CALL FOR PROPOSALS – Small Grants for Grassroots Coding Projects as part of EU Code Week
01/06/25
International Call for Digital Europe Programme selected countries
The EU Code Week Grants for Grassroots programme is a new initiative designed to foster digital innovation and coding education throughout Europe For more information read our recent blog post, EU Code Week Grants for Grassroots: Supporting Digital Innovation Across Europe. Please find below a call for proposals from our Code4Europe consortium partner JA Europe, which is the International Call for Digital Europe Programme selected countries.
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The Code4Europe Consortium is setting up a grant scheme in order to foster grassroots activities and widen the support offered by EU Code Week in local ecosystems. JA Europe is currently inviting applications for grants to fund both the creation of new support hubs in selected countries and impactful local flagship activities in digital education, coding, and computational thinking.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this call is to identify and support new support hubs which can foster impactful grassroots coding projects aligned with EU Code Week’s mission to promote coding, computational thinking, and digital skills across Europe. Key objectives:
- Acting as a hub to provide targeted support for educators at the local level;
- Enabling the development of innovative and scalable ideas to support local ecosystems;
- Supporting local large-scale initiatives that integrate coding into education and promote participation;
- Encouraging local community engagement and fostering collaboration among stakeholders;
- Acting as central touchpoints for the promotion and dissemination of information about EU Code Week, ensuring that all Ambassadors, Educators, Volunteers and Edu Coordinators from Ministries are fully supported and well-coordinated;
- Supporting fundraising efforts in the local ecosystem for the sustainability of the hub.
Grant Details
A financial envelope of 30,000 euros in total will be awarded to successful applicants, based on the quality and impact of their proposals. Proposals can be submitted for activities with budgets in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 euros. Proposals will be assessed based on criteria such as clarity, feasibility, educational impact, and alignment with EU Code Week’s and the grant initiative’s objectives.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants:
- Schools and Educational Institutions;
- Libraries and similar institutional entities;
- Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs);
- Private organisations and coding clubs;
- Associations specialised in coding and computational thinking.
Eligible Countries
The call is open to a selected group of countries where EU Code Week does not currently have a dedicated national hub. It is also open to countries where EU Code Week is represented by a regional hub located outside of the country. These countries are:
- Austria
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Hungary
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- Slovenia
- Sweden
- Iceland
- Liechtenstein
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Kosovo
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
Minimum Requirements
Each proposal must include a commitment to deliver at least the following minimum activities during the implementation period:
- A minimum of 10 community events and capacity-building workshops promoting coding and digital skills for local Code Week community and network. These can be offered online, face-to-face, or hybrid.
- 1 local hackathon (organized collectively across hubs) and a local large-scale flagship event engaging multiple stakeholders (schools, NGOs, coding clubs, public institutions).
- A dedicated outreach and communication plan to increase participation and awareness of EU Code Week locally. The plan needs to be flexible enough for EU level campaigns and initiatives of Code Week.
- Support provided to the existing local community of educators, including information, training, or mentoring activities. If such a community does not exist or is limited in size, applicants must establish and support a local community of at least 10 members, including ambassadors, leading teachers, and education coordinators.
- A final report documenting activities, outcomes, lessons learned, and recommendations for scaling.
Proposals that do not commit to fulfilling these minimum requirements will be considered ineligible.
Reporting and Payment Terms
Successful applicants will be required to submit a budget-based financial report, including supporting documents (invoices, receipts, proof of payment) for all costs incurred. Staff costs are not eligible under this call. Grant payments will be structured as follows: 50% advance payment upon signature of the grant agreement, and 50% upon submission and final approval of the report.
Eligible Costs
All costs must be reasonable, justified, and comply with the principles of sound financial management, particularly regarding economy and efficiency. Costs must be identifiable and verifiable, recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts in accordance with the applicable accounting standards and usual cost accounting practices in their country.
To ensure transparency, non-discrimination, and sound financial management, it is essential to avoid any conflict of interest. Human resources and personnel costs are not eligible, and applicants cannot receive compensation for their time on the project. This ensures proper allocation of funds, prevents duplication of payments, and avoids conflicts with local law. These measures guarantee fairness, integrity, and impartiality in the allocation and use of resources. However, external expertise and services fees—such as honoraria, experts, consultants, and facilitators—are eligible but limited to 20% of the total budget.
Application Process
Interested organisations are invited to submit a project proposal by 30 August 2025. Applications must be submitted through the form below by 23:59 CET, 29 August 2025.
Application form: https://forms.office.com/e/RkDHfLkwWe
Each applicant needs to present:
- Information about the applicant organisation, including relevant experience.
- A description of their initiative for a hub, its objectives, and expected impact.
- Details on the implementation plan, timeline, alignment with current EU Code Week initiatives, campaigns, and resources required.
- A clear description of how the applicant will fulfil the minimum requirements outlined above.
- A list of previous relevant projects or initiatives implemented by the applicant, demonstrating experience in similar activities.
- Each applicant also needs to upload” a proposed budget for the project with their submission. Budget template can be downloaded here.
- Supporting documents, i.e. budget, declaration from the legal representative of submission, project plan, etc. Will be uploaded to before the application. Organizations that do not provide the necessary documents will not be eligible for the evaluation process.
- Supporting documents, including the budget, the signed declaration from the legal representative, the project plan, and any other required materials, must be uploaded to the designated folder before submitting the application. Organisations that do not provide all necessary documents will be deemed ineligible for the evaluation process.
Evaluation and Selection
A selection committee comprising community stakeholders and representatives from the Code4Europe Consortium will evaluate proposals.
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be assessed based on:
- Presentation, which assesses the project through the categories of clarity and completeness.
- Design congruity, which assesses the significance of the objectives in relation to Code Week’s priorities and whether the activities design is consistent with these objectives and appropriate for their achievement. Additionally, the feasibility of activities is assessed by taking into consideration: the activities timeline as well as the professional, organisational and technological resources available.
- Quality of the proposal which is assessed by considering didactic elements, such as methodological choices; the proposal connection with core disciplines (literacy, numeracy, data and digital literacy – OECD Learning Compass; CoE Keis competencies for LLL 2018). Secondly, those elements are also taken into consideration: the use of assessment tools; the development of synergies in territorial contexts and collaborative networks to improve the efficacy of the initiative and involve the various stakeholders. Finally, the following features are appreciated: a broader timeframe extending before and beyond the temporal dimension of the single ‘week’; the sharing of resources and materials to foster the replicability of activities.
- Impact, is assessed by considering: the involvement of multiple stakeholders, different participants categories and the local context. Specific attention to the involvement of girls and fostering STEM education are also assessed.
Timeline
- Call for Proposals Release: 30.06.2025
- Application Deadline: 30.08.2025
- Notification of Awardees: 15.09.2025
- Project Implementation Period: 01.10.2025 – 30.06.2026
This grant initiative is a cascading funding scheme funded by the European Union to boost the digital skills of young people, particularly girls, and as part of the European Commission’s Digital Europe Programme. A template agreement will be provided to formalise the grant arrangement with the selected winners. The selection process will be transparent and objective, with measures in place to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Contact Information: For inquiries, please contact gunalp@jaeurope.org
