The individual scholarships awarded under the envisaged programme will enable recipients to attend short courses in the Netherlands on the subject of democratisation, good governance, human rights, the rule of law, media freedom and/or strategic communication, in particular combating disinformation.

The scholarship programme must be for selected in-person courses from the applicant’s regular curriculum. This means the candidates who are awarded a scholarship will participate in the same course or courses as the educational institution’s or training organisation’s other students.

Objective

The overarching objective of the Dutch Bridge for Georgia scholarship programme is to contribute to enhancing the capacity and resilience of civil society in Georgia.

By attending short courses, individuals from civil society in Georgia (hereinafter: the target group) will be able to increase their knowledge, skills and networks, enabling them to contribute to societal change and resilience in relation to the rule of law, good governance, democracy and media freedom upon their return to Georgia. The target group consists of individuals who are demonstrably active in at least one of the aforementioned areas and who are known to the Dutch embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Available funds and their allocation

The grant funding available for this call for proposals is €200,000. This amount will be awarded in full to only one educational institution or training organisation.

Applications that have been submitted on time will be assessed on the basis of the qualitative criteria described in section 5 of this call for proposals. The applications will then be ranked according to their score on the quality assessment. The Minister will award the grant to the application that best meets the qualitative criteria.

Applications that do not meet the minimum quality requirements will be rejected.

Ineligible costs

Applicants should note that scholarships provided under Dutch Bridge for Georgia are not intended to cover recipients’ travel expenses, for instance for flights and for public transport in the Netherlands.

Assessment

The provisions of the General Administrative Law Act, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Grants) Framework Act, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grants Decree and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grant Regulations 2006 are fully applicable to the assessment and selection of applications submitted in response to this call for proposals. Applications will be assessed in accordance with that legislation on the basis of the criteria set out below. Applications must in any case meet the threshold criteria set out under A in order to be eligible for the grant award. The quality of the eligible proposals will be assessed on the basis of the qualitative criteria set out under B.

A. Threshold criteria

1. The applicant must be an educational institution established in the Netherlands or another organisation that offers training that is relevant to the objectives of this call for proposals (hereinafter: the applicant).
2. The proposal must demonstrate that the applicant has prior experience of implementing similar programmes.
3. The scholarship programme must be administered by the applicant itself, without engaging or involving a third party for this purpose.
4. The scholarship programme must be implemented in 2026 for courses given in that same year.
5. The proposal must demonstrate how the training courses selected from the applicant’s curriculum for the scholarship programme are aligned with the themes listed in the sections ‘Introduction’ and ‘Objective’.
6. The proposal must contain a brief description of the various components of the scholarship programme and demonstrate the programme’s relevance to the target group. If the applicant is also able to provide accommodation, this must be evident from the proposal.
7. The proposal must include a description of the procedure and criteria for selecting candidates, which must in any case show that there will be a check of whether candidates belong to the target group and that the individual scholarship amounts will cover the full course costs, including learning materials, and (where applicable) accommodation.
8. The proposal must include a detailed budget and a financial overview giving more information on the allocation of costs, including indirect costs (which may not exceed 15% of the sum total of the direct and indirect costs).
9. Applications can only be submitted for the fixed grant amount of €200,000. There is no fixed number of scholarships that must be funded from the grant amount.
10. The proposal must not concern activities which already receive a grant or contribution directly or indirectly from the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (including the embassies).

B. Qualitative criteria

The quality of the proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:

1. The extent to which the proposal is relevant to the target group and aligned with the policy themes and objectives described in the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Objective’ sections of this call for proposals;
2. The extent to which the proposal demonstrates an understanding of the current context in Georgia and the needs of the target group;
3. The extent to which the applicant has demonstrable experience of establishing and implementing programmes aimed at pursuing the aforementioned policy objectives;
4. The expected effectiveness of the scholarship recipient selection process;
5. The extent to which the proposal clarifies how scholarship recipients will be supported in deploying their new knowledge and skills in their own organisations or communities and whether there are mechanisms to reinforce the long-term impact of the programme.

Provisional timetable

• The final deadline for submitting proposals is 28 February 2026. Proposals are considered to be submitted on time if they are received by the servers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on or before this date.
• Proposals must be drawn up in Dutch or English, duly signed and submitted by email to TBI@minbuza.nl, specifying a contact and an email address.
• Questions about this call for proposals may be submitted by email to TBI@minbuza.nl.
• The aim is for decisions on the grant applications to be made in the week of 30 March 2026. Applicants will receive the decision on their application by email.

Here you will find the Call for proposals in Dutch