iris – iris network - introduction · web view1. annex 1.2 application form; 2. annex 1.3. tor...

This project is funded by the European Union

Consolidating Regional Thematic Networks of Civil Society Organisations

Enhancing resilience of Civil Society Organizations (CSO)

in scope of the project

„IRIS NETWORKing - CSOs for protection sensitive migration management“

Reference:

EuropeAid/154870/DH/ACT/Multi, Grant contract 2017/394311

Deadline for submission of applications: 01/02/2021.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

1

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................3

2. ELIGIBILITRY CRITERIA..........................................................................................................................3

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL.........................................................................................................................4

4. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.................................................................................................................................4

5. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF THE CALL............................................................................................................5

5.1. Eligible and non-eligible costs...........................................................................................................5

5.1.1. Eligible direct costs....................................................................................................................5

5.1.2. Non-eligible costs......................................................................................................................5

6. RULES FOR THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS...................................................................................................6

6.1. How to apply and procedure to follow?...........................................................................................6

6.2. Further information for the application............................................................................................6

7. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF THE APPLICATIONS.............................................................................6

8. INDICATIVE TIMETABLE...........................................................................................................................9

9. CAPACITY BUILDING................................................................................................................................9

10. VISIBILITY...............................................................................................................................................9

1. INTRODUCTION

This Call is launched in the framework of the regional project “IRIS NETWORKing - CSOs for protection sensitive migration management” developed by the IDC (Serbia) and its partners from ASB (Germany), SOS Podgorica (Montenegro), LIR CD (Bosnia and Herzegovina), La Strada (North Macedonia) and Initiative ARSIS (Albania) funded through European Commission programme „Consolidating Regional Thematic Networks of Civil Society Organisations” .

The Call aims to support IRIS members in capacity building actions for the purpose of enhancing organization’s abilities to develop adequate services, capabilities and skills as response to pandemic crisis. As IRIS Network members are facing unprecedented challenges from COVID-19 and the strain on the services and resources they provide is tremendous, this Grant Scheme is taking proactive steps to protect the Network members, support their ongoing activities and assist them to cope with current hardships as much as possible.

Project proposals shall aim to produce an added value to the “IRIS Networking” project’s efforts in this domain.

As a baseline for this Call, IRIS Network conducted the survey “Social services during COVID-19 pandemic in South East Europe” in order to assess the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the repercussions it will have on the provision of social services to beneficiaries provided by IRIS Network members in the local communities. Results of the survey demonstrate a strong unity among the IRIS Network members in the time of the COVID-19 crisis, especially when it comes to a unified approach toward external actors, be it government institutions, donors, stakeholders and other decision makers in relation to their support for the CSOs and their beneficiaries.

Joint advocacy initiatives toward all levels of government and the donor community are expected in the future and IRIS Network is seen as the leading voice for all. Majority of CSOs expect continuous support from the Network in facilitating dialogue between relevant stakeholders within the Network, in order to bring together those working in the same field to provide a more streamlined service.

2. ELIGIBILITRY CRITERIA

Small Grant Scheme is open only to IRIS national networks member organizations from 5 countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, especially grass roots,


3

those who show initiative in implementing quality standards in their work, have active approach to policy making and advocacy during project implementation.

2.1.Civil society/grass-root organizations fulfilling the following criteria are eligible to apply:

Be IRIS Network member in 5 target countries; Be a recognized, legal non-profit making entity under the relevant laws; Have independent decision-making mechanisms (i.e. are not established by governmental

institution, nor have members of governmental institution in their decision making bodies); Registered and operating within the target countries at least for 1 year before this Call for

proposals is launched; Have headquarter and operate in one of 5 target countries of this project; Have a clearly defined focus for improvement of delivery of the social services, services for

migrants, advocacy and policy influencing; Directly responsible for the preparation/management of the project, and not to act as a

mediator.

Note: Individuals, political parties, international and foreign organizations, religious communities, organizations founded or steered by public/governmental institutions do not have the right to participate in this Call for proposals as an applicant.

2.4. Location

Location of the project implementation is Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Projects must target activities in identified countries.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE CALLThe overall objective of the SGS is to build capacities of the grass-root organizations for service provision and advocacy at the local and/or national level, as well as to have outreach in the communities for the purpose of building a more resilient and inclusive society, bringing positive change in the community.

The grants will fund activities aimed at supporting the concrete implementation capacity building actions for service provision of the IRIS member CSOs.

Projects design should address needs for different expert services: information technologies (IT), communication, advocacy, psycho-social support, licencing, etc.

4. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES


4

Project applicant should contract expert(s) in order to help them implement eligible activities. Types of eligible activities:

Introduction and maintaining of online services, improvement of IT tools used for the provision of services, enhancing participation of target groups, and enabling effective daily work of the organizations;

Improving communication, visibility and outreach toward stakeholders using online platforms, tools, participation mechanisms and other innovative approaches;

Development of new and/or improvement of quality of the existing services in response to COVID-19 pandemic;

Development and/or improvement of strategic documents; Building citizens' capacities for active participation in advocacy initiatives; Psycho-social assistance to the target group(s) and/or in-house assistance; Adjusting service(s) to the ongoing COVID/19 situation, licensing, mentoring and increasing

quality standards; Conducting empirical surveys to serve as a baseline for advocacy initiatives; Advocacy campaigns including awareness rising and promotion of the adopted laws; Monitoring of local/ national laws and strategies, international commitments;

5. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF THE CALL

Funding will be provided for minimum 10 projects lasting up to 2 months maximum. The maximum amount of € 2,400 per project will be awarded.

Funding will be distributed based on the principle the quality of the applications.

Requested sum in framework of this call is 100% of eligible costs.

5.1. Eligible and non-eligible costs

5.1.1. Eligible direct costs Costs of experts and consultant services.

5.1.2. Non-eligible costs

All other costs shall not be considered as eligible.


5

Note: VAT are not eligible costs and are to be covered by Beneficiary.

6. RULES FOR THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS

6.1. How to apply and procedure to follow?

Project proposals should be written English language. Applicant must submit filled application package consisted of:1. Annex 1.2 Application form;2. Annex 1.3. ToR for the expert service(s).3. Scanned copy of Registration of the organization;

All documents should be submitted in electronic format, with scanned pages where signature and stamp is needed.

Applications should be sent to email address [email protected] no later than 01/02/2021 at 17.00, with email subject stating “Call for proposal for the Enhancing resilience of Civil Society Organizations (CSO)”. Every Application received by email shall be sent reply email acknowledging the reception of the Applications.

Incomplete applications, applications sent after deadline, applications submitted by any other means and/or forms than provided in this document will not be taken in consideration. Evidence of project proposal submission will be time of e-mail reception.

6.2. Further information for the application

In case of additional information required, questions may be sent by email to [email protected] no later than 10/01/2021 with email subject “Questions on the Call for proposal for the Small Grants Scheme – IIRIS Networking”. The Contracting Authority has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after this date. Answers will be available no later than 15/01/2021.

Answers will be published on the IRIS Network project web site www.iris-see.eu. In order to ensure equal treatment of applicants, the Contracting Authority cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants and project or specific activities.

7. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF THE APPLICATIONS

The projects presented will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee composed of staff members of the ASB and IDC. The procedure shall be based on the underlying principles of grant award procedures, which are transparency, non-retroactivity, non-cumulative awards, not-for-profit and non-discrimination.


6

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria: • the relevance and added value of the project with regard to the implementation of “IRIS Networking” project;• the extent to which the action meets the requirements of the call;• the quality, accuracy, clarity, completeness and cost-effectiveness of the application, ToR and the estimated budget; • sustainability of the action;

List of supported projects will be published on web site www.iris-see.eu.

It is important that the Application provide information about the relevance of the project, motivation of the organization to accept new knowledge and skills and to demonstrate organizational capacities to implement proposed activities. Applicants are advised to pay special attention to the relevance of the project objectives and priorities of these Guidelines, feasibility of activities, active involvement of stakeholders and a realistic pricing. If the examination of the Application reveals that the proposed project does not meet the eligibility criteria as stated in these Guidelines, the Application will be rejected on this basis. If the deadline has not being met, the application will automatically be rejected. If any of the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the application may be rejected and will not be evaluated further.

The evaluation criteria are divided into subheadings. Each subheading will be given a score between 1 and 5 as follows: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good. Better quality proposals will receive higher scores.

Once all applications have been assessed, a list will be drawn up with the proposed actions ranked according to their total score received. After the evaluation of the Application, the Contracting Authority will send letters of notification only to selected (successful) applicants. If any of the selected applicants should for any reason do not enter the programme, the first following applicant from the list will be offered to replace it. Upon the final list created, non-selected applicant will receive letter of notification.


7

http://www.iris-see.eu/

Evaluation table:

1. EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS1.1 How relevant is the proposal to the objectives and priorities of the Call for Proposals?

5x2

1.2. Are the proposed activities appropriate, practical and in consistency with the expected project results?

5x2

1.3. Are the activities, project results and indicators for implementing the action clear and feasible? Is the timeline realistic?

5x2

1.4. How clearly defined and strategically chosen are those involved (beneficiaries, target groups)? Have their needs been clearly defined and how does the proposal address them?

5x2

1.5. Does project reflects cooperation with relevant stakeholders? 5x2

1.6. Is the action likely to have a tangible impact on its target groups? 5x2

1.7. Is the project sustainable? 5x2

1.8. Is project acting as added value with regard to “IRIS Networking” project? 5x2

1.9. Does ToR reflects quality, accuracy, clarity, completeness?

5x2

1.10. Does project reflects cost-effectiveness? 5x2

TOTAL 100


8

8. INDICATIVE TIMETABLE

Step Date* Time

Deadline for requests for any clarifications

10/01/2021 -

Deadline for publishing clarifications 15/01/2021 -

Deadline for submission of the application forms

01/02/2021 17.00

Information to applicants on Applications evaluation 15/02/2021 -

Contract signature and beginning of the implementation 22/02/2021

-

Information/Capacity building sessions

February 2021 -

*Note: this schedule may be changed during the call for proposals procedure. In case of that, updated version will be posted on the web site of the Contracting Authority.

9. CAPACITY BUILDINGEach of the grantee organization must attend capacity building sessions organized within the SGS. The sessions will be scheduled in the beginning of the SGS projects implementations for all grantees. Topics of the sessions will include: project management, financial and narrative reporting and organizational management.

10. VISIBILITYThe applicants must take all necessary steps to publicize the fact that the European Union has financed or co-financed the action. Applicants must comply with the objectives and priorities and guarantee the visibility of the EU financing (see the Communication and Visibility Manual for EU external actions specified and published by the European Commission at https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/communication-and-visibility-manual-eu-external-actions_en).Complete guidelines for the visibility including the IRIS network visibility will be available to the grantees upon the contract signing. All visibility materials will be sent to approval to the Contracting Authority prior the publishing.


9

https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/communication-and-visibility-manual-eu-external-actions_en


10

iris – iris network - introduction · web view1. annex 1.2 application form; 2. annex 1.3. tor...

Documents