Kick Off Meeting with Beneficiaires

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IBPP Narrative reporting
European Commission
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Structure

• Narrative reporting
• Communication
• Monitoring
• Networking

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Reporting (Introduction)

• Grant is EU taxpayers money (? control)
• We care about our projects and we are interested
  
• ?
• Each project is required to inform the EC
  about project related activities, achieved
  results, relevant changes and problems during
  project implementation

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Reporting (Requirements)

• Inception report (after 3 months)
• Interim report (by the end of the 1st
  year)
• Final report (within 3 or 6 months after the
  end of the project)
• Interim and Final include narrative
  financial parts

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Reporting (General principles)

• What do we expect?
• A detailed picture of project activities and
  achievements, but also of problems (if any)
• An assessment of the cooperation between the
  project partners but also between your
  organisations local authorities, communities,
  stakeholders, media
• An assessment of the impact of project
  activities as far as this is possible to quantify

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Reporting (Practical aspects)

• All Reports should be submitted in English
• Reports should follow the structure of the
  templates (see Annex VI)
• They should be dated and signed
• Reports should be bound
• They should be sent in one original electronic
  copy by E-Mail (or CD-ROM)

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What is a good report?

• Interesting to read!
• Analytical enough!
• Submitted by the deadline
• Clear structure
• Full picture (honestly objectively)
• Creative approach not a copy and paste
  exercise!

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What is a good report?

• High emphasis on results impact
• Joint work of applicant and partner(s)
  (assessment evaluation)
• Feedback from the target groups
• Balance between the text and annexes (could be
  in Russian)
• Changes described (correspondence with the
  Project Officer attached)

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What is a good report?

• Dissemination strategy described (publications
  press dossier attached)
• Weaknesses revealed, lessons learnt analysed
• Recommendations to the EC and IBPP formulated
  (e.g. new priorities for the calls)
• Nice relevant photos ?

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Importance of a good report

• Good project reports ? good project management
  and efficient partnership
• Reports help you to focus on impact and
  achievements
• Reports are the basis for publicising your
  success, best practices, etc.
• No report recovery of pre-financing?
• The better you prepare the report, the quicker
  you are paid ?

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Inception Report

• After the 3rd month
• Follows the inception visit
• To be sent by e-mail only
• Any modifications needed? Addendum or just
  exchange of correspondence?
• Problems of any kind?
• Coordination with other projects stakeholders

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Interim Report

• submission and approval of the interim report
  (narrative and financial) is a pre-condition for
  the payment of the second installment of the
  grant amount!
• the delivery of the interim report is compulsory
  at the end of the first project year
• if the Report (and a request for payment) is not
  submitted, Beneficiary should explain the reason
• Hard copy electronic version

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Interim Report

• You can request further pre-financing within the
  1st year of implementation, EVEN if the 70
  criteria (see above) is not fulfilled.
• In that case, an amount of the 2nd
  pre-financing will be reduced by the unused
  amounts of the previous pre-financing payment.

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Final Report

• Deadline see 2.3 of the Gen. Conditions
• If the Beneficiary is based in Russia within 3
  months after the implementation
• If the Beneficiary has no headquarters in Russia
  within 6 months
• The final report should cover the entire project
  duration
• Approval of the Final report is a pre-condition
  for the balance payment

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Reports structure

• Both Interim and Final Reports have the following
  structure
• Description
• Assessment of implementation
• Partners other cooperation
• Visibility

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Assessment

• List of activities
• Any problems and if yes, how have they been
  addressed?
• Which activities have been modified or have not
  taken place?
• Results ? Impact ? Feedback
• Action plan for next period (if applicable)
• List awarded contracts (work, supplies,
  services) under 5000 EUR indicate the award
  procedure

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Partners cooperation

• How do you assess the relationship between the
  formal partners of this Action?
• Relationship with the local authorities (if
  applicable)
• Other links (Beneficiaries, Associates, etc.)
• Has this action been able to build on previous
  EC-grants?
• Relationship with the EC?

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Visibility

• How is the visibility of the EU contribution
  being ensured in the Action?
• Visibility Guidelines
• Please list all materials and publications
  produced by the project and send us a copy
  together with the Report

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EC and Reports

• EC has 45 days to make a payment after the
  approval of the Int/Fin Report
• EC has 45 days to approve the Reports
• EC may suspend the time-limit for a approval of
  a report by notifying the Beneficiary about the
  additional requests
• EC may request additional info at any time, that
  info must be submitted within 30 days of the
  request

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Communication

• Formal ??Informal
• More we know about the project, more efficiently
  we could work together
• All aspects important for the project
  implementation should be agreed in written
• For operational aspects your contact is the
  Project Officer for purely financial issues
  the Finance Officer (with a copy to the PO)

 
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Communication

• What the EC should know asap?
• Any menace to the implementation (conflict
  between partners, conflict with the authorities,
  target groups cannot be reached, force majeure,
  etc.)
• Changes in the project description and/or budget
• Info about the upcoming major events (festivals,
  exhibitions, etc.)
• Important publications in the press

 
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Communication

• Changes (Art.9 of the General Conditions)
• No prior approval
• small changes in the schedule
• insignificant changes (number of seminar
  participants, format of the event, title of the
  publication, etc.)
• Notification
• change of the bank account
• change of contact details
• change of the auditor
• Prior approval (addendum or exchange of
  letters)
• content changes
• budget changes
• partnership structure

 
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Communication

• Contract Addendum
• PRIOR NOT RETROACTIVE
• Takes up to 1 month to prepare
• Most typical cases
• extension of duration
• changes in the partnership
• budget changes (gt15)?new table should be
  submitted
• increase of Administrative costs (up to 7)
• An official request with proper justification
  should be sent to the Project Manager
• A copy of the request with all supporting
  documents should be sent to the Project Officer
  by e-mail.

 
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Communication

• Small changes
• NO PRIOR APPROVAL BUT ASK EC FOR ADVICE
• transfer within the budget heading
• transfer between budget headings involving a
  variation of 15 or less of each heading
• Administrative costs and Contingency AN
  EXEPTION!

 
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Monitoring

• Field Visit
• Activity Monitoring
• External Monitoring
• Please inform us about all major events at least
  2 weeks in advance.

 
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Contacts us!

• E-mail
• For IBPP-Civil Society
• Gerhard.Salzer_at_ec.europa.eu
• Berni.McNally_at_ec.europa.eu
• For IBPP Cultural Cooperation
• Tatiana.Bokareva_at_ec.europa.eu

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Happy Reporting!