Apply for funding from the ESF Plus program "JUVENTUS: Strengthening mobility - for a social Europe"

The JUVENTUS program helps young people between the ages of 18 and 30 who have difficulty accessing the job market to go abroad for an internship in order to gain new experience and make a fresh start.

With the JUVENTUS program, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) promotes cooperation and project networks that support young people without work or vocational training (NEETs). The aim of the program is for young adults to gain work experience abroad and thereby improve their chances on the job market.

The target group of NEETs includes unemployed and job-seeking young people aged between 18 and 30 who have difficulty accessing work or training. These include, for example

• School drop-outs and early school leavers
• people who have dropped out of training or cannot find a training place
• the long-term unemployed,
• the low-skilled,
• people who have a migration background or belong to a national minority,
• single parents, or
• people with disabilities.

A central component of the JUVENTUS program is the transnational mobility measure. This comprises a two- to six-month accompanied stay of the participants in another European country. During their stay, the young people take part in an internship in a local company. The stay abroad is accompanied by an intensive preparation and follow-up phase in Germany.

The program also aims to strengthen mutual exchange on a transnational level. This is achieved through cooperation with partners in the transnational "ALMA Network" as part of the European Commission's new ALMA (Anvisieren, Lernen, Meistern, Ankommen) initiative.

A prerequisite for funding is that your cooperation or project network works with at least one host partner organization in another EU member state and sends participants to this organization. In addition, young people can also be sent to EU candidate countries, countries of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.

Type and scope:

You will receive the funding as a grant. The maximum grant amount is 90 percent of the total eligible expenditure.

Your own contribution must amount to at least 10 percent of the total eligible expenditure. It should be spread evenly over the funding period. The own contribution can be provided by both own funds and third-party funds.

Applications are approved by the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See (DRV KBS). The DRV KBS has the following tasks

• informing the applicants and providing advice on funding,
• examine applications,
• approve and pay out grants, and
• check the approved projects.

The duration of the projects is usually 4 years. A maximum limit of 2 million euros applies to the total eligible expenditure.

in the expression of interest:

• Fully completed expression of interest in the Z-EU-S funding portal, including completed project concept and completed work plan and timetable
• A signed letter of intent from at least one job center or employment agency involved as a cooperation partner or sub-project partner.

when submitting the application:

• Fully completed application in the Z-EU-S funding portal with required attachments
• Legally binding signed cooperation agreements with each participating cooperation partner, setting out the structure of the cooperation and a clear allocation of the respective tasks

You will find all the necessary information in the Z-EU-S funding portal.

Forms available: No

Written form required: Yes

Informal application possible: No

Personal appearance necessary: No

You are eligible to apply for funding as a project sponsor in cooperation networks (individual project without forwarding the grant to sub-project partners but with cooperation partners) or project networks.

Project sponsors can be

• all legal entities under private and public law and partnerships with legal capacity, for example
  • independent and public institutions
  • local authorities
  • Independent welfare organizations and other non-profit organizations
  • companies
  • Research institutes or associations

Natural persons are not eligible for funding under the JUVENTUS funding guidelines.

As the project sponsor, you must demonstrate your technical and administrative ability to carry out a project and ensure that the grant is used for the intended purpose.

You can apply for the grant to be passed on to third parties (sub-projects) by the grant recipient.

The minimum requirement for the formation of a cooperation or project network is the active involvement of at least one job center or employment agency in the project work. As part of the expression of interest procedure, you must submit a signed declaration of intent for the planned cooperation of the job center or employment agency, stating the respective project contribution. As part of the application process, you must replace this with binding cooperation agreements.

Cooperation with the public employment service is central to the project work. It should make it possible to optimize the individual integration processes of the participants.

You must make a clear distinction between activities from other programs at federal and state level. No measures can be funded that are part of the applicant's mandatory tasks or for which there are already statutory or other public-law funding regulations.

You must coordinate existing cooperation structures and avoid duplicate structures. Furthermore, they may not replace projects and activities financed from national funds, ESF Plus or other EU programs.

Grants can only be approved for projects that have not yet begun. Retroactive funding is not possible.

The following cross-sectoral European principles must be taken into account when implementing the funding program:

• Gender equality
• anti-discrimination
• ecological sustainability

The principles of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) must also be observed.

• You can appeal against decisions made during the approval process (grant notification, final decision) via the funding portal
  Z-EU-S funding portal.
• Direct legal action before the administrative court is also permitted against decisions made as part of the expression of interest procedure - provided these were issued by a supreme federal authority.

The selection procedure is a two-stage process. In the 1st step, you submit an expression of interest. In the 2nd step, the selected project sponsors are invited to submit an application.

Expression of interest;

• You submit expressions of interest electronically via the online funding portal Z-EU-S. Please note the deadlines announced separately.
• An external evaluation institute will evaluate the submitted expressions of interest. The maximum score to be achieved is 100 points.
• The following criteria are decisive for the evaluation of project proposals by an independent evaluation institute:
  • Technical and administrative suitability of the applicant: up to 20 points
  • Description of the regional need for action for the target group: up to 10 points
  • Quality of the description of the objective and the project: up to 30 points
  • Quality of the description of the cooperation with national cooperation partners and sub-project partners: up to 13 points
  • Quality of the description of the implementation of the cross-cutting principles (formerly cross-cutting objectives): up to 10 points
  • Quality of the work plan and timetable: up to 7 points
  • Amount and economic appropriateness of project expenditure: up to 10 points
• Projects are selected by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) taking into account the
  • the quality of the expressions of interest based on the number of points achieved (up to 100 points)
  • the number and regional distribution of the submitted expressions of interest as well as the available financial volume per target area.
• Letters of acceptance and rejection are then sent to the participants in the expression of interest procedure.

Submission of applications:

• In the second stage, the selected participants in the expression of interest procedure are informed of the deadline for submitting funding applications. They will be asked to submit a formal funding application via the Z-EU-S funding portal.

During the entire funding period from 01.02.2023 to 31.12.2028, there will probably be 2 calls for expressions of interest and a subsequent application procedure. The deadline for submitting expressions of interest for the 1st funding call expired on 18.11.2022.

There are no costs for expressing interest and submitting an application.: Fee free of charge

You can replace the written form with the electronic form of the qualified electronic signature (qeS) or electronic proof of identity (eID) approved in the Z-EU-S funding portal.

Please give priority to the electronic form.

Only in exceptional cases can you apply to the granting authority to submit the signature by post.

In such exceptional cases, you must download the forms entered electronically and submitted in Z-EU-S after electronic submission, print them out, sign them by hand and also submit them by post. Please note the deadlines indicated.