Swiss – Romanian Cooperation Programme
Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation
Block Grant for NGOs
Thematic Fund for Civil Society ParticipationBlock Grant for NGOs
Guidelines for Applicants
Call for Proposals
May 2012
KEK-CDC Consultants, Universitätstrasse 69, CH-8006 Zürich
CSDF, 2K Splaiul Independentei, Entrance 1, 4th floor, Bucharest 3, Romania
REPF, 530120 Miercurea Ciuc, Str. Arsenalului nr. 13, Romania
Table of Content
Abbreviations 3
1 General information about the Programme 4
2 Objectives of the Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation - Block Grant for NGOs 5
3 Rules for this Call for Proposals 8
3.1 Eligibility criteria 8
3.1.1 For the applicant 8
3.1.2 Partnerships and eligibility criteria for the partner/s 9
3.1.3 Eligible projects 10
3.1.4 Eligible costs 12
3.1.5 How to apply and procedures to be followed 14
3.2 Application dossier 15
3.3 Evaluation and selection procedure 16
3.3.1 Opening of the received applications 16
3.3.2 Administrative compliance and eligibility verification 16
3.3.3 Technical and financial evaluation 18
3.3.4 Announcing the selection process results 19
3.4 Contracting 19
3.5 Reporting, payment procedures and audit – rules applicable to project implementation 22
3.5.1 Reporting 22
3.5.2 Payments 22
3.5.3 Audit 23
Abbreviations
AA / Activity AgreementCHF / Swiss Franc
CSDF / Civil Society Development Foundation
CSO / Civil Society Organisation
EA / Executing Agency
EEA / European Economic Area
EFTA / European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland)
EU / European Union
GEC / Grant Evaluation Committee
KEK-CDC / KEK – CDC Consultants
NCU / National Coordination Unit
NGO / Non-Governmental Organisation
REPF / Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation
SCO / Swiss Contribution Office, Bucharest
SDC / Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
SIB / Swiss Intermediate Body
SteeCom / Steering Committee
TF CSP / Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation
VAT / Value Added Tax
1 General information about the Programme
The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme is a part of a non-refundable aid offered by the Swiss Federal Council to 12 European member states who joined between 2004 and 2007. Switzerland’s support is an expression of solidarity with new EU member states and puts the ground work for stable economic and political connections with these countries.
The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme aims to:
· contribute to the reduction of economic and social disparities between Romania and more advanced countries of the enlarged European Union, and
· contribute within Romania to the reduction of economic and social disparities between the dynamic urban centers and the structurally weak peripheral regions.
The Swiss contribution is an important element of the bilateral relations between Switzerland and Romania. The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme shall enhance the visibility of bilateral relations and provide room for a good use of Swiss knowledge and expertise. Supporting measures in the Swiss-Romania Cooperation Programme shall pursue a sustainable, economically and socially balanced development.
The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme is guided by the following principles: transparency, social inclusion, equal opportunities and rights, environmental sustainability, commitment to all actors involved, subsidiarity and decentralization.
Under this Programme different financing instruments have been set up. This guideline for applicants is related to the Block Grant for NGOs within the Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation. This is the first round of Call for Proposals and it is estimated that a second round will be launched in 2014.
In 2011, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation selected a consortium formed by KEK-CDC Consultants (www.kek.ch), Civil Society Development Foundation (www.fdsc.ro) and Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation (www.repf.ro) as the Swiss Intermediate Body for managing and administrating the Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation.
2 Objectives of the Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation - Block Grant for NGOs
The purpose of the Thematic Fund for Civil Society Participation is to promote the contribution of civil society organizations as important actors in development and participation.
The general objective of the Block Grant for NGOs are
· to strengthen Romanian NGOs and to enable their active participation in policy processes both as the voice of civil society and as a service provider and
· to promote activities of the CSOs primarily tackling environmental issues, contributing to the provision of social services as well as allowing for strengthening their organizational capacities.
The Block Grant for NGOs is focusing on offering support in two major domains: social issues and environment protection, therefore two different components are envisaged: Social and Environment.
The specific objectives of the Block Grant for NGOs - Social Component are:
· to promote new and/or innovative approaches for social purposes;
· to increase the role of civil society in public policy making processes;
· to enhance the credibility and visibility of the civil society sector;
· to strengthen the institutional and operational capacity of NGOs.
The specific objective of the Block Grant for NGOs – Environment Component are:
· to promote new and/or innovative initiatives that contribute to environmental protection and improvement;
· to increase the capacity and capability of environmental NGOs for being effective advocates of sustainable development and environmental improvement;
· to increase the role of civil society in the environmental public policy making process;
· to improve the visibility and public image of the environmental NGO sector in order to increase public trust regarding civic initiatives;
· to strengthen the institutional and operational capacity of the NGOs.
The achievements of the projects should contribute to the following programme indicators. Please note that the selection of the indicators to be used will be made depending of the project and also that additional indicators could be proposed.
· Number of people (men/ women) that benefited from NGO’s activities
· Reported outcome in environmental protection /biodiversity of supported projects
· Number of NGOs evidencing increased institutional capacity
· Increased institutional capacity: most significant changes
· Increased engagement of NGOs in regional/national/international networks
· Changes in attitudes on the part of official authorities to NGOs (increased understanding, willingness to work more closely with them etc.)
· Changes in the reported professionalism of NGOs
· Level of involving citizens in activities that increase their engagement in decision-making
· Increased NGO competence in advocacy and lobbying for better policies
· Evidence of NGOs’ successful advocacy campaign/accepted public policy NGOs’ proposals by the governmental institution
· Number of reported innovative approaches in providing social services for vulnerable groups, including social enterprises
· Increased access to welfare/ social services that are responsive to their needs (health, education, social services)
Financial allocation provided
The overall indicative amounts available under the first round are:
· CHF 2,000,000 - Social Component
· CHF 600,000 - Environment Component
Under this Call for Proposals, two types of projects are envisaged, taking into consideration the size of grants respectively:
SMALL GRANTS (under both Components): minimum: CHF 10,000 maximum: CHF 75,000
LARGE GRANTS (exclusively under Social Component): minimum: CHF 75,001
maximum: CHF 250,000
The grant for the implementation of activities shall cover a maximum of 90% of total eligible costs, borne in Swiss Francs (CHF). The Executing Agencies (the grant beneficiaries) shall be fully aware that they should contribute at least 10% of the total eligible costs, whether from their own resources (and /or partner/s’) or from other funding[1]. Own contribution could be totally in cash (meaning cash payments, bank transfers, card payments and other financial instruments) or partially in-kind. The in-kind contribution cannot exceed 5% of the total eligible costs of the project. In-kind contribution may take the following forms: work done on a voluntary basis[2], amortization of tangible assets (office equipment, technical installations, furniture and vehicles) required for providing project related services.
Number of proposals and grants per applicant
Within the current Call for Proposals, an applicant may submit maximum 2 (two) proposals under each Component (Social/ Environment), out of which maximum 1 (one) for large grants.
3 Rules for this Call for Proposals
The following rules are applicable for both Components of the grant scheme.
3.1 Eligibility criteria
3.1.1 For the applicant
In order to be eligible for a grant, the potential applicants must be non-governmental and non-profit organizations, with a legal status and the headquarters in Romania, organized and managed according to the Romanian enforced laws regarding the non-governmental organizations, respectively:
· association, foundation, federation constituted according to the provisions of GO 26/2000 or the Law 21/1924 regarding associations and foundations, with subsequent modifications and completions, or
· non-governmental and non-profit organization organized according to special laws (e.g. National Red Cross Society)
In addition to the criteria mentioned above, the potential applicants must also:
· be able, according to their statutes/regulations, to act in the domain addressed by the project and
· be independent of government and other public authorities as well as political parties and
· be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the project with their partners, not acting as an intermediary.
Non eligible applicants are in particular political parties and religious structures (religious denominations, religious associations etc.).
Potential applicants may not participate in this Call for Proposals or be awarded grants if:
(a) they are bankrupt, are entered in judicial administration or are under liquidation, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
(b) they are guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the Swiss Intermediate Body can justify;
(c) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes to the state budget in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established;
(d) they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization or any other illegal activity detrimental to financial interests, without evidence of substantial correction measures taken in the past years;
(e) they have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations in connection with a procurement procedure or other grant award procedure financed by the Swiss Government or other international donors;
(f) they are subject to a conflict of interests with the organizations or persons who are directly or indirectly involved in the grant award procedure;
(g) they are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Swiss Intermediate Body as a condition of participation in the Call for Proposals or fail to supply these information.
Each applicant must submit a Declaration of Eligibility (Annex III) stating that the applicant and partner/s (if the case) do not fall under any of the above listed situations from (a) to (f). The Declaration of eligibility shall be filled in, signed, stamped, dated and submitted together with the application.
3.1.2 Partnerships and eligibility criteria for the partner/s
Partnerships between different social actors are possible, if they do strengthen the cooperation and networking of Romanian NGOs and therefore contribute to the strengthening of the civil society in Romania.
Applicants may act individually or with partner organisations.
Romanian project partners could be:
· non-governmental and non-profit organisations, with the same characteristics as listed above for the applicant;
· universities, other education institutions or research institutes with a non-profit profile;
· local and central public authorities, public institutions/agencies, deconcentrated governmental services at a local level;
· territorial entities (that could be represented by local authorities such as city halls, local councils, county councils represented by their heads).
It is mandatory that all partners have legal personality.
In case of partnerships with NGOs from Switzerland, the partner/s must be non-profit and non-governmental organisations, registered accordingly in their country.
Swiss NGOs who already receive programme credit support[3] of SDC are non-eligible as partners.
The supplementary conditions regarding the eligibility of the applicant are also applicable to the partner/s, see conditions from (a) to (g) above.
The partnership agreement/s has to be signed by all organizations involved in the implementation of the project, showing the role and responsibilities of each party. The applicant may sign partnership agreement/s with each of the partner/s or one partnership agreement with all the organizations involved.
The applicant shall act as the lead organization for implementing the project and, if selected, will represent all partners and will sign the Activity Agreement for awarding the grant amount, with the SIB representatives.
3.1.3 Eligible projects
Duration: the duration of a project is related to the type of grant requested, respectively:
· for SMALL GRANTS: minimum 12 months and maximum 24 months
· for LARGE GRANTS: minimum 12 months and maximum 36 months
Location: All activities of a project must take place in Romania. However, if duly justified and in-line with the objectives of the programme, exceptions are possible for selective events such as small parts of activities within projects which involve know-how exchange, trainings, study visits, participation in seminars/conferences etc. that could also take place abroad.
A project requesting a large grant should have wider impacts with regard to the geographical region (e.g. covering several counties and involving local NGOs) and develop appropriate visibility campaigns.
Thematic focus areas:
Under each Component of this Call for Proposals, the following thematic focus areas were identified:
Social Component
· new and/or innovative approaches in providing social services for vulnerable groups (e.g. children & youth, unemployed, people with disabilities, rural population etc.), including social enterprises;
· lifeskills development for vulnerable groups,
· integrated approaches of social inclusion – community development, local economic and rural development and social economy;
· innovative and/or new approaches in public policy making process,
· capacity building for NGOs in providing social services and in becoming active actors in policy processes,