EU Aid Volunteers Deployment EACEA/08/2017

Deadline: Jun 6, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

Projects for deployment of senior and junior EU Aid Volunteers
to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries,
with a focus on strengthening the capacity and resilience of vulnerable and disaster affected communities and implementing organisations

 

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

The Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps – EU Aid Volunteers (hereinafter referred to as 'the EU Aid Volunteers' initiative)1 and related legislation2 establish a framework for joint contributions from European volunteers to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries.

The present call for proposals will provide funding to support actions aimed at deployment of EU Aid Volunteers to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries in projects focusing on disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and linking relief rehabilitation and development.

2. OBJECTIVES

The objective of the call is to fund projects involving the deployment of EU Aid Volunteers. These projects will contribute to strengthening the Union's capacity to provide needs-based humanitarian aid aimed at strengthening the capacity and resilience of vulnerable and disaster-affected communities in third countries by focusing on disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and enhancing the link between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD). In addition, these projects may also strengthen the capacities of implementing sending and hosting organisations participating or intending to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative, including in tools and methods of early warning for disasters.

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

 

 

 

525 junior/senior volunteers deployed to communities in vulnerable and disaster- affected third countries;
For junior professionals: possibility to take part in apprenticeship placements in EU before deployment;

Opportunities for online volunteering to support or complement the project activities; Projects funded under this call provide synergies and complementarity to EU-funded operations in humanitarian aid or civil protection in the respective countries/regions.

 

3. TIMETABLE

Publication of the call

March 2017

 

 

Deadline for submitting applications

06/06/2017 12PM Brussels time

 

 

Evaluation period

June-July 2017

 

 

Information to applicants

September 2017

 

 

Signature of grant agreement

October 2017

 

Starting date of the action

01/12/2017

 

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 12 600 000.

The maximum grant will be EUR 1 400 000. Grant requests below EUR 100 000 will not be considered for funding. The Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency (hereinafter referred to as "EACEA") expects to fund 12 proposals.

The EACEA reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

- they must be submitted no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3 of the present call for proposals;

- they must be submitted 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, a balanced budget and must be accompanied by all the documents referred to on the website where the application form is available: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding_en.

Failure to comply with these requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

In order to submit an application, applicants and associates 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 and associate already has a PIC that has been used for previous grant applications to EACEA or other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals.

A PIC number is automatically generated. In case of selection, the applicants will be requested to submit relevant supporting documents relating to their legal and financial status.

The Participant Portal allows applicants, 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

All organisations involved in the project will be referred to hereafter as the "consortium".

All applicants involved in applying within this call, and acting as either sending or hosting organisations, must be certified under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative. (Please refer to the Section 14.3 Certification mechanism).

The organisation applying on behalf of all applicants (coordinator) must be a certified EU sending organisation under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

The remaining applicants are either certified sending or certified hosting organisations under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

Project proposals involving sending and hosting organisations that have applied for certification before the deadline for submitting applications (Section 3.b) will be included in the eligibility check and evaluation phases. However the selection of these project proposals would be subject to the outcome of the certification process.

In order to maximise the chance that the decision on your application is taken in due time, it is highly recommended to apply for certification on or before 12/05/2017.

A project consortium must involve at least two certified sending organisations from two different countries and two certified hosting organisations.

Non-certified organisations specialised in any areas relevant to the objectives or the actions of the project may be involved as partner in the consortium in order to contribute with their

specific expertise (Article 8(3) Delegated Regulation). Such organisations have to meet the criteria as defined in the Regulation, Article 10(3) or Article 10(4).

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.

Additionally, the project may benefit from the involvement of associated partners. These specialised organisations contribute to the implementation of specific tasks/activities and/or support the dissemination and sustainability of the project.

They have no contractual relationship with the EACEA and do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in this section. If the application is selected for funding, associates will not receive a portion of the grant through the coordinator. They may be for example private for profit companies, universities etc. The associates have to obtain their PIC and be mentioned in the application form (eForm).

6.2. Eligible activities

Activities supported under this call must include:
Deployment of senior and junior EU Aid Volunteers to humanitarian aid projects in the area of disaster risk reduction, preparedness and LRRD in third countries based on identified needs. This includes selection, recruitment and preparation of EU Aid Volunteers and communication activities in compliance with the Communication Plan of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

Activities to support the implementation of the main action may include:

•   Apprenticeship placements for junior volunteers in EU sending organisations

•   Capacity building of vulnerable, disaster affected communities and local organisations

•   Capacity building of hosting organisations

•   Technical assistance for sending organisations

•   Activities to promote involvement of online volunteers as well as employee volunteers

  to support the actions of the EU Aid Volunteers

  Project activities may include:

•   information, communication and public awareness

•   hazard, risk analysis and early warning

•   contingency planning and preparedness for response

•   protection of livelihoods, assets and small scale mitigation works

  Activities within capacity building and technical assistance may include:

•   Activities to build / strengthen capacities

•   Study / scoping visits to refine and finalise needs assessment of the action

•   Seminars and workshops

•   Job-shadowing

•   Twinning arrangements and exchange of staff

•   Exchange of knowledge, organisational learning and good practice

•   Study visits

•   Activities to foster partnership building

•   Activities to assist organisations in meeting the Core Humanitarian Standards

•   Activities to strengthen regional cooperation

•   (only for technical assistance) Coaching and mentoring of key sending organisation paid staff and volunteers

•   (only for capacity building) Training courses for third country trainers/coaches/mentors/multipliers

•   (only for capacity building) Study visits of up to 3 months for key paid staff or volunteers from third countries to be based in EU applicant/partner organisations

Capacity building activities should be undertaken by senior volunteers or junior volunteers with significant experience in capacity building and supervised by a senior professional.

On-line volunteering activities should be related to the project and shall be implemented via the EU Aid Volunteers Platform managed by the Commission.

 

6.3. Eligible candidate volunteers

Sending and hosting organisations shall adhere to the standards and procedures regarding candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers as provided by Regulation (EU) No 375/2014, Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1398/2014 and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1244/2014.

The following persons having a minimum age of 18 years shall be eligible to apply as candidate volunteers:

•   citizens of the European Union; and

•   third country nationals who are long-term residents in a Member State.

  Candidate volunteers can be:

•   junior professionals, in particular recent graduates with less than five years'

  professional experience and less than five years' experience in humanitarian action; and

•   senior professionals with five years' professional experience in positions of responsibility or expert positions.

Selection of candidate volunteers is undertaken by sending and hosting organisations in conformity with Implementing Regulation (Chapter 2). Selected candidate volunteers must participate in the mandatory training programme provided within the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.3 Only those candidate volunteers who successfully pass this training and assessment will be eligible for deployment as EU Aid Volunteers.

In addition, junior candidate EU Aid Volunteers who will be required by sending and hosting organisations to undertake an apprenticeship placement must also successfully pass this training and assessment.

Training courses for EU Aid Volunteers selected under this call for proposals will take place between April and July 2018. When planning activities, applicants to this call for proposals must take these dates into account when planning their workflow and timetable (i.e. advertising of deployment vacancies; shortlisting candidate volunteers for potential deployment; on-line training of candidates for at least 2 weeks; on-site training of candidate volunteers over 10-12 days; start of apprenticeship/deployment placements). Organisations should therefore be ready to publish their vacancies at least 3 months ahead of the start of the training course.

6.4. Eligible activity venue and timeframe

Apprenticeship placements prior to deployment (only for junior volunteers) must take place in one of the sending organisations participating in the project for a maximum duration of 6 months, where possible in a country other than their country of origin.

Deployment placements can range between 1 month as a minimum and 18 months as a maximum.

An indicative list of third countries for 2017 for deployments and capacity building in third countries has been defined prior to the call according to a needs assessment methodology similar to that for humanitarian aid actions but excluding areas with on-going armed conflict. This list plus details of the methodology can be found under the following link: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding_en

This list can be modified due to the events that could endanger the security and safety of volunteers.

The project activities can take place beyond the partner countries as long as the countries concerned are also on the list of countries mentioned above.

Projects must start on 1 December 2017 with a maximum duration of 24 months.

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

However, if after the signing of the agreement and the start of the project it becomes impossible for the beneficiary, for fully justified reasons, to complete the project within the scheduled period, an extension of the eligibility period may be granted.
A maximum extension of three additional months can be granted, if requested before the deadline specified in the agreement. The maximum duration will then be 27 months.

6.5. Meetings

Shortly after the start of projects accepted for funding, a meeting will be convened in early 2018 by the EACEA/Commission in Brussels to share project work-plans and activities, to facilitate networking between sending organisations, and to introduce the EU Aid Volunteers Platform which is an essential project management tool. A maximum of 1 participant per sending organisation should attend this meeting. Travel and subsistence costs related to this 1- day meeting in Brussels are eligible costs and need to be taken into account in budget planning.

6.6. 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 participation4

An applicant will be excluded from participating in calls for proposals procedure, if it is in any of the following situations:
a) it is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under national legislation or regulations;

b) it has been established by a final judgement or a final administrative decision that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with those of the country in which the authorising officer is located or those of the country of the implementation of the grant;

c) it has been established by a final judgement or a final administrative decision that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;

(ii) entering into agreement with other persons with the aim of distorting competition; (iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the EACEA during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

d) it has been established by a final judgement that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of EU Member States, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, and in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as defined in the legal provisions of the country where the authorising officer is located, the country in which the applicant is established or the country of the implementation of the grant;

(iii) participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

iv) money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(v) terrorist-relatedoffencesoroffenceslinkedtoterroristactivities,asdefinedinArticles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

(vi) child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

e) it has shown significant deficiencies in complying with the main obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union’s budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an Authorising Officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

f) it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that the applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95;
g) in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the applicant is in one of the cases provided in (c) to (f) above based in particular on :

i. facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;

ii. non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;

iii. decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;

iv. decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition rules or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.

v. decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

(h) where a person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the applicant, or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant (this covers the company directors, members of the management or supervisory bodies, and cases where one person holds a majority of shares), is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (f) above.

(i) where a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) above.

If an applicant is in one of the situations of exclusion listed above, it should indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. They may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines. This does not apply for the situations referred in point (d) of this section.

In the cases provided in (c) to (f) above, in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the Agency may exclude an applicant provisionally from participating in a call for proposals where their participation would constitute a serious and imminent threat to the Union's financial interests.

7.2. Rejection from the award procedure

An applicant will not be awarded a grant for this procedure if
(a) it is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with the above section 7.1;
(b) it has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information;
(c) it was previously involved in the preparation of a call for proposals where this entails a

distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

Rejection from this procedure and administrative sanctions (exclusion or financial penalty) may be imposed on applicants or affiliated entities where applicable, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure prove to be false.

The applicants should be informed that the EACEA may publish on its internet site the following information related to the exclusion and, where applicable, the financial penalty in the cases referred to in points (c), (d), (e) and (f) of the section 7.15:

(a) the name of the applicant concerned;
(b) the exclusion situation;
(c) the duration of the exclusion and/or the amount of the financial penalty.

In case of a preliminary classification in law (i.e. absence of a final judgement or a final administrative decision), the publication shall indicate that there is no final judgement or final administrative decision. In those cases, information about any appeals by the applicant, their status and their outcome, as well as any revised decision of the authorised officer, shall be published without delay. Where a financial penalty has been imposed, the publication shall also indicate whether that penalty has been paid.

The decision to publish the information is taken by the EACEA either following the relevant final judgement, final administrative decision or preliminary classification in law, as the case may be. That decision shall take effect three months after its notification to the economic operator.

The information published shall be removed as soon as the exclusion has come to an end. In the case of a financial penalty, the publication shall be removed six months after payment of that penalty.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, where personal data is concerned, the EACEA shall inform the applicant of its rights under the applicable data protection rules and of the procedures available for exercising those rights.

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 attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals. If applicable, the relevant documentary evidence which appropriately illustrates any remedial measures taken should be provided in annex to this declaration. The declaration is 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 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) Grant for an action lower than EUR 750 000: - 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.

b) Grant for an action greater than EUR 750 000 in addition to the above:

- an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available.

In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the thresholds mentioned in point a) shall apply to the coordinator while the threshold mentioned in b) shall apply to each applicant.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the EACEA 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);

- where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries; - reject the application.
8.2. Operational capacity

Applicants and all partners must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications and experience necessary to complete the proposed action. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour and applicants and all partners have to fill in the specific part in the application form available on the website https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding_en

 

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 action 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;

•   the action demonstrates that it is based on a thorough needs assessment following the rules established by the Delegated Regulation 1398/2014, in particular Article 10 thereof);

•   the action provides synergies and complementarity to EU-funded operations in humanitarian aid or civil protection in the respective countries/regions.

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

•   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. logic of intervention); feasibility of the project within the proposed time frame;

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

•   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;

Impact and dissemination (maximum 20 points):

•   The potential impact of the project on participants and partner organisations, during and after the project lifetime using the indicators defined in legislation (Reg 375/2014, article 7) of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative;

•   The quality of measures for evaluating the impact of the project and for assuring the sustainability of the project;

•   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 based on the EU Aid Volunteers initiative's Communication Plan;

•   European dimension: the range of EU countries represented in the consortium; the number of nationalities6 of EU Aid Volunteers; the extent to which results serve the interest of a large number of participating states 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.

 

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the EACEA, 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 EACEA immediately. The EACEA 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.

6 The term 'nationalities' should be used in accordance with the Article 11, Regulation EU no 375/2014 of 3 April 2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps ('EU Aid Volunteers initiative').

A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate the need to start the action before the grant agreement is signed.

In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application.

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 (excluding in-kind contribution),

- 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 on the Infor-euro 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 2014/24/EU7 or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive 2014/25/EU8 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 EACEA must be obtained.

f) Financial support to third parties (volunteers' allowances)

The applications may envisage provision of financial support to third parties. In such case the applications must include:

- an exhaustive list of the types of activities for which a third party may receive financial support (as they are defined in Section 6.2),

- the definition of the persons or categories of persons which may receive financial support (as they are defined in Section 6.3),

- the criteria for awarding financial support (to be explained in the application form),

- the maximum amount to be granted to each third party and the criteria for determining it (to be detailed in the estimated budget form).

The amount of financial support per third party must not exceed EUR 60 000.

11.2. Funding form: Mixed financing

The funding of the actions awarded under this call combines unit costs together with the reimbursement of a specified proportion of the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary with flat-rate financing covering overheads.

 Maximum amount requested
The financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed EUR 1 400 000. It is limited to 85% of

the direct eligible costs of the action and 100% of unit costs.

Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimated budget must be financed from sources other than the EU 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 EACEA does not constitute an undertaking to award a grant equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary.

 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 revenues declared in respect of the action with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

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 (see Section 6), are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly, such as:

- medical checks, vaccination costs; - security checks costs;
- visa and visa-related costs;
- accommodation costs;

- mentoring costs;
- post-deployment debriefing costs;

- costs of travel from home to the venue of the action and return provided that they are in line with the beneficiary's usual practices on travel;

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

- travel and subsistence costs for a 1-day meeting in Brussels for 1 representative per sending organisation involved in the project;

- depreciation cost of equipment (new or second-hand), only the portion of the equipment's depreciation corresponding to the duration of the action and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account by the EACEA, except where the nature and/or the context of its use justifies different treatment by the EACEA;

- costs for the development of online volunteer opportunities dully justified;

- with regard to corporate volunteering only costs relating to the promotion activities will be eligible;

- activity costs arising directly from requirements linked to the performance of the action (venue rent, equipment hire, specific evaluation of the action etc.);

- communication and dissemination costs – visibility and exploitation of results and follow-up activities;

- 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;

- costs relating to a pre-financing guarantee lodged by the beneficiary of the grant, where required;

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

- non-deductible value added tax ("VAT") for all activities which are not activities of the public authorities in the Member States;

- a contingency reserve equivalent to EUR 1 000 per volunteer to be deployed;

- 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 or co- beneficiary, and staff costs of other organisations is 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 costs of human resources to manage activities related to online volunteering are also eligible. The human resources costs should not exceed 30% of the total direct eligible costs.

Eligible indirect costs (overheads)

- a flat-rate amount, up 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.

Reimbursement on the basis of unit costs: Subsistence allowances for EU Aid Volunteers

The amounts requested to cover the subsistence allowances for EU Aid Volunteers, as they are foreseen in art. 13 and 25 of the Implementing Regulation 1244/20149, must be based on the unit costs which are published on the EACEA website under the following link: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding_en

 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 EACEA 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;

- deployment/apprenticeship insurance costs, as insurance cover is provided within the overall EU Aid Volunteers initiative insurance scheme;

- costs related to the development of any project websites or IT platform including for on-line volunteering.

 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
- verification of the implementation of the tasks to be reimbursed on the basis of unit costs. - approval of the request for payment accompanied by

i) a final report providing details of the implementation and results of the action, and ii) the final financial statement of costs actually incurred.

In case of:
- Grants for an action of more than EUR 60.000, but less than EUR 750.000

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.

In case of:
- Grants for an action of more than EUR 750.000

The beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a “Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report - Type II” produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer. The certificate shall certify, in accordance with a methodology approved by the Agency, that the costs declared by the beneficiary in the financial statements on which the request for payment is based are real, accurately recorded and eligible in accordance with the grant agreement or grant decision.

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_iv_guidance_notes_audit_type_ii_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 EACEA 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.

 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 EACEA 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 EACEA 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. 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

Partner organisations and volunteers must raise awareness on the EU Aid Volunteers programme as an example of European solidarity and in line with the EU Aid Volunteers communication plan: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/en/what/humanitarian-aid/eu-aid-volunteers.

The communication plan outlines the communication objectives and key communication messages to be used at all levels. The plan provides further detailed descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of all participating stakeholders in the communication strategy and recommends activities for all participants in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative throughout the project cycle.

All communication and dissemination material and activities must use the EU Aid Volunteers visual identity so as to identify the volunteers as part of the EU Aid Volunteers programme and raise awareness about the European dimension of their identity. Guidance on how to apply the EU Aid Volunteers visual identity can be found in the EUAV visibility guidelines: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/library_en

Furthermore, the following text acknowledging the EU's contribution to projects must be used in all material 'with the support of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative of the European Union'.

In addition to the relevant text and the EU Aid Volunteers visual identity, EACEA 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.

If these requirements are not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement.

12.2. By the EACEA and/or the European 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 EACEA and/or the European 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 level10 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.11

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_statem ent.pdf

Applicants and, if they are legal entities, persons who are members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of that applicant or who have powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant, or natural or legal persons that assume unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant, are informed that, their personal data (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 Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) by the Authorising Officer of the Agency, should they be in one of the situations mentioned in the 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 of 26.10.2012, p. 1) as amended by the Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2015/1929 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 October 2015 (OJ L 286, 30.10.2015, p. 1).

 

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 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 associates 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 documents 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. Certification

Before submitting an electronic application, all applicants and partners acting as sending or hosting organisation will have to be certified under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

Project proposals involving sending and hosting organisations that have applied for certification before the deadline for submitting applications (Section 3.b) will be included in the eligibility check and evaluation phases. However the selection of these project proposals would be subject to the outcome of the certification process.

Details about the certification mechanism can be found at:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eu-aid-volunteers/funding/certification-mechanism-for-sending- and-hosting-organisations_en

Please note that the certification process can take up to six months as of receipt of the application. In order to maximise the chance that the decision on your application is taken in due time, it is highly recommended to apply for certification on or before 12/05/2017.

14.4. Submission of the grant application

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

Applicants are requested to log in at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/documents/eforms_en and follow the procedure for submitting an application.

The electronic application form duly completed must be submitted by 12:00 (mid-day, Brussels time) on 6 June 2017.

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 EACEA may contact the applicant for this purpose during the evaluation process.

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

Please note that no more than one project proposal can be submitted by the same applicant under this call for proposals.

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

14.5. 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 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p.1) as amended by the Regulation (EU, Euratom) N° 2015/1929 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 October 2015 (OJ L 286, 30.10.2015, p. 1).

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) N° 1268/2012 of 29 October 2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) N° 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) as amended by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) N° 2015/2462 of 30 October 2015 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L 342, 29.12.2015, p. 7).

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, 24.04.2014, p.1)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1244/2014 of 20 November 2014 laying down rules for the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’) (OJ L 334, 21.11.2014, p. 1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1398/2014 of 24 October 2014 laying down standards regarding candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers (OJ L 373, 31.12.2014, p. 1)

14.6. Contact

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

 

Indicative List1 of Third Countries for Deployment under EU Aid Volunteers Initiative 2017

Albania Gambia Nauru Algeria* Georgia* Nepal Angola Ghana Nicaragua Antigua and Barbuda Guatemala* Palau Argentina Guinea Palestine* Armenia* Guinea-Bissau Panama Azerbaijan* Guyana Papua New Guinea* Belarus Haiti Paraguay Belize Honduras* Peru Benin India* Rwanda* Bhutan Indonesia* Samoa Bolivia Iran* Senegal Bosnia and Herzegovina Jamaica Serbia* Botswana Jordan* Seychelles Brazil Kazakhstan Sierra Leone Burkina Faso* Kenya* Solomon Islands Burundi* Kiribati South Africa* Cabo Verde Korea DPR Sri Lanka Cambodia Kosovo Suriname Chile Kyrgyzstan Swaziland China Lao PDR Tajikistan Colombia* Lebanon* Tanzania Comoros Lesotho Thailand* Congo Liberia Timor-Leste Congo DR* Madagascar* Togo Costa Rica Malawi Tonga Côte d'Ivoire* Malaysia Tunisia Cuba Maldives Turkey* Djibouti Mali* Turkmenistan Dominica Marshall Islands Tuvalu Dominican Republic Mauritania* Uganda* Ecuador Mauritius Ukraine** Egypt* Micronesia Uzbekistan El Salvador* Moldova Republic of Vanuatu Equatorial Guinea Mongolia Venezuela* Eritrea* Montenegro Viet Nam Ethiopia* Morocco Zambia Fiji Mozambique Zimbabwe FYROM Myanmar* Gabon Namibia

* Subject to additional security advice at time of publication of vacancy and at time of deployment if necessary. Please note that the place of deployment may need to be changed if the security situation in a country deteriorates considerably. **Volunteers shall not be deployed to Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and Crimea.

1 If deployments to other contries are envisaged, please contact EACEA-EUAID-VOLUNTEERS@ec.europa.eu

 

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