Girona initially approves the new guidelines for the Joaquim Franch Scholarship

The Plenary of the Girona City Council, in an ordinary session on September 14, 2026, initially approved the new general regulatory bases for the Joaquim Franch Scholarship grant, aimed at projects and initiatives of social interest regarding citizenship education. The agreement, signed by Mayor Lluc Salellas Vilar, expressly repeals the previous bases and submits the text for public consultation for twenty business days. The edict is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 185, of September 25, 2026, with the official reference BOP-2026_0_185_8194 (pp. 1-15) and file number 2026018258.

The objective of the scholarship is to promote and incentivize the development of projects and initiatives of social interest in the field of civic education, with the aim of fostering citizen social cohesion, promoting educational commitment to the city, incentivizing the production of educational materials on values, and encouraging pedagogical innovation in content and methodology. The call is open to all themes that pursue these objectives.

The procedure is framed within Title II of the General Grant Ordinance of the Girona City Council, approved by Plenary agreement on December 9, 2025, and is resolved through competitive bidding. The publication of the edict complies with Article 124.2 of Decree 179/1995, of June 13, and Article 36.1 of the municipal ordinance.

Repeal of the 2022 bases and public consultation process

The Plenary agreement consists of three points:

• Expressly repeal the bases of the Joaquim Franch Scholarship approved by Plenary agreement on April 11, 2022, and published in the BOP no. 80 of April 27, 2022.
• Initially approve the new general regulatory bases for the grant.
• Submit the text for public consultation for twenty business days, through full publication in the BOP of Girona and on the municipal notice board, with a reference to the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

If no objections are presented, the initial approval will become final, and an announcement will be published in the BOP of Girona confirming its definitive nature. The bases will take effect from the day following this publication and will remain in force until their modification or repeal is agreed upon.

A transitional provision maintains the scholarships granted under the 2022 bases that are still being processed: they will be governed by those bases and their call until completion.

Who can apply for the scholarship and how it is evaluated

Three types of recipients may apply for the grant:

• Non-university educational centers, with applications by work teams of parents, students, and teaching staff, submitted by the school council.
• Entities or associations with educational, sporting, social, or cultural purposes, legally constituted as non-profit, with a proposal submitted by the board of directors.
• Collectives or groups, especially of young people, constituted for this purpose with minutes and with the support of an educational, social, or civic institution of the city.

Projects are evaluated based on a maximum of 100 points and a minimum of 50 points must be obtained, with at least 5 points in each of the criteria. The distribution is as follows:

• Fostering citizen social cohesion: maximum 20 points.
• Promoting educational commitment to the city of Girona: maximum 20 points.
• Linkage of the project with the figure of Joaquim Franch: maximum 20 points.
• Production of educational materials on values and citizenship: maximum 10 points.
• Theoretical foundation and clarity of the proposal: maximum 10 points.
• Sustainability of the project: maximum 10 points.
• Strategies to incorporate people in situations of social or educational vulnerability: maximum 10 points.

The evaluation commission will be composed of 5 people, including municipal technicians and specialized technicians representing the Municipal Education Council, and will submit the proposal to the Plenary of this council. The resolution to grant or deny the award corresponds to the Mayor’s Office. In the event of a tie, priority is given to the application entered first into the registry, and the jury may declare the grant void.

Endowment, payment, and justification

The grant has a double endowment: the financial contribution determined by the call and the publication and dissemination of the awarded project, including its development, conclusions, and annexed materials. If more than one project is awarded, the amount is distributed based on the budget of each and the number of projects. The call is biennial and, if it remains void, the convening institutions may bring forward the next one by one year.

Payment is made in two installments: 60% once the call is resolved and the remainder after evaluating the justifications, with a prior report from the Municipal Education Service. The justification is submitted within a period of three months from the completion of the activity, through a simplified justification account. The maximum term for the resolution of the call is six months.

Non-compliance is graded with penalties of 5% of the grant for lack of dissemination and publicity and another 5% for linguistic non-compliance. Beneficiary entities must use Catalan in relations with the City Council and in materials derived from the activity, in accordance with Law 1/1998, of January 7, on linguistic policy.

The new regulation establishes for the first time a stable framework of criteria, deadlines, and obligations for a biennial scholarship that links education, social cohesion, and the pedagogical memory of the city. Centers, entities, and collectives in Girona now have twenty business days to submit allegations to the text before it becomes final.

Fuente: Official Gazette of the Province of Girona, no. 185 of September 25, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 1-15 (official reference: BOP-2026_0_185_8194).