News

Various calls for proposals related to the ‘Non-State Actors and Local Authority’ thematic programme, are now open and can be seen at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-s... (in programme: go to ‘non-state actors and local authorities’; type: click on ‘subventions’; status: click on ‘ouverts’; then click on ‘search’).

The following paragraphs are complementary to the information already provided to you also available on our website www.acplgp.net and contain new elements related to the Objective 1.

About Objective 1: Interventions in developing countries

· The overarching objective is the strengthening of civil society and local authorities in partner countries.

· The programme can finance either local interventions (in-country) or global (multi-country/multi-region) interventions.

· Calls for proposals and contracts will be managed by EC delegations for local interventions and by the EC headquarter (EuropeAid) for global interventions. Local interventions in East Timor and Liberia will also be managed by EuropeAid.

· All actions to be supported under the objective 1 must include an element of capacity building.

· All actions should be based on an initiative of local partners and should ensure their involvement during all the states of the action implementation. NSA or LA originating from the EU which propose an action must demonstrate an established and effective partnership with local organisations in the partner countries where the actions are taking place.

· The system of restricted calls for proposals will be used. This means applicants will only have to submit a Concept Note. Only those who have their concept note pre-selected, will be invited to submit the complete application form.

In-country intervention:Deadline for submission of the Concept Notes: 26 January for Congo Brazzaville, 3 February for East Timor & Liberia, 26 February for Rwanda

Definition: action taking place in a single partner country

Applications must be submitted in accordance with the guidance given in the call for proposals seen at: EuropeAid/127762/C/ACT/Multi

Specific objectives:

· Benefit populations out of reach of mainstream services and resources and excluded from policy making processes;

· Strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations and local authorities in partner countries, with a view to facilitating their participation in defining sustainable development strategies and in implementing actions aiming at poverty reduction;

· Facilitate interaction between state and non-state actors in different contexts and support an increased role for local authorities in decentralisation processes.

Activities: Interventions can comprise small-scale local development activities in various sectors including:

· Innovative approaches of NSA and LA in the provision of social and other services (notably in the field of economic as wells as rural and urban development);

· Institutional and technical support (internal governance, dialogue, strengthening of implementation and networking capacities, etc.);

· Advocacy and monitoring of public policy making and implementation;

· Awareness raising and policy research (data gathering, etc.) aimed at a better formulation, implementation and evaluation of development policies at all levels.

Eligible countries:

Only 12 ACP countries are eligible to the in-country intervention if one considers the budget line BL 21.03.02 specific to LA. However LA can develop a partnership with NSA in their country in order to get access to the budget line BL 21.03.01 earmarked for NSA. This will bring the number of eligible ACP countries to 35 as shown in the table below. Therefore LA are strongly advised to look for NSA from their country and present a common project either under the budget line for NSA or for LA.

* For these countries, the call for proposals will be launched and managed locally. As the EC delegations of these countries do not have website, you have to contact them directly and also regularly check the EuropeAid website at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-s...

** For these countries the call for proposals is open now and will be managed by EuropeAid

Co-financing rule: the maximum rate of EC co-financing of the action total eligible costs is 90% for actors from developing countries and 75% for actors from the EU

Grant size: minimum Euro 20.000 and maximum Euro 1.000.000

Duration of the action: minimum 12 months and maximum 60 months

Indicative budget: Euro 14,3 million are allocated to local authorities from the 2008 budget (out of which Euro 4,7 million is earmarked for ACP local authorities). As far as NSA are concerned Euro 134.4 million are earmarked to them out of which Euro 53,3 million for NSA from the ACP. In the case the merging of the 2008 and 2009 budgets is confirmed, all these amounts will be doubled.

Multi-country intervention: Deadline for submission of the Concept Notes 10 February 2009

Definition: actions in at least 2 partner countries including the above mentioned eligible countries, which means all ACP countries are eligible to the multi-country intervention. Priority will be given to actions targeting Least Developed Countries. Associations of local authorities are eligible.

Applications must be submitted in accordance with the guidance given in the call for proposals seen at: EuropeAid/127764/C/ACT/Multi

Specific objective: aiming at improving the capacity of local authorities from partner countries to engage in local, national and international decision making processes.

Priorities: Priority will be given to:

· Actions which fall traditionally under the mandate, statutory responsibilities, competence and expertise of LA, also actions providing innovative service delivery, as well as actions aiming at fighting urban poverty;

· Actions exploring synergies between LA and NSA by building the capacity of local governments and enabling people and their community organisations to interact with their local governments;

· Actions aiming at strengthening the capacity of LA and their associations at national, regional and international level to increase their role in decentralisation processes, as well as actions aiming at increasing recognition of local authorities as partners in regional development and integration policies;

· Actions aiming at strengthening linkages, partnerships, associations and networking (North-South and South-South) between LA, particularly as regards associations or transnational networks in partner countries.

Co-financing rule: the maximum rate of EC co-financing of the action total eligible costs is 90% for actors from developing countries and 75% for actors from the EU

Grant size: minimum Euro 500.000 and maximum Euro 2.000.000

Duration of the action: minimum 24 months and maximum 60 months

Indicative budget: Euro 12,7 million are allocated to local authorities from the 2008 budget (out of which Euro 7,8 million is earmarked for LA from the ACP and Cuba). In the case the merging of the 2008 and 2009 budgets is confirmed, these amounts will be doubled.

The following information concerns both in-country and multi-country interventions

How to apply and the procedures to follow

· In the first instance, only Concept Notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, applicants whose concept notes have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a Full Application Form.

· The PADOR system: Prior registration in the PADOR system (Potential Applicant Data On-Line Registration) http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/onlineservic... is obligatory both for applicants and partners. Applicants must complete all the sections presented in PADOR with the exception of the section ''Strategy and Methodology''. The partners must complete all PADOR sections with the exception of the sections ''Board of Directors'' and ''Strategy and Methodology''. All the required supporting documents for both applicants and partners, with the exception of the annual activity reports of the applicant organisations, should be uploaded in PADOR by the Concept Note submission deadline. The EuropeAid ID number (assigned upon registration in PADOR) of the applicant organisation as well as that of any partner organisation must be indicated in the Concept Note.

However, the applicant can submit a request for derogation concerning its registration in PADOR and/or that of any partner(s). In this case, it is compulsory for the applicant and/or the partner(s) concerned to complete the PADOR Derogation Pack (Annex J to the Guidelines) and to send it together with the Concept Note to the address indicated in section 2.2.2. of the Guidelines. The justification for derogation must be based on the objective impossibility of the applicant and/or its partner(s) to register in PADOR. This objective impossibility should go beyond the control of the applicant and/or its partner(s) and, in principle, be of a general nature (i.e. not attributable to the specific circumstances of the applicant and/or its partner(s) themselves). The applicant should provide, where possible, supporting documents substantiating its request. Any derogation granted will apply only to the specific call for proposals in the context of which it was requested. All questions related to the registration in PADOR should be addressed to the PADOR help desk: europeaid-on-line-registration-hd@ec.europa.eu

· Concept Notes must be submitted in one of the following Community languages: English, French, Spanish or Portuguese, whichever is commonly used in the country of origin of the target population.

· In the Concept Note, the applicants must only provide an estimate of the total eligible costs of the action together with the amount of contribution and percentage requested from the European Commission. Only the applicants invited to submit a full proposal in the second phase will be required to present a detailed budget. This detailed budget may not vary from the initial estimate by more than 20%.

· Any error or major discrepancy related to the points listed in the guidance on the Concept Note may lead to the rejection of the Concept Note.

· Hand-written Concept Notes will not be accepted.

· The Concept Note together with the Checklist for the Concept Note (Part A, section II of the Grant Application Form) and the Declaration by the applicant for the Concept Note (Part A, section III of the Grant Application Form) must be submitted in one paper original in A4 format.

· Concept Notes must be submitted as well in electronic format (CD-Rom). The electronic version must be identical to the submitted paper version.

· Concept Notes sent by any other means (e.g. by fax or by email) or delivered to other addresses will be rejected.

· Only the Concept Note form will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that this document contains ALL relevant information concerning the action. No additional annexes should be submitted.

Further information for Concept Notes

Questions concerning this call for proposals may be sent by email no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of Concept Notes to: EuropeAid-GlobalCalls@ec.europa.eu . Replies will be given no later than 11 days before the deadline. In addition, during the course of the evaluation procedure important notices to applicants may be published on EuropeAid's website at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-s... , as the need arises. The applicants are therefore strongly encouraged to regularly consult this webpage.

Evaluation of Concept Notes

The evaluation of the Concept Notes that have passed the first administrative check will cover the relevance of the action, its merits and effectiveness, its viability and sustainability. The Concept Note will be given an overall score out of 50 points in accordance with the following breakdown:

- Relevance of the action: 15 points

- Effectiveness and feasibility of the action: 25 points

- Sustainability of the action: 10 points

· Firstly, only the Concept Notes which have been given a score of a minimum of 12 points in the category "Relevance" as well as a minimum total score of 30 points will be considered for pre-selection.

· Secondly, the list of Concept Notes will be reduced in accordance to the ranking to those whose sum of requested contributions amounts to at least two times the available budget for this Call for Proposals, taking into account the indicative financial envelopes foreseen. Applicants whose proposals have been pre-selected will subsequently be invited to submit Full Application Forms.

18/12/2008