2026 COPE SUB-GRANTING CALL – GAME WITH MUM & DAD

Announcement of an open call for recipients of financial support

The project Child-in-Mind 2026, co-funded from the European Union’s European Education and Culture Executive Agency (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme) under grant agreement No 101235386, foresees as an eligible activity the provision of financial support to third parties, as a means to achieve its own objectives.

Reference and title of the call: Game with Mum & Dad

Total budget for the call: 45,000 EUR

Type of call: single stage call

Call publication date: 27 February 2026

Call submission deadline: 03 April 2026, 18:00 CET

Date of information session for applicants: 04 March 2026 15.00 – 16.30 CET & 11 March 2026 15.00 – 16.30 CET

Minimum/maximum project duration: 7 months, final report due 03 December 2026

Minimum/maximum grant awarded: 6,000 EUR /9,000 EUR (lump sum), no co-financing required

Indicative number of grants to be awarded in 2024: Five to seven

Date of announcement of call results: 21 April 2026

Date project begins: 28 April 2026

Objectives of this call:

A primary COPE objective is to maintain and strengthen trust, love and bonding between children and their parents in prison while maximising direct support for children. COPE also aims to foster structural transformation within prisons to promote children’s rights and well-being throughout criminal justice systems; to promote child participation in and ownership over change-making; and to help reduce stigma for children by shifting attitudes towards parental incarceration among the general public.

To bolster support for children while promoting this shift in attitudes, COPE works from a holistic cross-sectoral perspective, showcasing its outcomes and impact throughout the law enforcement and criminal justice spectrum — from police to judicial authorities, prison services, schools, media and communities — and bringing cross-sectoral stakeholders together to better coordinate holistic support. It works to identify and remedy systems gaps and improve support for children. These objectives are articulated in COPE’s Network Principles and endorsed by COPE members across Europe.

This regranting call, part of a 2026 Grant Agreement signed between COPE and the European Commission, aims to align actions and achieve a critical mass of COPE NGOs in at least five different EU Member States, particularly smaller grassroots organisations, some led by and serving communities that are especially marginalised, to further these objectives and to move the agenda forward. It will do this through a grant to organise 1 or more football (or other) games between children and their parents in prison in 2026 and to showcase the outcome of this event to cross-sectoral stakeholders detailed above. Full Members of COPE based in EU Member States are invited to submit their project proposal for Game with Mum & Dad (GWMD) to be organised within their country context. Participation will allow COPE members to take an active part in a broader GWMD project. Regrantees of the 2024 and/or 2025 regranting scheme can apply for the 2026 regranting scheme, although preference will be given to COPE NGOs who did not participate in previous years; 2024 and 2025 regrantees can apply for a maximum budget of 6,000 EUR, although exceptions may be made for more ambitious scheduled activities (e.g., organising 3 games or more) in which case maximum budget is 9,000 EUR.

More information on organising games with prison services and cross-sectoral showcasing events is available in the Guidance Note.

Timeline

Action                                                                               Date

Call opens                                                                    27 February 2026

Information session                                                    04 March 2026, 15:00-16:30 CET

                                                                                       11 March 2026 15:00 – 16.30 CET

Application deadline                                                 03 April 2026, 18:00 CET

Call results published on COPE website            21 April 2026

Project launch                                                              28 April 2026

Selection Process

An Evaluation Committee will review all proposals submitted.

​​Selection criteria include:

  • 20%: Child participation in project design, implementation and follow-up.
  • 20%: Gender sensitivity, inclusion (accessibility for disabilities) and promotion of EU values.
  • 15%: Creativity, including leveraging pro bono support for the project.
  • 20%: Capacity for project implementation, including financial management.
  • 10%: Grassroots focus (i.e., local action, bottom-up approach to decision-making).
  • 15%: Impact and sustainability (event coverage, interaction with cross-sectoral duty-bearers esp. prison authorities, feedback, commitment of authorities to systematising games)

CONTACT

For further information about the call, please contact: regranting@networkcope.eu

COPE is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.