Structured dialogue with people with lived experience of poverty

There are no official templates for the following annexes:

• an annex with the description of each of the consortium members’ experience in facilitating the direct participation of people with lived experience of/experiencing poverty in EU policymaking by organising dialogues between them and EU policymakers at EU level;
• an annex demonstrating the combined coverage of all 27 EU Member States by the consortium;
• description of the methodology of preparing the people with lived experience of poverty to engage with EU policymakers, with the core idea and key methodological pillars outlined.

Applicants should therefore prepare these documents themselves in free-form PDF format, ensuring that they comply with the relevant requirements set out in the call document.

Applicants may upload the required call-specific mandatory annexes under any of the four available upload slots in the submission system. The three above-mentioned annexes may be combined into a single PDF file.

For example, applicants may:

• include the three above-mentioned annexes in Part B, in addition to the 50-page limit applicable to Part B (the 50-page limit applies only to Part B; the annexes are additional, do not count towards the page limit and will be considered by the evaluators); or
• upload them under any other slot, for example: under the CVs slot, together with the CVs, by binding the three PDFs for which no specific upload slot is available with the PDF document covering the CVs.

The important point is to ensure that all required call-specific mandatory annexes are uploaded with the application by the submission deadline.

The European Commission has received the formal expression of interest of North Macedonia to participate in the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF)+. This allows entities from this country to apply to funding opportunities before the entry into force of the association agreement.

However, under the call for proposals ESF-2027-PEP-ENGAGEMENT, for a proposal that includes applicants from North Macedonia to be eligible for award, the association agreement on North Macedonia’s participation in the EaSI strand of ESF+ should be in force by the time the grant agreement is signed. If the association agreement has not entered into force by that date, the proposal cannot be awarded a grant. Moreover, potential signature of the association agreement by North Macedonia does not guarantee the selection of any proposal for funding.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must comply with all the eligibility criteria laid down in the call document. As to the place of establishment, they must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e. EU Member States or listed EEA countries and countries associated to the ESF+PDF.

The call document does not include a formal definition of a ‘person with lived experience of poverty’ because poverty is multidimensional and can take different forms in different contexts. The Commission therefore does not impose a single definition, in order to leave room for a broad and inclusive understanding that reflects the diversity of people’s situations and experiences.

In the context of the activity of setting up national and regional participation hubs to support the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience of poverty in the Commission’s structured dialogue, the successful applicants should seek involvement of individuals who consider themselves to have experience of poverty. This experience may be current or in the past.