1. Information meeting Grant Facility 15/01/09

2. Agenda 10:00 WELCOME 10:10 PRESENTATION GRANT FACILITY 10:40 SUMMARY OF RECEIVED QUESTIONS 10:50 QUESTION AND ANSWERS

3. The Grant Facility The objective Some basic issues The content The selection procedure Implementation and reporting

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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 1.The respect of overall award criteria (eligible partner?, in case of non FPA-partners: technical and financial capacity) 2.The coverage of the specific award conditions of the specific objective 3.The added-value of DG ECHOs contribution in improving the quality of humanitarian aid and increasing its effectiveness 4.The feasibility of the proposal (including readiness, experience, results previous interventions in that area) 5.The scope and scale of DG ECHOs contribution 6.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

13. 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 14/04/10: end of decision and implementation agreements

14. 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

15. Agenda 10:00 WELCOME 10:10 PRESENTATION GRANT FACILITY 10:40 SUMMARY OF RECEIVED QUESTIONS 10:50 QUESTION AND ANSWERS

16. 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/other_en.htm

17. 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). FPA–partner 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)

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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).