The subject of the call is proposals for model projects to solve social and societal problems in the work and areas of activity of social work. The pilot projects serve to test socially innovative and public welfare-oriented concepts for a limited period of time with the aim of generating new findings in the field of social innovation and transferring the results obtained to other applications and consequently reproducing them.

Funding is provided for socially innovative prevention and/or support measures that address the following areas of social work:

aa) special life situations
bb) integration
cc) Inclusion
dd) children, young people, family and/or
ee) ageing society

The services of the Future Platform for Social Innovation of the Free State of Saxony (so-called "SINN") are available as part of the implementation and preparation of the pilot projects. "SINN" is implemented by Impact Dresden GmbH, Impact Hub Leipzig GmbH, Startnext GmbH, DRK Landesverband Sachsen e.V., parikom - Paritätisches Competence Center for Social Innovation gGmbH and Caritasverband für das Bistum Dresden-Meißen e.V..

The grant is awarded as part of partial funding for a specific project in the form of a grant for up to 24 months. It amounts to 95 percent of eligible expenses.

Personnel costs are funded in the form of position funding or as a fixed sum for individuals.

Material and administrative costs are granted as lump-sum funding for residual costs amounting to 40 percent of the direct eligible personnel costs.

The share to be paid by the applicant can be provided with the assistance of personnel financed by basic funding or in cash from independent resources (own resources).

The maximum grant amount is 300,000 euros per project. Any additional funding for the project must be provided from own or third-party funds, which must be specified in the project proposal.

Projects are expected to be able to start from 01.10.2024.

The recipient of the funding must be an agency or an association of agencies. The grant recipient must be organized as a legal entity under private or public law with its registered office or branch office in the Free State of Saxony.

Participants of a model project must have their main residence in the Free State of Saxony.

The application process is two-stage. As stipulated in the Notice from the Vice-Rector Research 2/2023, the EPC supports the applicants of TU Dresden and must be involved in the application process as soon as possible. The EPC advises on the funding conditions as well as the application process, has power of attorney for legally binding signatures with regard to the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) and has central access to the SAB's funding portal for submitting project proposals by 06.06.2024 at the latest.

Complete project proposals for the expression of interest submitted by the deadline must be introduced in a presentation to the SMS and the SAB by the applicants. Failure to participate will result in disqualification from the process. Based on the evaluation of the project proposals for the expression of interest, the selected project sponsors are invited to submit a formal application to the Sächsische Aufbaubank - Förderbank (SAB).

Project proposals must not exceed 15 pages (Font Arial Regular, font size 11, line spacing 1.2x) by a significant amount, excluding appendices and the budget. SMS expects the planned project implementation to be explained in a clear, informative and concrete manner. In addition, a description of the executing agency or association of executing agencies should be included.

The project proposals will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria and weightings. Consequently, project proposals must be prepared in accordance with these specifications:

1. Aims of the project (25 percent)

a) Status quo, need, social or societal challenge addressed

b) Connection to the region, significance for labor market policy

c) Concrete description of objectives

d) Social innovation of the project, how it differs from other projects

e) Presentation of the target group and the participants

f) Experience of the project executing agency with the target group and in the project area

g) References, consideration of existing results from previous projects

2. How the objectives will be achieved, work stages (33 percent)

a) Description of the work packages

b) Description of methods

c) Description of how specific requirements will be handled

d) Timeline, milestones

e) Responsibilities

f) Cooperation structure, co-financing from third parties if applicable

g) The expertise of the applicant and proposed personnel in the field

h) Measures for quality assurance

3. Results and documentation (25 percent)

a) Specification of expected results

b) Documentation of results

c) Planned public relations work

d) How the results will be transferred to work and business practice

e) Statements on continuation (without funding), subsequent use of results

4. Total expenditure, funding amount, own resources, profitability (17 percent)

a) Total expenditure/costs of the project, appropriate cost-benefit ratio, efficiency, indication of the origin of the own resources and/or third-party funds (if applicable)

b) Effectiveness of the methods to reach the objective

c) Number of participants/projects, if applicable

In addition, statements on the principles of gender equality, equal opportunities and non-discrimination as well as environmental and resource protection/sustainable development must be included in the project proposals.

• LINK to the official announcement:
  https://www.sab.sachsen.de/documents/d/guest/zweiter-aufruf-zur-interessenbekundung-zur-forderung-von-modellvohaben-zur-zukunftsplattform-lesefassung-vom-28-marz-2024?download=true
• LINK to the SAB page
  https://www.sab.sachsen.de/esf-plus-richtlinie-des-sms-f%C3%B6rderung-von-besch%C3%A4ftigungschancen-besch%C3%A4ftigung-und-sozialer-integration-zukunftsplattform-modellvorhaben
• LINK to the directive
  https://www.revosax.sachsen.de/vorschrift/19647-ESF-Plus-Richtlinie-SMS#romII
• LINK Rules on eligible expenditure
  https://www.sab.sachsen.de/documents/d/guest/anlage_ffak_2021-2027-vom-01-01-2024?download=true
• LINK Information sheet ESF principles of sustainable development, equal opportunities, equality
  https://www.sab.sachsen.de/documents/60761/118584/infoblatt-grunds%C3%A4tze-esf.pdf/0ed9c2c1-cefe-38c9-f04d-5acb0ed2c1a6?t=1653646166197&download=true
• LINK ESF Plus project proposal
  https://fs.egov.sachsen.de/formserv/findform?shortname=sab60716&areashortname=sab