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The Europe Challenge: Application and criteria Back

The Europe Challenge: Application and criteria

9 May 2022

Every library in Europe is eligible to take part in the Europe Challenge, from public libraries, to mobile, rural, school, university, and prison libraries, municipal and national libraries. The libraries have to be working with a community to be able to apply.

Overall eligibility criteria

  • Applications must be submitted in English;
  • Applicants must be at least 18 years old;
  • A library and a community need to apply together – both need to be represented in the application form.
  • Applicants should be located in one of the European countries ** 
  • We do not accept proposals submitted by political parties or organisations affiliated to political parties (unions, campaign groups, etc.). Our work is strictly non-partisan.

* In this call, we refer to “communities” as groups of individuals who are linked either locally or online, sharing common values, interests, beliefs, resources or any other common factors that affect their identity and their degree of cohesiveness. These could be for example informal community groups, associations, collectives, specific communities of practice.

* * Europe is regarded in cultural terms and in and beyond the official European Union member states. We understand Europe as a genuinely cultural endeavor, a community of people, their ideas, visions and social dynamics. A true civil society that relates to each other across political borders, shares in mutual solidarity and assumes its global responsibilities around the world

Selection criteria

All incoming proposals will be assessed based on these basic principles:

  • The local / thematic challenge is and context is well explained
  • It is clear what has to be changed and why, and who specifically will benefit from the change locally and / or internationally
  • It is clearly described how the community and library work together as one challenge team
  • The proposed  solution has the potential to make positive change and inspire others in Europe
  • The challenge and proposed solution relate to one or both of the areas of this call:
    • library as a safe cultural space for dialogue, diversity and understanding
    • access to trusted information and knowledge
  • Motivation, capacity and commitment for the duration of the programme are clear
  • If you have indicated you would like to receive financial support, it is clearly explained why this is necessary and how you intend to distribute the funding between yourselves. Please note: we can provide up to 10.000 EUR. Not requesting funding and using  your own resources – financial or in-kind – to facilitate the prototyping of your solutions, will allow more libraries and communities to participate in the programme.
  • Your proposal embeds the European Cultural Foundation’s working priorities of diversity and inclusion, and climate awareness, as integral values and principles (see the note below)

Selection process and timeline

The selection will be undertaken by a committee consisting of the European Cultural Foundation,  representatives of partnering foundation(s) and representatives of public libraries who participated in the last edition of the Europe Challenge.

The selection results will be communicated by 24 June 2022, 17:00 CET to both successful and unsuccessful applicants. Due to the expected high volume of applications we are unfortunately not able to provide personalized feedback to those who have not been selected.

All selected challenge teams – consisting of one representative of a community and one member of the library staff –  are expected to attend an online Europe Challenge 2022  kick-off meeting in the first week of July 2022.

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