Structured dialogue with people with lived experience of poverty
European Commission · European Social Fund + (ESF)
Posted 1 Sept 2026 · 29 days left
In plain terms
The European Commission funds organisations to create structured dialogue between policymakers and people with lived experience of poverty, ensuring marginalised voices shape social inclusion policies. Applications from eligible EU and EEA entities are due by 29 October 2026; the total budget is 900,000 euros.
A generated summary of the donor's text; the original wording is below.
Summary
Expected Outcome:
The primary aim of this action is to create the conditions for a sustained dialogue between policymakers and individuals with lived experience of poverty, ensuring that those directly affected by poverty and/or social exclusion have a real and influential voice in the decisions that shape their lives.
A core objective is to empower participants by providing them with the tools, confidence, and platforms needed to engage effectively in discussions on challenges related to combating poverty and social inclusion. This will come together with building trust and breaking down barriers between institutions and marginalised communities. The action will create a more inclusive and respectful exchange, where power imbalances are acknowledged and mitigated giving participants a clearer understanding of how policies are formed.
Finally, the action will champion intersectionality: efforts will be made to amplify the voices of the most marginalised groups, ensuring that policies account for the diverse and overlapping challenges they face. By doing so, the initiative aims to create more equitable and inclusive solutions; ones that reflect the complexities of poverty and…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligible regions
- eu_only
Who can apply
- ngo_cso
- academia_research
- government
- private_company
- social_enterprise
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
">Conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
All admissibility conditions are described in the Call document.
Applications must be submitted before the call deadline and electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System.
Applications must be complete and contain:
Application Form (Part A)
Application Form (Part B)
Annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded as PDF files). Please see the list of annexes and supporting documents in the call document, point 11.b.
At proposal submission, the lead applicant will have to confirm that it has the mandate to act for all applicants; that the information in the application is correct and complete and that the participants comply with the conditions for receiving EU funding (especially eligibility, financial and operational capacity, exclusion, etc.) Before signing the grant, each beneficiary and affiliated entity will have to confirm this again by signing a declaration of honour (DoH).
Applications must be readable, accessible and printable, not exceeding 50 pages.
2. Eligible countries
Described in the Call document, point 6:
EU Member States (and their overseas countries and territories);
EEA countries, in accordance with the EEA Agreement;
EU acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidate countries, in line with the agreements concluded with them.
Third countries having signed an agreement to participate in the strand or a third country listed in the EaSI work programme if necessary for the achievement of the objectives of an action.
Do note that for certain calls only EU Member States and EEA countries are eligible.
3. Other eligibility conditions
See in the Call document.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
See details in the Call document, point 7.
5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
See all details in the Call document, point 8.
5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
The award criteria for this call are described in the Call document, point 9.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
Deadline for submission: 29 October 2026 – 17:00:00 CET (Brussels)
Evaluation: November–December 2026
Information on evaluation results: December 2026/January 2027
GA signature: January 2027
All details in the Call document, in point 4.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
See point 10 in the Call document.
Call document and annexes:
Call document
Application form templates
Standard application form (ESF and SOCPL) — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
ESF and SOCPL MGA
Additional documents:
ESF+ Annual Work Programme
ESF+ Regulation 2021/1057
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement