20.1.2015

Official Journal of the European Union

C 17/10

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Guidelines — EACEA 03/2015

EU Aid Volunteers initiative:

Technical Assistance for sending organisations

Capacity Building for humanitarian aid of hosting organisations

(2015/C 17/05)

1. INTRODUCTION — BACKGROUND

The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps — ‘EU Aid Volunteers’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘the EU Aid Volunteers initiative’) establishes a framework for joint contributions from European volunteers to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries.

Its objective is to contribute to strengthening the Union’s capacity to provide needs-based humanitarian aid aimed at preserving life, preventing and alleviating human suffering and maintaining human dignity and to strengthening the capacity and resilience of vulnerable or disaster-affected communities in third countries, particularly by means of disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and by enhancing the link between relief, rehabilitation and development. It also seeks to contribute to increasing and improving the capacity of the Union to provide humanitarian aid through enhancing the coherence and consistency of volunteering across Member States in order to improve opportunities for Union citizens to participate in humanitarian aid activities and operations.

In this framework, the present call for proposals will provide funding through support for actions aimed at strengthening the capacity of prospective hosting organisations to prepare and respond to humanitarian crises. In addition it will provide support for actions aimed at strengthening the technical capacity of prospective sending organisations to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

2. OBJECTIVES

The objective of this call is to strengthen the capacities of sending and hosting organisations intending to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative and to ensure compliance with the standards and procedures regarding candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers.

With this call the European Commission expects to achieve the following results:

The capacities of up to 100 sending and hosting organisations are strengthened in the fields of

—	Disaster risk management, preparedness and response as well as linking relief, rehabilitation and development;

—	Volunteer management according to the standards and procedures for the management of the candidate volunteers and the EU Aid Volunteers;

—	Strengthening local volunteering in third countries;

—	Capacities to undergo certification including administrative capacity;

—	Tools and methods of needs assessment at a local level;

—	Building partnerships with a view to develop joint projects in the context of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

—	Communicating the European Union’s humanitarian aid principles agreed in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and raise awareness levels and visibility of its humanitarian aid.

3. TIMETABLE

	Stages	Date and time or indicative period 1st deadline	Date and time or indicative period 2nd deadline
a)	Publication of the call	21 January 2015	21 January 2015
b)	Deadline for submitting applications	1 April 2015 12 PM Brussels time	1 September 2015 12 PM Brussels time
c)	Evaluation period	May 2015	October 2015
d)	Information to applicants	July 2015	November 2015
e)	Signature of grant agreement	July 2015	December 2015
f)	Starting date of the project action	1 September 2015	1 February 2016

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 6 948 000.

—	For the first round (projects submitted by 1.4.2015) it is foreseen to use 70 % of the available amount for projects (EUR 4 863 600).

—	30 % (EUR 2 084 400) will be available for the second deadline on 1.9.2015.

The maximum grant will be EUR 700 000. Grant requests below EUR 100 000 will not be considered for funding. The Agency expects to fund 20 proposals.

The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available in either round.

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

—	they must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in Section 3 of the present call for proposals

—	they must be submitted in writing using the electronic application form

—	they must be drafted in one of the EU official languages

—	applications must be submitted electronically using the official application form and must be accompanied by all the documents referred to on the website where the application form is available.

Failure to comply with these requirements will lead to the non-acceptance of the application for further evaluation.

In order to submit an application, applicants and partners must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form. The PIC can be obtained by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If an applicant or partner already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals.

The Participant Portal allows applicants and partners, to upload or update the information related to their legal status and attach the requested legal and financial documents.

See Section 14.2 for more information.

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applications which comply with the following criteria will be subject of an in-depth evaluation.

6.1. Eligible bodies

6.1.1 Applicant

Proposals for both, Technical assistance and Capacity building activities, must be submitted by:

—	non-governmental not-for-profit organisations formed in accordance with the law of a Member State and whose headquarters are located within the Union; or

—	public law bodies of a civilian character governed by the law of a Member State; or

—	the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Applicants (Applicant — coordinating organisations) must — at the specified deadline for submitting their proposals — have at least five years of experience of activity within the field of humanitarian aid.

Only legal entities established in the following countries are eligible:

—

the Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom.

In order to assess the applicant’s eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

—	private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

—	public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity.

6.1.2 Partners and eligible partnership

The Partner organisations must be:

—	non-governmental not-for-profit; or

—	public law bodies of a civilian character; or

—	the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Bodies established in the following countries can be partners within Technical assistance projects:

—

Technical assistance projects must involve the applicant and partner organisations from at least three different countries participating in the programme from which:

—

At least one partner organisation is active in the field of humanitarian aid as defined in Article 3(d) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers Initiative’) (1) for at least 5 years.

—	at least one partner must have a minimum of 5 years of experience in volunteer management.

Bodies established in the following countries can be partners within Capacity building projects:

—

—	third countries in which humanitarian aid takes place (2). The third countries list is available at: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding/

Capacity building projects must involve the applicant and partner organisations from at least six different countries from which:

—	at least three partners are from third countries;

—	all partners from countries participating in the programme must have been active in the field of humanitarian aid for at least 5 years;

—	at least two partners from third countries must be active in the field of humanitarian aid;

—	at least one partner from countries participating in the programme must have been active in the field of volunteer management for at least 5 years.

Applicants may submit projects for both Technical Assistance and Capacity Building. In this case, applicants shall indicate in their application that they apply for both actions.

For both actions, applicants and partners must submit a mandate to be signed by the persons authorised to enter into legally binding commitments, thereby enabling the applicant to act on behalf of the partners. Applicant and partner organisations will be referred to hereafter as ‘the Consortium’.

6.1.3 Associates

Other organisations and entities may be involved in the action as associates. Such associates play a real role in the action (they are for example specialised capacity building and/or technical assistance providers). They have no contractual relationship with the Commission and do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in this section. They may be for example private for profit companies. The associates have to be mentioned in the e-form.

6.2. Eligible activities

Technical assistance and capacity building can include the following dimensions:

—	(Internal) organisational development, i.e. capacity building and technical assistance for the proper internal running of the organisation.

—	(External) organisational development, i.e. capacity building with regard to how the organisation interacts and engages with other stakeholders.

—

other types of capacity building, of a specific technical or thematic nature notably with regards to the technical requirements set by the standards and procedures of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 with a view to certifying prospective sending and hosting organisations; and technical capacities in sectors linked to humanitarian aid.

In terms of methods and tools of capacity building and technical assistance the following interventions can be considered:

—	Skills-focused interventions such as training focused on bringing about behaviour change/organisational development.

—

Organisational development interventions that can range from team building events or facilitated retreats to build organisational strategy to consultancy packages that include needs assessment, a series of targeted trainings and organisational reviews and assessments, and development, implementation, and evaluation of an organisational strategy.

—

System-building interventions bringing together a range of national and/or local stakeholders in humanitarian aid focusing on building capacity for humanitarian aid responses and/or preparedness programmes. They can include needs assessments, coordination and facilitation, training, group exercises, technical support.

Activities supported under this call for both Technical assistance and Capacity building projects may include the following:

—	Study/scoping visits/mapping and analysis

—	Seminars/workshops/conferences

—	Job-shadowing/On the job training

—	Exchange visits of staff/Twinning arrangements

—	Monitoring and Evaluation

—	Organisational reviews/assessments

—	Coaching and mentoring

—	Facilitated retreats/team building

—	Training courses/train the trainers

—	Distance learning/webinars/Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

—	Consultancy

—	Exchange of good practice/peer learning

—	Simulation exercises/response assessments

The themes covered by these activities can include: EU humanitarian aid: functioning and principles; Monitoring and evaluation; Leadership development; Organisational development/strategic planning/change management; Administration/financial management/accounting; improving accountability/governance/participation; Communication/visibility/stakeholder relations; Advocacy; Research/producing evidence; programme and project management; (Local) volunteering development; Funding/fundraising; Networking/partnership and alliance building (including for future EU Aid projects); Standards and procedures of the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative.

For Capacity building projects the following themes can be considered in addition:

Technical capacity building on humanitarian operations focusing on needs assessment methodologies/information management; Disaster risk management; Disaster risk reduction/disaster preparedness; Crisis response (and related sectors); Linking relief, rehabilitation and development; Resilience and climate change adaptation.

For the first deadline of 1.4.2015, both types of projects must start between 1 September 2015 and 31 December 2015, with a minimum duration of 6 months and a maximum duration of 24 months.

For the second deadline of 1.9.2015, both types of projects must start between 1 February 2016 and 31 May 2016, with a minimum duration of 6 months and a maximum duration of 24 months.

Applications for projects scheduled to run for longer or shorter periods than that specified in this call for proposals will not be accepted.

No extension to the eligibility period beyond the maximum duration will be granted.

6.3. Eligible grant requests

Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be considered for a grant. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the reasons will be sent to the applicant

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion from participation

Applicants will be excluded from participating in the call for proposals procedure if they are in any of the following situations:

(a)

they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, 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 or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment of a competent authority of a Member States which has the force of res judicata;

(c)	they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the responsible authorising officer can justify including by decisions of the EIB and international organisations;

(d)

they are not in compliance with their obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of the responsible authorising officer or those of the country where the grant agreement is to be performed;

(e)

they or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control over them have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering or any other illegal activity, where such illegal activity is detrimental to the Union’ financial interests;

(f)	they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 109(1) of the Financial Regulation.

7.2. Exclusion from award

Applicants will not be granted financial assistance if, in the course of the grant award procedure, they:

(a)	are subject to a conflict of interests;

(b)	are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Agency as a condition of participation in the grant award procedure, or fail to supply this information.

(c)	find themselves in one of the situations of exclusion referred to in the above Section 7.1.

Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants who are guilty of misrepresentation or are found to have seriously failed to meet their contractual obligations under a previous grant award procedure.

7.3. Supporting documents

Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in the above Sections 7.1 and 7.2 by filling in the relevant form and attaching it to the application form accompanying the call for proposals available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding/

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their status as a legal person and to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities

8.1. Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants’ financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

—	a declaration on their honour

—	the financial statements (including the balance sheet, the profit and loss accounts and the annexes) of the last two financial years for which the accounts have been closed

—	financial capacity form provided for in the application form, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Agency considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, it may:

—	request further information;

—	propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;

—	propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing paid in instalments;

—	propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see Section 11.4 below);

—	reject the application.

8.2. Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour, and have to fill in the specific part in the application form available on the website.

9. AWARD CRITERIA

Eligible applications will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

Relevance of the project (maximum 30 points):

—	The relevance of the proposal to the objectives and the priorities of the call for proposals.

—

The extent to which:

—	the objectives are clearly defined, realistic and address issues relevant to the participating organisations and target groups;

—	projects demonstrate that they are based on a thorough needs assessment concerning the overall needs for capacity building addressed by the project;

For Capacity building projects only, a supplementary award criterion is applicable:

—

third country project partners are countries:

—	identified as vulnerable or crisis prone in the 2014 GVCA Crisis and Vulnerability Index, or the 2014 the Forgotten Crisis Index, or

—	represent resilience focused countries in implementation of the EU Resilience Action Plan.

The third countries list is available at: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding/

Quality of the project design and implementation (maximum 30 points):

—	The clarity, completeness and quality of the action, including appropriate phases for preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and (as appropriate) dissemination;

—	The appropriateness and quality of the methodology proposed: Consistency between project objectives and activities proposed; logical links between the identified problems, needs and solutions proposed (e.g. Logical Frame Concept); feasibility of the project within the proposed time frame;

—	The existence and relevance of quality control measures to ensure that the project implementation is of high quality, completed in time and on budget;

—	Cost effectiveness: the proposed budget is sufficient for proper implementation and the project is designed so as to ensure the best value for money;

Quality and relevance of the partnership and cooperation arrangements (maximum 20 points):

—	The extent to which the project involves an appropriate mix of complementary participating organisations with the necessary profiles and experience to successfully deliver all aspects of the project;

—	The existence of effective mechanisms for coordination and communication between the participating organisations;

For Technical assistance projects only, a supplementary award criterion is applicable:

—	The extent to which the project proposed benefits organisations from countries that joined the EU in 2004 or thereafter or organisations from other countries participating in the programme that are underrepresented in humanitarian aid.

Impact and dissemination (maximum 20 points):

—	The quality of measures for evaluating the impact of the project;

—	The potential impact of the project on participants and partner organisations, during and after the project lifetime;

—	The quality of the dissemination plan: the appropriateness and quality of measures aimed at sharing the outcomes of the project within and outside the participating organisations;

—

European dimension:

—	the expected results display the understanding and capacity of the applicant and partners to communicate the Union’s humanitarian aid principles agreed in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and raise awareness levels and visibility of its humanitarian aid.

—	the expected results serve the interest of a large number of countries participating in the programme and could be efficiently reproduced and/or transferred to other participating states, regions or organisations.

Projects scoring less than 60 overall points will not be considered for funding.

All projects, regardless whether they cover capacity building or technical assistance will be ranked according to the number of points they reach.

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the Agency, a grant agreement, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary, as well as the procedure in view to formalise the obligations of the parties.

The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary on behalf of the consortium and returned to the Agency immediately. The Agency will sign them last.

Please note that the award of a grant does not establish an entitlement for subsequent years.

11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

11.1. General Principles

a) Non-cumulative award

An action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.

In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget. To ensure this, applicants shall indicate in the application form the sources and amounts of Union funding received or applied for the same action or part of the action or for its functioning during the same financial year as well as any other funding received or applied for the same action.

b) Non-retroactivity

No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.

c) Co-financing

Co-financing means that the resources which are necessary to carry out the action may not be entirely provided by the EU grant.

Co-financing of the action may take the form of:

—	the beneficiary’s own resources,

—	income generated by the action,

—	financial contributions from third parties.

d) Balanced budget

The estimated budget of the action is to be attached to the application form. It must have revenue and expenditure in balance.

The budget must be drawn up in euros.

Applicants which foresee that costs will not be incurred in euros shall use the exchange rate published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the InforEuro website available at: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm on the date of the publication of this call for proposals.

e) Implementation contracts/subcontracting

Where the implementation of the action requires the award of procurement contracts, the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price, avoiding conflicts of interests and retain the documentation for the event of an audit.

In the event of procurement exceeding EUR 60 000, the beneficiary must abide by special rules as referred in the grant agreement annexed to the call. Moreover the beneficiary is expected to clearly document the tendering procedure and retain the documentation for the event of an audit.

Entities acting in their capacity of contracting authorities in the meaning of Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (3) or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (4) shall abide by the applicable national public procurement rules.

Sub-contracting, i.e. the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action as described in the proposal and which cannot be performed by the beneficiary itself must satisfy the conditions applicable to any implementation contract (as specified above) and in addition to them the following conditions:

—	it may only cover the implementation of a limited part of the action;

—	it must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;

—	it must be clearly stated in the proposal or prior written authorisation from the Agency must be obtained.

f) Financial support to third parties

The applications may not envisage provision of financial support to third parties.

11.2. Funding form: Budget-based financing

Financial contribution from the EU is EUR 100 000 minimum and cannot exceed EUR 700 000. It is limited to 85 % of the total eligible costs of the action.

Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimated budget must be financed from sources other than the Union grant.

The grant amount may neither exceed the eligible costs nor the amount requested. Amounts are indicated in euros.

Acceptance of an application by the Executive Agency does not constitute an undertaking to award a grant equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary.

11.2.1. Eligible costs

Eligible costs are costs actually incurred by the beneficiary of a grant which meet the following criteria:

—

they are incurred during the duration of the action as specified in the grant agreement, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and certificates. The period of eligibility of costs will start as specified in the grant agreement. If a beneficiary can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, expenditure may be authorised before the grant is awarded. Under no circumstances can the eligibility period start before the date of submission of the grant application (see Section 11.1b).

—	they are indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action;

—	they are incurred in connexion with the action which is the subject of the grant and are necessary for the implementation of the action;

—

they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost-accounting practices of the beneficiary;

—	they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;

—	they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.

The beneficiary’s internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

a) Eligible direct costs:

The eligible direct costs for the action are those costs which, with due regard for the conditions of eligibility set out above, are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly, such as:

—

the cost of personnel working under an employment contract with the applicant or equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action, comprising actual salaries plus social security contributions and other statutory costs included in their remuneration, provided that these costs are in line with the applicant’s usual policy on remuneration or, where applicable, its partners. NB: this cost must be the actual cost incurred by the beneficiary, and staff costs of other organisations are eligible only if paid directly or reimbursed by the beneficiary. These costs may include additional remuneration, including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature, provided that it is paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required and independently from the source of funding used;

The corresponding salary costs of personnel of national administrations are eligible to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned was not undertaken;

—	subsistence allowances provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices;

—	costs of travel provided that they are in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel;

—	costs entailed by other contracts awarded by the beneficiary or its partners for the purposes of carrying out the action, provided that the conditions laid down in grant agreement are met;

—	activity costs arising directly from requirements linked to the performance of the action (venue rent, equipment hire, interpretation, publication, production, translation, dissemination and exploitation of results, etc.);

—	costs relating to external audits where required in support of requests for payments;

—	non-deductible value added tax (‘VAT’) for all activities which are not activities of the public authorities in the Member States.

b) Eligible indirect costs (overheads)

—	a flat-rate amount, equal to 7 % of the eligible direct costs of the action, is eligible under indirect costs, representing the beneficiary’s general administrative costs which can be regarded as chargeable to the action.

Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.

Applicants’ attention is drawn to the fact that in the case of organisations receiving an operating grant, indirect costs are no longer eligible under specific actions.

11.2.2. Ineligible costs

The following costs shall not be considered eligible:

—	return on capital;

—	debt and debt service charges;

—	provisions for losses or debts;

—	interest owed;

—	doubtful debts;

—	exchange losses;

—	costs of transfer from the Agency charged by the bank of the beneficiary;

—

costs declared by the beneficiary and covered by another action receiving a European Union grant. In particular, indirect costs shall not be eligible under a grant for an action awarded to the beneficiary who already receives an operating grant financed from the Union budget during the period in question;

—	contributions in kind;

—	excessive or reckless expenditure;

—	insurance costs for third country participants to Capacity Building activities within Europe, as insurance cover is foreseen within the overall EU Aid Volunteers initiative insurance scheme.

11.2.3. Calculation of the final grant amount — Supporting documents

The final amount of the grant to be awarded to the beneficiary is established after completion of the action, upon approval of the request for payment containing the following documents

—	a final report providing details of the implementation and results of the action;

—	the final financial statement of costs actually incurred.

—	The beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a ‘Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report — Type I’ produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer.

The procedure and the format to be followed by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, are detailed in the following ‘Guidance Notes’:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/sites/eacea-site/files/annex_iii_guidance_notes_audit_type_i_03-2014_en.pdf

The use of the report format set by the ‘Guidance Notes’ is compulsory.

If the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary are lower than anticipated, the Agency will apply the rate of co-financing stated in the grant agreement to the expenditure actually incurred.

In the event of non-execution or clearly inadequate execution of an activity planned in the application attached to the funding agreement, the final grant will be reduced accordingly.

11.2.4. Non-profit rule

EU grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action of the beneficiary. Profit shall be defined as a surplus of receipts over the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary, when the request is made for payment of the balance. In this respect, where a profit is made, the Agency shall be entitled to recover a percentage of the profit corresponding to the Union contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary to carry out the action.

11.3. Payment arrangements

A pre-financing payment corresponding to 75 % of the grant amount will be transferred to the beneficiary within 30 days of the date when the last of the two parties signs the agreement, provided all requested guarantees have been received.

The Agency will establish the amount of the final payment to be made to the beneficiary on the basis of the calculation of the final grant amount (see Section 11.2 above). If the total of earlier payments is higher than the final grant amount, the beneficiary will be required to reimburse the amount paid in excess by the Commission through a recovery order

11.4. Pre-financing guarantee

In the event that the applicant’s financial capacity is not satisfactory, a pre-financing guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing may be requested in order to limit the financial risks linked to the pre-financing payment.

The financial guarantee, in euro, shall be provided by an approved bank or financial institution established in one of the Member State of the European Union.

When the beneficiary is established in a third country, the authorising officer responsible may agree that a bank or financial institution established in that third country may provide the guarantee if he considers that the bank or financial institution offers equivalent security and characteristics as those offered by a bank or financial institution established in a Member State. Amounts blocked in bank accounts shall not be accepted as financial guarantees.

The guarantee shall be released as the pre-financing is gradually cleared against interim payments or payments of balances to the beneficiary, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the grant agreement.

This requirement does not apply to:

—	public bodies and international organisations under public law established by inter-governmental agreements, specialised agencies created by such organisations,

—	the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

12. COMMUNICATION AND VISIBILITY

12.1. By the beneficiaries

Volunteers and partner organisations must raise awareness on the EU Aid Volunteers programme, as an example of European solidarity. They should do so by clearly acknowledging the European Union’s contribution at all stages of implementation, notably by:

—

Ensuring EU visual identity is included into all materials related to the project with a particular focus on communication and dissemination activities (please refer to http://www.echo-visibility.eu/standard-visibility/the-eus-humanitarian-aid-visual-identity). As such, the project shall mention, in all communication in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used, ‘this project is co-funded by the European Union for the “EU Aid Volunteers initiative”’. The logo of the European Union, the name and the slogan should be clearly visible in each of the communication/visibility products as to identify the volunteers as part of the EU Aid Volunteers programme and raise awareness about the European dimension of their identity.

—

Defining communication and dissemination activities through a common communication plan that is available at the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/en/what/humanitarian-aid/eu-aid-volunteers Activities foreseen must include the below components to be shared on an ad hoc basis:

Written/audiovisual products: at least one blog contribution, at least one video, at least one photo story (the quality for the photos shall be maximum to the extent possible and accompanied by a short caption including the name of the person or place highlighted. Whenever feasible, short testimonies of the people photographed should be added). Please note that where the language spoken in the field is other than English, the material should be translated and/or subtitled in English.

2.	Media outreach: Potential interviews/contributions with targeted media selected by Regional Information Officers (RIO) and partners in the field.

3.	Social media presence to reinforce awareness on the programme and to communicate the stories of the EU Aid Volunteers to a wider-audience for greater impact. Dissemination strategy should also include the main websites of the partner organisations.

—	Regularly sharing all relevant communication products with ECHO, including statistics on the reach of communication activities by the hosting organization and the volunteer

—	Each organisation should nominate a contact point specifically handling communication and visibility issues;

If this requirement is not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement.

In addition to the text and logo relevant to the EU programme or sub-programme, the EC will provide beneficiaries with a disclaimer stating that the EU is not responsible for the views displayed in the publications and/or in conjunction with the activities for which the grant is used.

12.2. By the Agency and/or the Commission

With the exception of scholarships paid to natural persons and other direct support paid to natural persons in most need, all information relating to grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published on the internet site of the European Union institutions no later than the 30 June of the year following the financial year in which the grants were awarded.

The Agency and/or the Commission will publish the following information:

—	name of the beneficiary,

—	locality of the beneficiary: address of the beneficiary when the latter is a legal person, region when the beneficiary is a natural person, as defined on NUTS 2 level (5) if he/she is domiciled within the EU or equivalent if domiciled outside EU,

—	the amount awarded,

—	nature and purpose of the grant.

Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, the publication shall be waived if such disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of individuals concerned as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or harm the commercial interests of the beneficiaries.

13. DATA PROTECTION

All personal data (such as names, addresses, CVs, etc.) will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the European Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (6).

Unless marked as optional, the applicant’s replies to the questions in the application form are necessary to evaluate and further process the grant application in accordance with the specifications of the call for proposals. Personal data will be processed solely for that purpose by the department or Unit responsible for the Union grant programme concerned (entity acting as data controller). Personal data may be transferred on a need to know basis to third parties involved in the evaluation of applications or in the grant management procedure, without prejudice of transfer to the bodies in charge of monitoring and inspection tasks in accordance with European Union law. In particular, for the purposes of safeguarding the financial interests of the Union, personal data may be transferred to internal audit services, to the European Court of Auditors, to the Financial Irregularities Panel or to the European Anti-Fraud Office and between authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies. The applicant has the right of access to, and to rectify, the data concerning him or her. For any question relating to these data, please contact the Controller. Applicants have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time. A detailed Privacy statement, including contact information, is available on EACEA’s website:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/documents/calls_gen_conditions/eacea_grants_privacy_statement.pdf

Applicants and, if they are legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over them, are informed that, should they be in one of the situations mentioned in:

—	the Commission Decision of 16 December 2008 on the Early Warning System (EWS) for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies (OJ L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 125), or

—	Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1302/2008 of 17 December 2008 on the Central Exclusion Database (OJ L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 12) (CED),

their personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the EWS only or both in the EWS and CED, and communicated to the persons and entities listed in the abovementioned Decision and Regulation, in relation to the award or the execution of a procurement contract or a grant agreement or decision.

14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

14.1. Publication

The call for proposals is being published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the internet site of the EACEA Agency at the following address:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding_en

14.2. Registration in the Participant Portal

Before submitting an electronic application, applicants and partners will have to register their organisation in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal and receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The PIC will be requested in the application form.

The Participant Portal is the tool through which all legal and financial information related to organisations will be managed. Information on how to register can be found in the portal at the following address:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

The tool also allows applicants to upload different documents related to their organisation. These documents have to be uploaded once and will not be requested again for subsequent applications by the same organisation.

Details on the supporting document that need to be uploaded in the portal can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/register.html

14.3. Submission of the grant application

Proposals must be submitted in accordance with the admissibility requirements and by the deadline set out under Sections 3 and 5.

No modifications to the application are allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or for the correction of clerical mistakes, the Agency may contact the applicant for this purpose during the evaluation process.

All applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process.

Applicants who wish to complete and submit an electronic application form (eForm) must refer to https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/documents/eforms_en and follow the procedure.

The electronic application form duly completed must be submitted by 12:00 (midday, Brussels time) on 1.4.2015 for the 1st deadline and on 1.9.2015 for the 2nd deadline.

Applications sent by post, fax or e-mail will not be accepted.

14.4. Rules applicable

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1).

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 of 29 October 2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L 362, 31.12.2012, p. 1).

Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’) (OJ L 122, 24.4.2014, p. 1).

14.5. Contacts

In case of questions, please contact: EACEA-EUAID-VOLUNTEERS@ec.europa.eu

(1) OJ L 122, 24.4.2014, p. 1.

(2) Humanitarian aid is defined as per Article 3(d) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014, i.e. activities and operations in third countries intended to provide needs-based emergency assistance aimed at preserving life, preventing and alleviating human suffering, and maintaining human dignity in the face of man-made crises or natural disasters. It encompasses assistance, relief and protection operations in humanitarian crises or their immediate aftermath, supporting measures to ensure access to people in need and to facilitate the free flow of assistance, as well as actions aimed at reinforcing disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction, and contributing towards strengthening resilience and capacity to cope with, and recover from, crises.

(3) OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 114.

(4) OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 1.

(5) Commission Regulation (EC) No 105/2007 of 1 February 2007 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 39, 10.2.2007, p. 1).

(6) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.