Information meeting

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• Information meeting
• Grant Facility15/01/09

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Agenda

• 1000 WELCOME
• 1010 PRESENTATION GRANT FACILITY
• 1040 SUMMARY OF RECEIVED QUESTIONS
• 1050 QUESTION AND ANSWERS

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The Grant Facility

• The objective
• Some basic issues
• The content
• The selection procedure
• Implementation and reporting

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The Grant Facility, the objective

• The Grant Facility intends to improve the quality
  of humanitarian aid and to increase its
  effectiveness
• by strengthening the preparedness and response
  capacities as well as the technical skills of
• non-profit making organisations,
• non governmental humanitarian organisations,
  their staff and
• the related local actors
• The Grant Facility has been reshaped around the
  following lines
• Increasing the amount from 1 Mio to 1.8 Mio
• The technical FPA-training to be covered through
  the service framework contract instead of GF
• Integrated in the overall capacity building
  policy of DG ECHO for its partners
• Revised scope of activities, potential partners
  and type of financing

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The Grant Facility, some basics

• Financing decision eligible from 15 December 2008
  to 14 April 2010
• A proposal can be linked to only 1 specific
  objective
• For a specific agreement are the costs eligible
  at the earliest from the date of receipt of the
  first version of the Single Form by DG ECHO.
• List of potential partners per specific objective
  is indicative it doesnt guarantee an agreement
  to those mentioned, it doesnt exclude other
  eligible organisations to conclude an agreement
  for that specific objective
• Contribution DG ECHO is max. 85 of the total
  eligible cost
• Amount per specific objective can be changed by
  DG ECHO (allocation reserve of EUR 180.000 or
  transfer between specific objectives)

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The Grant Facility, the content

• The Grant Facility has been reshaped around 4
  themes
• Specific objective 1 capacity building of NGOs
• Specific objective 2 reinforce networking
  between NGOs
• Specific objective 3 strengthen quality in
  delivering humanitarian aid and accountability to
  the beneficiaries
• Specific objective 4 invest in people

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The Grant Facility, the content

• Specific objective 1 capacity building of NGOs,
• Eligible partners NGOs signatory of the FPA
• Eligibility criteria
• partners using the A control mechanism under the
  current FPA for projects strengthening the own
  capacities as well as the technical skills of
  their staff,
• any partner for projects assisting (potential)
  candidate partners from EU-countries which are
  underrepresented under the current FPA
• any partner for projects strengthening
  preparedness and response capacities of local
  actors in the field.
• any partners for projects reinforcing the
  participation to and implementation of the
  cluster approach

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The Grant Facility, the content

• Specific objective 2 reinforce networking
  between NGOs
• Eligible partners networks where
• at least 4 FPA partners participate as active
  member
• at least 1 partner is present in the steering
  board or committee of the network.
• the headquarter of the network has to be located
  in the EU.
• the activities have to be focused mainly on the
  cooperation between European NGOs or the results
  of the network activities have to be available
  for the NGO-partners who signed the FPA
• Eligibility criteria
• reinforce networking between NGOs
• added value for the sound implementation of
  humanitarian aid projects,
• with a focus on raising the awareness and
  contribute to the priorities identified in the
  European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid
• create added-value for the NGOs who signed the
  FPA.
• focuses on reinforcing the participation of NGOs
  in the cluster approach/ other coordination
  mechanisms.

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The Grant Facility, the content

• Specific objective 2 reinforce networking
  between NGOs (continued)
• Through running cost grants (new) means
• A max. percentage of the human resources,
  infrastructure and logistics costs for the
  covered period will be fixed in the agreement
  (normally not higher than 50) as well as a
  maximum DG ECHO-contribution (the lowest of both
  amounts will be paid)
• The agreement will not exceed EUR 150,000
• These networks cannot invoice indirect costs (7)
  on other grants received from the Commission
• Running cost agreements are not possible for
  other specific objectives

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The Grant Facility, the content

• Specific objective 3 strengthen quality in
  delivering humanitarian aid and accountability to
  the beneficiaries
• Eligible partners
• well-known research institutes,
• universities and
• organisations in the domain of humanitarian aid
• Eligibility criteria
• projects contributing to the enhancement of
  quality management in delivering humanitarian
  aid,
• projects contributing to the enhancement of
  accountability to the beneficiaries of the
  non-governmental organisations

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The Grant Facility, the content

• Specific objective 4 invest in people in order
  to increase the availability of skilled people
  for implementing humanitarian aid
• Eligible partners
• only European organisations and academic
  institutions
• offering or developing appropriate short-term
  training programmes or executive seminars
• Through the
• Organisation or development of seminar programmes
  aimed primarily at EU Member States institutions
  and civil society in EU-countries which are
  underrepresented under the current FPA. In this
  context, also universities of these countries
  that develop new educational programs can propose
  projects for funding,
• Educational programmes with strong emphasis on
  operational aspects in humanitarian aid, such as
  logistics and procurement, needs assessment,
  disaster preparedness, strengthened response
  capacities in the areas of health, water and
  sanitation, shelter, food assistance and
  protection.

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The Grant Facility, the selection procedure

• How will your proposal be evaluated?
• By a dedicated team, in cooperation with the
  Capacity Building Steering Group of DG ECHO
• The evaluation will cover
• The respect of overall award criteria (eligible
  partner?, in case of non FPA-partners technical
  and financial capacity)
• The coverage of the specific award conditions of
  the specific objective
• The added-value of DG ECHOs contribution in
  improving the quality of humanitarian aid and
  increasing its effectiveness
• The feasibility of the proposal (including
  readiness, experience, results previous
  interventions in that area)
• The scope and scale of DG ECHOs contribution
• DG ECHOs visibility in the implementation of the
  action
• The 2 first criteria are mandatory,
• A score will reflect the appraisal of the last 5
  criteria

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The Grant Facility, the selection procedure

• Expected timing
• January submit Single Form to DG ECHO for first
  round
• 1 week later confirmation of receipt reference
  number for further communications
• 31/01/09 start analysis received Single Forms
  for first round
• End February feedback with an indication of
• Rejection proposal reasons
• Need to further negotiation/finalisation of
  proposal
• Acceptable offer, put in hold (can become
  previous category when credits available)
• End March agreements first round signed (maximum
  for EUR 1.440.000,00)
• April launch of second round (newly arrived SF
  acceptable offers in hold)
• 31/12/09 no more budget extensions or new
  agreements possible

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The Grant Facility, implementation and reporting

• Same procedures as other actions with DG ECHO
• A single form ALWAYS used for
• Project proposals
• Intermediate Report
• Final Report (complemented with final financial
  report for verification eligibility of costs)
• General conditions agreement are those applicable
  to the FPA - NGOs
• Important during the whole action dialog and
  communication with DG ECHO (desk officer Sylvia
  Wilcox and Christelle Fontbonne Proniewski)
• Ref http//ec.europa.eu/echo/about/actors/fpa_en
  .htm

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Agenda

• 1000 WELCOME
• 1010 PRESENTATION GRANT FACILITY
• 1040 SUMMARY OF RECEIVED QUESTIONS
• 1050 QUESTION AND ANSWERS

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Attendance information session

• Is it compulsory to attend this information
  session ?
• Of course not, it is only informative and does
  not give any advantage during the selection
  procedure.
• All questions and answers relevant to the
  applicants will be published on the internet
  after this information session
• http//ec.europa.eu/echo/funding/opportunities/ot
  her_en.htm

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ELIGIBILITY

• Can a FPA partner apply for another specific
  objective than objective 1?
• Objective 2 - Networks of european NGOs (min. 4
  FPA partners are active member 1 partner
  present in steering board of the network
  Headquarter EU).
• FPApartner individually eligible ? In
  principle no
• Objective 3 - Organizations in the domain of
  humanitarian aid (includes FPA-partners) or
• - Well known research institutes or
• - Universities.
• Objective 4 - European organizations and
  academic institutions (includes
  FPA-partners).
• cfr. Supporting document Chapter 2.2 and 6.2
  (list of potential partners)

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ELIGIBILITY

• Can an international organization be eligible
  under objective 2 ?
• In principle no, eventually covered by
• Commission decision on the financing of
  humanitarian actions from the general budget of
  the European Communities in DG ECHOs Programme
  for Capacity Building (ECHO/THM/BUD/2009/01000
  amount 27 Mio EUR) Decision to be finalised
  soon.

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Geographical area

• Can a proposal cover operations in one or more
  specific countries for example outside the EU ?
• Yes, the Grant Facility is not limited to a
  geographical region and can cover countries where
  humanitarian aid is implemented.

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Objective 1

• Can a FPA P partner submit a proposal under
  objective 1 to reinforce its own capacity
• No, only for FPA A- partners
• Is an application from an A-partner proposing
  training for own staff and volunteers eligible
  under objective 1 can the training be organized
  by a specialized agency ?
• Yes subcontracting is allowed
• Is a candidate FPA-partner eligible under
  objective 1?
• NO

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Objective 2

• What is recommended to submit an application as
  an FPA-partner (part of network) or as a
  consortium under objective 2 ?
• It is advisable to submit a proposal in the name
  of a consortium, which should be composed of
  minimum 4 FPA-partners.
• Headquarter of the consortium in the EU.
• Implementing Rules Financial Regulation art.
  181.3 NO 7 indirect costs in case the
  beneficiary is in receipt of an running cost
  grant.

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Start date of action / eligibility of costs

• A clarification requested related to the start
  date of the action and the date from which costs
  or eligible.
• Adoption date of Grant Facility Decision
  15/12/2008
• End date 14/04/2010
• The duration of implementation of all actions
  needs to fall within these two dates
• Official date of reception of first version of
  single form
• Example 25/01/2009
• Action can start as from 25/01/2009 or later
  costs or eligible as from 25/01/2009 or later
  (will be fixed in the grant agreement).

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