed, challenges and needs further studied/updated, local communities and/or stakeholders identified and engaged, and representative impact-driven restoration activities initiated in view of preliminary validation and rapid follow-up towards implementation. In the medium-term (within the lifespan of A-AAGORA project) - we expect that the actual planning of the NbS replication activities at local level/specific locations, are in place, with expected results to feed the Lighthouse blueprint with valuable and complementary data, contributing to the ‘development and piloting phase’ of the lighthouse. In the long-term (beyond the lifespan of A-AAGORA project) - we expect that the access of the A-AAGORA consortium to the local experiences and information from the ’Associated Region’ will reinforce the lighthouse preparedness for the ‘deployment and upscaling’ phase. WHO CAN APPLY Eligible beneficiaries for this call are local and/or regional organizations from Member States, overseas and associated countries2 to the Horizon Europe Programme. Project lead by local and/or regional authorities will be prioritized, and in any case, projects must include a local/regional authority. Eligible beneficiaries must provide evidence that the areas to be associated have ecosystems that can benefit from the demonstration activities in a living lab context. These activities focus on restoration of Kelp forests, Seagrass and Sand dunes, and on the protection and restoration of Coastal areas due to coastal erosion and Biodiversity in human-made hard infrastructures. Applicants can select more than one activity to implement, following a living lab approach. The financial support to third parties will be awarded to local and/or regional authorities from an ‘associated region’. ‘Associated regions’ are understood as areas with similar ecosystems (e.g. neighbouring regions and/or regions in a different river basin) and/or less-developed regions, to build capacity to implement the innovative solutions to restore freshwater ecosystems. The ‘associated regions’ may be represented by (i) individual organisations or (ii) a consortium. Applicants should have a good command of English, must be eligible for participation in the EC Horizon Europe Framework Programme and must ensure the following obligations of the Grant Agreement, namely Articles 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (recordkeeping). The selected beneficiaries commit to carry out the following activities in their role as an associated region to the A-AAGORA project: Participation in workshops and meetings in the scope of A-AAGORA training activities and capacity building sessions); Participation in developing blueprints and business roadmaps for the nature-based solutions to be implemented at the replication sites; Interact with local stakeholders, in an ecosystem-based management approach, to identify restoration needs in the replication area; Pilot testing of the A-AAGORA serious game. Please note: Countries that are part of the A-AAGORA consortium cannot participate: Portugal, Ireland, Norway, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Romania and Finland. Each associated region “must benefit from the Financial Support to Third Parties provided under this topic only once”. FUNDING & ELIGIBILITY The maximum amount of financial support for each third party is set to EUR 70,000. If not all criteria are met (at candidature) lower amount may apply, accordingly with the established criteria. If all the criteria are met and the amount requested by the ‘Associated Regions’ is higher than EUR 70,000, the maximum value of EUR 70,000 will apply for the financial support. No eligibility for higher amount nor complementary funding can be considered. Eligibility conditions: areas with ecosystems that can benefit from the demonstration activities (e.g. neighbouring regions and/or regions in a different sea basin) and/or less-developed regions, with the need to build capacity to implement the innovative solutions to restore marine ecosystems; representativeness of the “local ecosystem” must be demonstrated accordingly; the associated regions are located in Member States/Associated countries other than those that are part of the project consortium. APPLICATION PROCESS Call opening: 31/01/2024 Call closing date: 20/03/2024 Single stage submission. Applicants should use the Application form (Annex 1). Proposals need to be submitted through this LINK. Proposals submitted by any other means, will not be admitted. English language. Budget in EURO ASSESSMENT PROCESS The exact number of ‘associated regions’ selected will be decided based on the overall budget available for the Third Parties funding and the amount of budget needed for each one of the replication activities, with a maximum value of EUR 70,000 per ‘associated region’. Each proposal will be evaluated by one independent and one internal expert appointed according to the specific characteristics of the applicants from the pool of External Experts. The external experts will be independent from the applicants and cannot be Consortium partners employees, permanent collaborators nor board members. External experts must ratify the Confidentiality Statement and the ‘Non-conflict of interests’ before starting the evaluations. EXCELLENCE will evaluate how the potential associated regions propose to apply the A-AAGORA restoration solutions in the respective replication areas. IMPACT will analyse the overall expected socio-ecological impact of the upscaling of restoration measures in the given associated region by identifying key performance indicators in short and long term. IMPLEMENTATION will consider the applications description of plans for interaction and co-creation processes with the A-AAGORA consortium. This includes knowledge sharing following a living lab approach and participation in the development of blueprints for upscaling of the validated methods and technologies It will also consider the likelihood of successful upscaling in the given region based on the elaboration on local constrains and opportunities identified by the applicants. IThe exact number of ‘associated regions’ selected will be decided based on the overall budget available for the Third Parties funding and the amount of budget needed for each one of the replication activities, with a maximum value of EUR 70,000 per ‘associated region’. Each proposal will be evaluated by one independent and one internal expert appointed according to the specific characteristics of the applicants from the pool of External Experts. The external experts will be independent from the applicants and cannot be Consortium partners employees, permanent collaborators nor board members. External experts must ratify the Confidentiality Statement and the ‘Non-conflict of interests’ before starting the evaluations. EXCELLENCE will evaluate how the potential associated regions propose to apply the A-AAGORA restoration solutions in the respective replication areas. IMPACT will analyse the overall expected socio-ecological impact of the upscaling of restoration measures in the given associated region by identifying key performance indicators in short and long term. IMPLEMENTATION will consider the applications description of plans for interaction and co-creation processes with the A-AAGORA consortium. This includes knowledge sharing following a living lab approach and participation in the development of blueprints for upscaling of the validated methods and technologies It will also consider the likelihood of successful upscaling in the given region based on the elaboration on local constrains and opportunities identified by the applicants. In the event of a tie, preference will be given to applications from the Atlantic, Arctic and Baltic Sea basins, as two AR from the Mediterranean basin and one from the Danube delta are already engaged. The consensus meeting will include two A-AAGORA External Expert Advisory Board (EEAB) members and the independent experts who evaluated the proposals as well as the A-AAGORA scientific coordinator. The consensus meeting will decide on a list of third parties that will receive funding based on the ranking list from the evaluation. Whilst normally the highest ranked proposals will be selected for funding, the TPMB might have fair reasons for objecting to a specific third-party project, like the alignment with A-AAGORA goals and scope, the ability to achieve the highest impact possible, as well as the existence of significant ethical concerns or a potential conflict of interest. In this case, the choice may pass to the next-ranked proposal. One proposal will be approved for restoration type. The European Commission must approve the list of projects receiving funding before the name and locality of the awarded applicants will be made publicly available through the A-AAGORA web site and the call platform. PRIVACY Personal data that will be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679, also known as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). CONTACT Project coordinator: Ana Lillebø Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal email: cesam-a_aagora@ua.pt