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ACTIVE CITIZENS FUND – SMALL PROJECTS - ENHANCED CAPACITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF CIVIL SOCIETY (ORGANISATIONS AND THE SECTOR)
Deadline: Oct 30, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

 Capacity Building
 Social Affaires and Inclusion
 Sustainable Development
 EEA and Norway Grants

Understanding on the Implementation of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021” between Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway (the Donor States) and Portugal, in force since 22 May 2017.

The Financial Mechanism Office, the programme operator of the Active Citizens Fund in Portugal, has selected the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as Fund Operator in Portugal, in consortium with the Bissaya Barreto Foundation. The Active Citizens Fund is operated in Portugal under the terms and conditions of the ‘Programme Implementation Agreement’ (PIA), signed on 9 July 2018.

The present call for applications lays down the specifications to apply for small projects under Outcome 4 of the Programme – “Enhanced capacity and sustainability of civil society (organisations and the sector)”, one of the four areas of the Active Citizens Fund in Portugal as set forth in Article 3 of the Programme Rules.

Applications shall be submitted online through activecitizensfund.pt and shall follow the evaluation and selection procedures detailed on this notice.

Without prejudice to the specifications contained in this notice, the provisions of the Programme Rules shall apply fully to this call for applications and should therefore be consulted by applicants, especially regarding the rules on eligibility of applicants and the selection procedures. The Programme Rules, the Promoter’s Manual and other useful information can be found on the Programme’s website.

 

1. Objectives

1.1  The projects to be selected under this Outcome shall aim primarily at enhancing the capacity and sustainability of civil society and shall consider the overall objectives of the Programme as set forth in Article 2 of the Programme Rules.

1.2  In order to attain the above-mentioned objectives, the present call for applications is focused on projects consisting on the elaboration of needs assessments and action plans/strategic plans for Portuguese Civil Society Organisations.

1.3 The needs assessments and the plans referred to in paragraph 1.2, must be elaborated by entities external to the promotor NGOs, with relevant know-how and experience, and should use participatory methods actively involving the promotor NGO staff, under the terms specified on the Promoter’s Manual.

1.4 Each supported project shall contribute to the output “Capacity Building provided to NGOs”, measured through the indicators set for the Programme.

1.5. The output indicator established for this call is “Number of NGOs conducting an assessment of their organisational capacity building needs and preparing action plans.”

 

2. Eligible Applicants

2.1  Project promoters must comply with the general conditions of eligibility of the Programme established in Articles 9 and 10 of the Programme Rules.

2.2  Each entity, either as promoter or as partner, must comply with the limits on accessing support established in paragraph 4 of Article 19 of the Programme Rules.

 

3. Size and duration of projects

3.1 Small projects under this area shall have a total supportable cost up to 6 000 euros, with the eligible costs of the project co-financed at a rate of up to 90%.

3.2 The maximum duration of small projects to be selected under this call for applications shall be 12 months.

 

4. Grants, eligible expenditure and financial contribution

4.1 Expenditures of entities that meet the requirements stated in Article 9 of the Programme Rules shall be eligible under the present call for applications, for the purposes of calculating the grant.

4.2 Eligible costs are those actually incurred, and paid by the project promoter according to the criteria laid down in Article 17 of the Programme Rules.

4.3 The project promoters and partner entities’ financial contribution can be provided in cash or in- kind (up to 50%) as voluntary work, calculated according to the formula set out in paragraph 4 of Article 18 of the Programme Rules.

 

5. Territorial scope

Projects under this call have to be implemented in the territories referred to in Article 8 of the Programme Rules.

 

6. Submission of applications

6.1  The applications shall be submitted, electronically, via SIPPCA (the Programme information system) using an application form available on the Programme’s website: activecitizensfund.pt.

6.2  Applications must be submitted through SIPPCA from 11 July 2018 until 30 October 2018, at 17:00 (GMT/Lisbon time).

6.3  After the electronic submission of the application form, the promoter must submit to the Programme Management Unit (PMU), by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt, an original version of the liability waiver within 10 days. This document needs to be signed by those responsible, under the law, for the entity.

6.4  The above-mentioned document shall be sent to the following address:

Programa Cidadãos Ativ@s Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Avenida de Berna, 45 A 1067-001 Lisboa – Portugal

6.5  Only complete applications that comply with the deadline to send the above-mentioned document by registered mail, shall be considered for evaluation and selection purposes. Clerical errors made during the online submission of documents may still be corrected within two working days, as mentioned in paragraph 2 of Article 22 of the Programme Rules, following the procedure indicated in the Promoter’s Manual.

6.6  Applicants are responsible for the truthfulness and authenticity of all submitted documents and are expressly informed that they may be required to present the original documents to the PMU at any stage of the application process.

 

7. Methodology of analysis, evaluation and scoring of applications

7.1  The PMU shall review the applications for compliance with the administrative and eligibility criteria set on Article 22 of the Programme Rules. Applicants whose applications are rejected at this stage shall be informed and have a period of 10 days to appeal, counted from the day after the notification. Appeals may be sent by registered mail to the address indicated on paragraph 6.4 above; received appeals shall be analysed by the PMU, which then proposes a final decision to the Board of Trustees of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

7.2  The evaluation and scoring of the applications shall be performed by two independent experts according to the following selection criteria and with the weights set in this notice as follows:

 

Criteria Weight

  1. Coherence between project’s objectives, activities, results and expected impact and clarity and appropriateness of the proposed methodology to tackle problems identified in the diagnosis (30)
  2. Experience, knowledge and skills of the appointed Project Manager (15)
  3. Relevance of the project towards achievement of Programme’s objectives and subsequent results, through the relevant outcome, including value for money (35)
  4. Project sustainability (20)

Total 100

 

7.3  The scores shall be assigned on a scale between 0 and 100 points, and the final classification of the application will be the simple average of the two scores assigned by the two independent experts except in the cases foreseen in paragraph 7.4.

7.4  If the difference between the two scores is more than 30% of the higher score, the application shall be assessed independently by a third expert, and in such cases, the final classification shall be the average of the two closest scores.

 

 

8. Selection process and reserve list

8.1  Only applications with a score equal or above 50 points may be selected to receive a grant.

8.2  After the evaluation and scoring of all candidate projects, the PMU submits the lists ranked by score to the Selection Committee. The selection will be made on the basis of the best classifications, up to the limit of the available budget.

8.3  Applications referred to in paragraph 8.1 which can not be selected under the terms of paragraph 8.2 are eligible to join the reserve list mentioned in Article 26 of the Programme Rules. The reserve list is ranked according to the score of each application up to a limit of 30% of the budget available for this call.

8.4  The list of selected projects and the reserve list are approved by the Board of Trustees of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on the basis of the recommendations made by the Selection Committee.

8.5  The Programme Manager may draw applications from the reserve list to be granted, should funding become available due to savings or unused funds in previously approved projects. The reserve list is valid for up to 4 months following the notification decision, meaning that applications which are not selected to receive a grant until that date are automatically considered as not selected.

9. Grant contracting

9.1 Promoters of selected projects shall be notified individually of the Board of Trustees’ decisions as foreseen in Article 27 of the Programme Rules.

9.2 Prior to grant contracting, the PMU shall organise meetings with promoters where they will be informed of the outcome of the technical analysis made by its staff and of the recommendations made by the independent evaluators, in order to improve, develop and/or specify the content of the project, its budget and targets as indicated in Article 28 of the Programme Rules.

9.3 Once the PMU considers the information provided sufficient and appropriate for drafting the grant contract, a grant contract is drafted and sent to the promoter, to be signed as stated in Article 28 of the Programme Rules.

9.4 The final list of selected projects and promoters is advertised on the Programme’s website - activecitizensfund.pt - upon receipt of all grant contracts signed.

 

10. Payment system

10.1 The project promoter shall inform the PMU of the bank account number (IBAN) to be associated to the implementation of the project on the terms and for the purposes set in Article 36 of the Programme Rules; this information is a prerequisite for the signing of the grant contract and the processing of any payment to the project promoter.

10.2 In derogation to the Programme Rules, and due to the specificity of this call in terms of project’s size and duration, the projects approved under this call follow a simplified payment system based on Article 39 of the Programme Rules: once the grant contract is signed by the promoter and is received by the PMU, the approved funding is disbursed with the transfer of an initial advance payment of 40% of the total approved grant, and a second advance payment of 45% when the sum of justified expenses reaches 80% of the initial advance payment. The remainder amount is paid after approval of the final project report.

 

11. Specific Support to Applicants

11.1 A specific support, as established in Article 20 of the Programme Rules, is available to applicants, that have an annual turnover up to 150 000 euros.

11.2 In addition to the condition mentioned in 11.1, applicant NGOs can only receive specific support if one of the following conditions is met:

a) They are located in under-served geographic areas (outside the Lisbon and Porto Metropolitan Areas);

b) Irrespective of the geographic areas they are located in, they have been created and are composed of youth, migrants or minority groups.

 

12. Budget Allocation

12.1 The total budget allocated to this call is 120 000 euros.

12.2 Whenever part of the budget allocated to this call isn’t fully used to fund the applications selected and the applications on the reserve list, the remainder budget is transferred to future calls of the same Outcome.

 

13. Publicity and additional information

13.1 This notice and other relevant information, including the Programme Rules, the application forms and the Promoter’s Manual, are available on the Programme’s website: activecitizensfund.pt.

13.2 Any amendments to the terms and conditions set forth in this notice shall also be publicised in the above-mentioned website, with a minimum of three working days prior to the date of its entry into force.



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