EU aid package for Turkish Cypriots – Labour Market

The second call for proposals under the EU Grant Scheme “Making the Labour Market more inclusive” will give grants of between EUR10.000 and EUR 50.000 to enterprises, career counselling and training institutions dealing with (re)training of workers, employees and the unemployed, employers’ networks and/or Chambers. Overall, up to EUR 750.000 will be available. The grants are financed from the EUR 259 mln EU aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community.
This grant scheme will offer support to upgrade the skills of workers, employees and the unemployed of the Turkish Cypriot community by funding a range of activities including training courses, study visits, upgrading of technology and equipment, as well as the establishment of an internship scheme within the Turkish Cypriot community. The aim is to promote equal opportunities for access to the labour market for all, and to adapt the skills of workers, employees and the unemployed to labour market needs.
The grant scheme consists of two Strands: Strand A covers projects which do not include the purchase of new technologies and/or equipment, whereas Strand B consists of projects which aim at upgrading skills through a combination of training courses and the purchase of equipment/new technologies. Applicants can jointly apply for activities under Strand A and B, if such partnership brings added value or better cost-efficiency.

Full information and application package

The full Guidelines for Applicants are available for consultation on the following internet site: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome (please select under region/country “Cyprus”, tick type “grants” and status “open”, published after 11/11/2008 and press “search” to obtain the open Calls for Proposals).
The deadline for submission of proposals is 20 January 2009, 16:00 Central European Time (17:00 local time).