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EUROPEAN COMMISSIONDIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR REGIONAL POLICY

Policy coordinationThematic coordination, innovation

Open Call for Proposals 2009

Pilot project "Pan-European Coordination of Roma Integration Methods" - Roma inclusion

Guide for applicants

Reference: 2009CE160AT085

Budget line 13 03 21

Deadline for submission of applications:25 September 2009

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Notice

All references to the Internet links indicated in the present document are valid at the time of publication of

this Call for Proposals. Nevertheless, they may be subject to changes at a later stage.

Work programme 2009: Commission Decision adopting the pilot project "Pan-European coordination of Roma integration methods".1

The European Commission considers the promotion of sustainable development as well as gender

equality and the rights of women and children to be cross-cutting issues that should be reflected in all

actions it supports. Therefore, all project designs should indicate:

1. how actions will affect the situation of women and children and how their needs have been

taken into account;

2. how actions equally integrate the social, economic and environmental factors, especially in

view of the possible impacts of climate change on those particularly vulnerable communities.

1 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/tender/decision_en.htm2

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/tender/decision_en.htm

Table of contents

1. PROGRAMME........................................................................................................................5

1.1 BACKGROUND – THE COHESION POLICY AND THE ROMA INCLUSION PROCESS...........................5

1.1.1 The Cohesion policy...............................................................................................................................................5

1.1.2 The Cohesion policy implementation at national and regional level.....................................................................5

1.1.3 The Roma inclusion process..................................................................................................................................6

1.2 THE PILOT PROJECT ON ROMA INCLUSION................................................................................................7

1.2.1 Objectives and priorities.........................................................................................................................................7

1.2.2 Pilot Project Fields of intervention.........................................................................................................................8

1.2.3 Implementation.......................................................................................................................................................9

1.2.3.1 Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).......................................................................................................9

1.2.3.2 Self-employment and microcredit........................................................................................................................14

1.2.3.3 Information and awareness raising.......................................................................................................................16

1.3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION........................................................................................................................20

1.4 References............................................................................................................................................................21

1.5 Financial allocation provided by the European Commission...............................................................................21

2. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF THE APPLICATION......................................22

2.1 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE (ECEC)............................................................................22

2.1.1 Eligibility criteria.................................................................................................................................................22

2.1.2 Exclusion criteria..................................................................................................................................................23

2.1.3 Selection criteria...................................................................................................................................................23

2.1.4 Award criteria.......................................................................................................................................................24

2.2 SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND MICROCREDIT.................................................................................................26




2.2.4 Award criteria.......................................................................................................................................................28

2.3 INFORMATION AND AWARENESS RAISING..............................................................................................30




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2.3.4 Award criteria.......................................................................................................................................................31

3. MAIN FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT RULES......................................................33

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES....................................................................................................................................33

2. THE ESTIMATED BUDGET OF THE PROJECT............................................................................................35

3. HOW THE GRANT WILL BE CALCULATED................................................................................................40

4. AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE GRANT.....................................................................................................41

5. PAYMENT PROCEDURES................................................................................................................................41

6. GUARANTEE.....................................................................................................................................................41

7. BANK ACCOUNT AND INTEREST GENERATED BY PRE-FINANCING PAYMENTS (Art. 5(a) FR, Art. 3, 4 IR)..................................................................................................................................................................41

8. SUBMISSION OF REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS...........................................................................42

9. PUBLICITY.........................................................................................................................................................42

10. EX-POST EVALUATION..................................................................................................................................43

11. CHECKS AND AUDITS.....................................................................................................................................43

12. HOW TO APPLY AND THE PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW...........................................................................44

CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S DECISION TO AWARD A GRANT......................................................................48

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1. PROGRAMME

1.1 BACKGROUND – THE COHESION POLICY AND THE ROMA2 INCLUSION PROCESS

1.1.1 The Cohesion policy

The European Union comprises 27 Member States, which form a community and internal market of 493 million citizens. At the same time, however, the economic and social disparities among these countries and their 271 regions are substantial.

Art. 174 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union recalls: "In order to promote its overall harmonious development, the Union shall develop and pursue its actions leading to the strengthening of its economic, social and territorial cohesion. In particular, the Union shall aim at reducing disparities between the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions".

European Cohesion policy is designed to bring about concrete results, furthering economic and social cohesion to reduce the gap between the development levels of the various regions.

1.1.2 The Cohesion policy implementation at national and regional level

In 2007, the Member States and the Commission agreed on the twenty-seven National Strategic Reference Frameworks, which set out the investment priorities for the new generation of regional and sectoral programmes to be supported by the European Union over the seven-year period 2007-13 with a total of € 347 billion. They draw their inspiration from the priorities adopted by the Member States in October 2006 in the “Community Strategic Guidelines for Cohesion”3.The Operational Programmes plan for strategies and implementation of priorities in different regions and sectors by identifying practical interventions to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion. Art. 16 of the Council Regulation 1083/20064 provides that: “The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that equality between men and women and the integration of the gender perspective is promoted during the various stages of implementation of the Funds. The Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation during the various stages of implementation of the Funds and, in particular, in the access to them".

2 For the purpose of the pilot programme, the term “Roma” is used – similarly to other political documents of the European Council, European Parliament etc. – as an umbrella term including also other groups of people that share similar cultural characteristics and a history of persistent marginalisation in European societies, such as the Sinti, Travellers, Ashkali etc. The European Commission is aware of the recurrent debate regarding the use of the term Roma, and it has no intention to “assimilate” the members of other groups to the Roma themselves in cultural terms. Nonetheless, it considers the use of “Roma” as an umbrella term practical and justifiable within the context of a policy document which is dealing above all with issues of social exclusion and discrimination, not with specific issues of cultural identity.

3 Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion, Council decision of 6 October 2006 (2006/702/EC).

4 Council regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) N 1260/1999.

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This comprehensive anti-discrimination requirement assumes a great relevance in the case of the Roma, one of the largest minority groups in Europe, giving them the opportunity to access Community Funds; to identify needs and coordinate the preparation of projects and strategies to further bridge the socio-economic gap with the mainstream society. Policies on education, employment, social inclusion, public health, housing and other areas which are crucial for Roma inclusion fall under Member States responsibility. They are key players in the strategies and project planning and implementation.The EU Commission is responsible for monitoring Cohesion policy expenditure and assesses its impact in line with Community strategic priorities. In this sense, the EU Commission has to ensure both regularity and legality of operations, as well as diffusion of good practice examples across the relevant national and regional authorities.Some Member States with high numbers of Romani population have earmarked funds for Roma inclusion5 as part of their National Action Plans, however in the majority of cases such funds are not clearly identifiable and it is difficult to assess their potential impact on the local Romani population.

1.1.3 The Roma inclusion process

Despite a number of policy initiatives, there is a widespread assumption that the living and working conditions of the Roma have not much improved during the last two decades. The Roma population remains socially, economically and geographically marginalised in a number of European countries and regions which comprises the EU15, as well as the countries which became Member State in 2004 and 2007. According to estimates, around 10-12 million Roma live in the European Union as well as in candidate and potential candidate countries. The size of the Roma population is expected to further increase in the Union, in view of enlargements and the higher demographic growth patterns of Roma communities compared to majority populations.The successful integration of Roma communities into the economy and society constitutes a precondition for achieving sustainable growth in Member States and regions.

In 2003, at the high-level regional conference on Roma held in Budapest, Hungary, it was agreed to launch the Decade of Roma Inclusion for the period 2005–2015. It is an unprecedented political commitment by European governments to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma. The Decade is an international initiative that brings together governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, as well as Romani civil society, to accelerate progress toward improving the welfare of Roma and to review such progress in a transparent and quantifiable way.

The Presidency conclusions of the European Council of 14 December 2007 stated the European council is: "conscious of the very specific situation faced by the Roma across the Union, invites Member States and the Union to use all means to improve their inclusion" and "invites the Commission to examine existing policies, instruments and to report to the Council on progress achieved before the end of June 2008".

The Commission responded to this request in its Communication "Non-discrimination and equal opportunities: a renewed commitment"6. The General Affairs Council of 8 December 2008 welcomed the report and called on Commission and Member States "to take account of the situation of the Roma when designing and implementing policies to defend fundamental rights, combat poverty and discrimination and uphold gender equality, and ensure access to education, housing, health, employment, justice and culture, and where appropriate to

5 Slovakia has € 200 M earmarked for Roma inclusion planned to be implemented throughout six operational programmes.

6 COM (2008) 420 final6

identify specific actions for 2009 and 2010 to that end. The Council also called on the Commission to make better use of the Structural Funds, the Pre-Accession Instrument and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument to promote the inclusion of the Roma.

It called on the Commission to report on progress made in 2010 and to organise an exchange of good practice and experience between Member States and provide analytical support and stimulate cooperation between all parties concerned by Roma issues, in the context of an 'integrated European platform'7.

The European Parliament adopted a number of resolutions on the situation of the Roma. Most recently, in its resolution of 11 March 2009, the Parliament "considers that there is a need for a coordinated approach to improve the living and working conditions of the Roma community that aims at the following three objectives:

Increasing economic opportunities for the Roma

Building human capital

Strengthening social capital and community development.

Conscious of the persistent socio-economic deprivation in Roma communities, the European Parliament voted in December 2008 for a Pilot Project8 on Roma inclusion. The project will be implemented by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional Policy.

In June 2009, the Council adopted conclusions on the Inclusion of the Roma which invite the Commission and the Member States to take account of the set of Common Basic Principles on Roma inclusion when implementing policies in a broad range of areas9. The implementation of the pilot project will take into account the basic principles recently adopted by the Council.

1.2 THE PILOT PROJECT ON ROMA INCLUSION

1.2.1 Objectives and priorities

The pilot project has four fields of intervention and will contribute to identifying and disseminating policies and effective good practices, which aim at:

Improving the access of Roma children to quality early childhood education, and enhancing child development for Roma children aged 0-6;

Facilitating self-employment through access to finance for marginalised communities;

Combating discrimination against Roma people by raising public awareness through appropriate information campaigns;

Improving evaluation methods and data collection of Roma integration projects/programmes.

7 Information on the state of play of the Roma inclusion activities : http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=en

8 "Pan-European activities for and coordination of integration methods for the Roma" to be financed under Article 13 03 21 of the general budget of the European Communities.

9 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/108377.pdf7

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/108377.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=en

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=en

The pilot project will support innovative and integrated approaches to tackling the multidimensional problems facing Roma communities. It will explore ways to promote Roma inclusion through educational, social, and economic activities, cross-border cooperation and exchange of good practices while building on existing experiences.

The pilot project will be primarily implemented in Member States and candidate countries with a high proportion of disadvantaged Roma communities. It will build on projects and policy initiatives, which have proven to be effective in strengthening Roma inclusion and it will be implemented in close co-operation with other EU institutions, Roma stakeholders, Member States and other international organisations. The Roma population will be involved throughout all stages of the project cycle, from project design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Particular attention will be given to the dissemination of project results, knowledge transfer and sharing of good practice models. The project will explore the scope for expanding effective interventions on a broader scale through different financing mechanisms, including innovative financing instruments and incentive schemes.

The European Commission has been actively promoting Roma inclusion during negotiations with Member States on the funding priorities of the 2007-2013 programming cycle of Structural Funds, particularly in those Member State with a high proportion of disadvantaged Roma community. In order to explore how Structural Funds can most effectively contribute to the Roma inclusion process and can be used to prepare the Commission and Member States in the definition of priorities in the future programming periods, the Commission will run a series of high-profile bilateral meetings in the Member States most concerned, bringing together policy-makers, civil society, Roma representatives and other international organisations. This activity will be complementary to activities carried out in the framework of the pilot project.

1.2.2 Pilot Project Fields of intervention

The pilot project covers four fields of interventions. The following three will be object of this call for proposals:

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)

Available data suggests low provision of early childhood education and care services to Roma in a number of countries. ECEC is an invaluable instrument of Roma inclusion and the pilot project will support expansion and improvement of existing ECEC schemes as well as provide funding for new, innovative approaches.

Self-employment and microcredit

Self-employment is often an easier way to enter the labour market for members of communities who have been frequently victims of discrimination in employment. This requires access to credit, business development services and a more favourable institutional environment.

Information and awareness raising

Policy response aimed at combating prejudice and discrimination of minority racial or ethnic groups in general, and the Roma in particular, should take many forms, but increasing public awareness and information are an integral part of it. The discrimination of Roma requires vigorous action and innovative thinking, including a targeted and carefully monitored strategy.

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Tools and methods for evaluation and data collection as a basis for evidence based policy making

The action, among others, would incorporate the following components: conducting an impact evaluation of pilot projects on early childhood development, micro-credit interventions; advising on data collection on Roma and improved monitoring and impact evaluation of Roma inclusion interventions for Structural and Social Funds.

This fourth component will be implemented through a contribution agreement, as detailed under section 1.3 Additional information.

1.2.3 Implementation

The European Commission envisages implementing the European Parliament pilot project through this call for proposals, including three independent separate themes corresponding to the first three fields of intervention listed below.

o Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)

o Self-employment and microcredit

o Information and awareness raising.

Applicants can present proposals linked to the objectives of only one of the three individual fields of intervention, and may submit only one proposal for the chosen field of intervention. If an applicant sends more than one proposal for the same field, only the proposal received last by the Commission will be taken into consideration.

If an applicant sends proposals for more than one field, all proposals will be considered not eligible.

Each field of intervention will include an in-built evaluation element from the outset to demonstrate short and medium-term effects. Applicants have to develop input and output indicators for every field chosen in order to establish a link to the evaluation and data collection methods and tools which are implemented through the specific field described in section 1.3 by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). To this end, applicants have to be open to establish a cooperation mechanism with the World Bank and the UNDP.

Applicants can subcontract other organisations for undertaking tasks related to the field of intervention they decide to bid for.

1.2.3.1 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE (ECEC)

The long-term social and economic benefits of interventions that aim to promote early childhood development are well-established10 11 . This period in the life cycle provides a

10 European Commission (June 2009) – "Early Childhood Education and Care. Key Lessons from Research for Policy Makers". An independent report submitted to the European Commission by the NESSE Network of experts

11 See also: Lynch 2004, Schweinhart et al. 1993, Zigler et al. 2002, NESSE report on ECEC (http://www.nesse.fr/nesse/nesse_top/tasks); the 2009 EURYDICE report "Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe: Tacking Social and Cultural Inequalities" (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/showPresentation?pubid=098EN); the conclusions of the 2008 Commission symposium on ECEC (http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc/ecec.pdf).

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http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc/ecec.pdf

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/showPresentation?pubid=098EN

http://www.nesse.fr/nesse/nesse_top/tasks

window of opportunity to break the vicious intergenerational cycle of exclusion of disadvantaged Roma children. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as an instrument of Roma inclusion has only in recent years begun to receive attention in some European countries with a high proportion of disadvantaged Roma communities. The available data suggest low provision of early childhood education and care services to Roma in a number of countries (UNESCO 2007a, b)12.

The pilot project reflects the priority given to ECEC by EU Education Ministers who agreed in May 2009 on the objective that "by 2020, at least 95% of children between 4 years old and the age for starting compulsory primary education should participate in early childhood education". It also takes into account the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision from December 2008 signed by all 27 Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States that urged “the participating States to provide for equal access to education and to promote early education for Roma and Sinti children, as an instrument for preventing social exclusion and marginalization and for effecting a long-term improvement in the situation of Roma and Sinti" and to "undertake awareness raising initiatives, also including Roma and Sinti communities, on the benefits of early education.”

The pilot project will explore ways to support expansion and improvement of existing ECEC schemes as well as provide funding for new, innovative approaches. It will embrace a holistic approach by incorporating the following principles in its selection of successful applicants:

Focus on the entire period of early childhood (age group: 0-6) rather than just on the immediate pre-school period.

Integration of all aspects of early childhood development (education and care, health, nutrition).

Inclusion of outreach and intensive work with families rather than just provision of services in pre-school education.

Data-driven approach that allows to clearly measuring both the costs and added value of the project activities, the number of people benefitting from the project, the "unit cost" of results achieved and the sustainability of results over the time.

Explicit focus on designing and conducting activities in a way that would facilitate their mainstreaming, scaling up and international transfer in case of success and availability of further funding.

1. Objectives

Against this background, the project should pursue the following objectives:

To improve access to quality early childhood education and care for disadvantaged Roma children

To rise early childhood development outcomes for Roma children so as to enhance their school readiness and subsequent life opportunities.

To test potential interventions that could be scaled up using other European and national funding

To support the establishment of constructive, pragmatic and non-discriminatory policies in the field of ECEC.

12 UNESCO (2007a). Towards quality education for Roma children: transition from early childhood to primary education. Paris: UNESCO and Council of Europe and UNESCO (2007b). EFA Global Monitoring Report, Regional Overview. Paris: UNESCO

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To support policy experimentation and testing of different approaches to early childhood education and care, including the organisation of care in terms of child/staff ratio, age of entry and the full-time/part-time and compulsory/voluntary nature of systems.

To raise the level of awareness and commitment of decision makers to the issue

To promote the culture of evidence-based, result-oriented intervention, with clear input-output and outcome indicators to be monitored during all the projects implementation cycle.

2. Components of this field of intervention

A) Increasing the enrolment of Roma in quality mainstream early childhood education, supporting successful transition to primary school and including provision of early childhood care services.

This is the core component of the ECEC theme. It focuses on formal pre-school education systems as well as other care services that can contribute to the intervention‘s objectives. As a part of this component, the beneficiary should implement activities aimed at identifying and exchanging experience on policies and practices to increase the enrolment of Roma in quality mainstream early childhood education13, including desegregation of Roma children in pre-school education systems, taking into account and preferably working with existing programs of early childhood education and care. The policy exchange and project activities should not be limited to enrolment, but should extend to support continuing participation in the ECEC activities as well as successful transition to primary schools. The services should involve the entire period of early childhood (age group: 0-6).

Examples of eligible activities are:

Increasing quality of home and/or informal care through information / training of parents and other family members with regard to care and holistic child development.

Outreach, home visits to parents by qualified nurses, pedagogical workers, social workers and other relevant personnel.

Provision of care for eligible children too young for formal pre-school under national regulations and provision of nutrition / nutrition supplements and health services for eligible children, beyond the duration of the pilot project.

Community outreach activities encouraging the integration of Roma communities in pre-school educational arrangements.

Provision of individualized services for Roma parents and children in pre-school, based on an intercultural approach.

13 As noted in the conclusions of the symposium on ECEC organised by the European Commission in 2008 in cooperation with the Network of Experts in the Social Sciences of Education (NESSE) and the European Experts Network on Economics of Education (EENEE), "Poor quality ECEC may do more harm than good" (vide supra).

While it is not always possible to define what "quality" mainstream early childhood education is, it is essential that the proposals provide explanations on how the quality has been assessed and established in the ECEC services in which an increase in the enrolment of Roma children is sought. Chapter 2 of the recent NESSE report for the European Commission on "Early Childhood Education and Care: key lessons from research for policy makers" provides information about different approaches to assessing quality of ECEC (http://www.nesse.fr/nesse/nesse_top/tasks/analytical-reports/ecec-report-pdf).

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http://www.nesse.fr/nesse/nesse_top/tasks/analytical-reports/ecec-report-pdf

Review of pre-school educational curricula in view of specific needs of Roma children for instance linguistic needs; child-centred teaching methods.

Incentive schemes for teachers, social workers, mediators (preferably of Roma origin) to work with disadvantaged Roma children and parents.

Regular monitoring and assessment of performance of Roma children in early education.

Governance structures necessary for regular programme monitoring and assessment, system accountability and quality assurance.

Awareness-raising activities for parents of Roma origin and non-Roma origin and other intercultural parental activities involving them in pre-school life as well as advocacy/awareness activities regarding the early childhood education and care activities and the role of parents / others in supporting educational measures. It is of strategic importance to promote high-quality educational models.

Diversity training, cultural awareness-raising for kindergarten, primary school teachers.

Supporting schemes for children and parents with regard to successful transition to primary schools, establishing links between primary and pre-primary institutions.

Interventions under this component should build on a collaborative partnership approach involving Roma parents, appropriate state education authorities, municipalities, pre-school establishments, civil society organizations. Testing different policy approaches that would lead to policy experiments will be considered as a plus.

Since the objective of the activities will be to identify successful policies and practices which can be implemented in actual ECEC services, and the project period is relatively short, it is crucial that the applicant can secure commitment of specific public authorities and/or ECEC service providers to participate in the project.

B) Mainstreaming of project results, by capitalising on knowledge generated in the other component and influencing policy development.

This component is about taking knowledge generated in the first component and ensuring that it influences policies at all levels. This involves activities aiming at:

Analyzing policy implications of the project, including drafting of specific recommendations for policy improvement at the European, national and local level, which would be differentiated between countries as appropriate.

Supporting mainstreaming of project results through structural funds-funded projects, as well as national and local policy action by assisting European, national and local authorities in their actions. Advocacy activities in support of the implementation of national policies on Roma inclusion in pre-school education should be also be included.

Transnational transfer of knowledge

Transferring know-how of the project to public and private actors active in the field.

The specific activity mix could include:

Production of written outputs – "how to" guides, personal stories and other concrete, practical and replicable experiences, including problems and failures.

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Organisation of events such as conferences and seminars at all levels to act as knowledge sharing opportunities.

Information/training modules for providers of ECEC services and regional/local authorities on the mobilization of public funding, including Structural Funds to support education and care services implementation.

Bilateral collaboration with public or private actors in transferring the know-how collected / generated during the project (including technical assistance in setting up new programs or modifying existing ones, continuous advice / mentoring during implementation).

3. FinancingThe indicative budget allocated for this first field of intervention is maximum EUR 2,000,000 (40% of the overall Roma pilot project budget), but the final amount can vary depending on the quality of applications in all fields of intervention.

The budget will be allocated to a single applicant.

The EU contribution can represent no more than 95% of eligible costs.

4. DurationThe initial planned duration of the project may not be less than 12 months and not exceed 24 months.

5. Format of the application

The application should consist of the following documents:

- Concept note (up to 30 pages), detailing the project proposed,

- CVs of key personnel (up to 5, each up to 3 pages),

- Estimated budget,

- Timetable for the planned activities,

- Commitment letters by early childhood education and care providers.

The concept note should have the following structure:

Introduction and summary of the project approach,

Assessment of the current situation with regard to barriers to access to quality early childhood education and care for disadvantaged Roma children,

Methodology, including specific focus on monitoring and evaluation aspects (indicators, data sources, data collection process, etc.),

List of deliverables (including: an interim financial and management report, a final financial and management report) with deadline and personnel allocation,

Management structure,

Sustainability strategy.

1.2.3.2 Self-employment and microcredit

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One of the key challenges to Roma inclusion is the low employment rate of the Roma, which, however, does not necessarily indicate economic inactivity. Discrimination of Roma on grounds of their ethnic origin represents a high obstacle for labour market participation. Moreover, many skills of Roma are not documented and, thus, recognised as formal qualifications. The United Nation Development Project (UNDP) 2004 Vulnerable groups survey14, shows that the Roma unemployment rates reach 20-40% in several countries of Central and Eastern Europe, while approaching 100% in some of the most excluded communities. The roots of the problem go beyond economic opportunities being also linked with spatial distribution of the Roma population and education differentials, without forgetting that discrimination also plays an important role.

The situation of the Roma in Europe can only worsen with increasing exclusion and rapid demographic growth. The Roma community faces barriers to enter the labour market also in presence of low unemployment rates. The main causes are linked to the educational and skills gap, the lack of constant demand for low skilled workers, persistence of discrimination and lack of labour mobility. In such a situation self-employment can offer an attractive alternative for members of Roma communities to enter the labour market, particularly for those which have been victims of discrimination in employment. This requires access to information, credit, business development services and a more favourable institutional environment.

While many studies have been conducted on the situation of Roma in Central Europe, few actions have been taken especially in the field of self-employment, except for a few pilot projects initiated by the Open Society Institute (OSI) and UNDP. The existing pilot projects have very small numbers of clients and the goal should be to increase them substantially over the next few years in order to attain credit sustainability. The project will build on lessons learnt, success and failure factors from existing pilot initiatives.

1. Objectives

Against this background, the project would pursue the following objectives:

Identify policy and practices in microcredit addressed to vulnerable population groups including Roma.

Expand existing microcredit projects addressed to vulnerable population groups including Roma, in order to increase substantially the number of Roma becoming self-employed.

Draw lessons from this pilot phase in order to develop this type of project on a larger scale, with support from the Structural Funds.

The microcredit project should not target the Roma community exclusively, but also address the needs of vulnerable social groups at large, with particular focus on the specific needs of Roma communities.

2. Components of this field of intervention

Activities envisaged will be designed and conducted in a way that would facilitate the mainstreaming, scaling up and international transfer of effective policies and practices. Components mentioned below should identify policies and disseminate practices.

The field of intervention has the following three major components. 14 Korynsk, P., Szoltes, A. (2006). Midterm Evaluation and Replication Analysis of the Project "Micro-credit

programme for the disadvantaged groups in Hungary – with the special focus on the Roma population HUN/00042644" – UNDP Bratislava

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A) Financial and technical support to microfinance institutions (MFIs), in order to progress towards sustainability

In this component, MFIs would receive support in order to help them progress towards microcredit sustainability. The grant support could cover capacity building including technical assistance, training, information systems, etc. It could also include a contribution towards other costs of the microcredit programme.

B) Support services for clients of MFIs

Clients of the MFIs would receive support through financial education, business development services and marketing support. These activities could be undertaken directly by the applicants or outsourced to specialized providers. The non-financial services should give priority to Roma borrowers and be adapted as far as possible to their needs and culture.

C) Advocating for change in the policy and legal framework and support to mainstreaming of the results

Two types of activities are envisaged.

The first one focuses on changing the policy and legal framework to remove obstacles to self-employment of Roma and other vulnerable population groups. The aim is to push for proposals making it easier to bridge the gap between welfare and self-employment in order to allow the target population to register and develop their income-generating activities. Other proposals improving the climate for microcredit are also eligible.

The second activity would be about mainstreaming of the theme results and could involve:

Supporting mainstreaming of the results through SF-funded projects, as well as national and local policy action by assisting European, national and local authorities in their actions.

Transferring know-how to other actors active in the field.

The specific activity mix could include:

Organisation of events such as conferences and seminars at all levels and production of written outputs (books, brochures, leaflets…).

Bilateral collaboration with public or private actors in transferring the know-how collected / generated during the project (including technical assistance in setting up new programs or modifying existing ones, continuous advice / mentoring during implementation).

This component should be considered an input to the implementation of Strand 2 of the European Initiative for Development of Microcredit in favour of Growth and Employment15.

3. Financing

The indicative budget allocated for these activities is maximum EUR 1,500,000- (30% of the overall Roma pilot project budget) but the final amount can vary depending on the quality of applications in all fields of intervention.

The budget will be allocated to one single project.


4. Duration

15 European Commission – A European initiative for the development of microcredit in support of growth and employment. COM 2007 708 final.

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The initial planned duration of the project may not be less than 12 months and not exceed 24 months.


The application should consist of the following documents: Concept note (up to 10 pages), detailing the project proposed, Presentation of the microcredit programme and technical assistance institutions (up

to 5 pages), CVs of key personnel (up to 5, each up to 3 pages), Estimated budget, Timetable for the planned activities, Presentation and commitment letter from financial partners.



Lessons learnt from previous initiatives,

Methodology,



Extension and sustainability strategy regarding microcredit and business development services (including possible financing by the Structural Funds).

1.2.3.3 Information and awareness raising

Prejudice against and discrimination of minority racial or ethnic groups in general, and the Roma in particular, has been documented in many countries of the European Union as well as in candidate countries.

The results published in 2009 on a recent European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey16 highlighted, for example, that “of all the groups surveyed, the Roma emerged as the group most vulnerable to discrimination and crime… Roma reported the highest overall levels of discrimination across all areas surveyed.” Persistent negative views on Roma are the basis not only for discrimination, but can also instigate hate speech and violence.

Directive 2000/43/EC17 prohibits discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin. The transposition and implementation of this Directive into national legislation is supported and accompanied by information and awareness raising actions at Community level, such as the trainings on non-discrimination law for legal practitioners and the "For Diversity – Against Discrimination" campaign.

16 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2009). Data in Focus Report 1: the Roma. EU-MIDIS: European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey.

17 Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin

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The particularly high vulnerability of Roma to discrimination requires not only vigorous action and innovative thinking, but also a targeted and carefully monitored strategy. Given the fact that the relationship between action of this type and the overall developments in self-perception of Roma and their perception by non-Roma are mediated by a number of other, unrelated factors, any action should be explicit about the expected intervention logic and subsequent measurement of achievements. At the same time, the call for proposals is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of approaches in order to stimulate innovative thinking.

1. Objectives

Against this background this field of intervention should pursue the following objectives:

To identify policy and practices in the field of increasing awareness and dissemination of information.

To pilot effective action on public awareness and dissemination of information focusing on curbing anti-Roma racism and social distance, increasing social and civil dialogue and effective citizenship. Intercultural dialogue between Roma and other communities should be fostered and promoted and Roma culture should be valorised in that context.

2. Components of the field of intervention

A) Fine-tuning the project methodology

Even though the applicants are expected to come up with their specific approach to the issue in the project proposal, this component can be used for additional research and analysis needed to fine-tune the methodology. This should help to ensure appropriate structuring of the message, selection of target groups and other crucial details of the campaign.

Activities in this component can include, for example:

Expert work on identification of target groups (including potential control groups), finalization of monitoring and evaluation methodology including metrics to be used to measure success of the campaign and their calibration.

Critical review of previous awareness campaigns, identification of strong and weak points, including and analysis of what can be replicated and what should be avoided.

Creation of alternative options for the campaign and their testing, including capacity building of Roma civil society organisations in advocacy activities to include information and awareness raising.

Other public opinion research (using representative quantitative polling or focus groups) necessary to prepare the campaign.

B) Conducting an effective action to increase public awareness and disseminate information

This is the core component of the field of intervention, but the one least pre-determined by the call for proposals. The philosophy of the call is to allow the applicants a substantial degree of freedom in proposing how they would like to go about having a tangible impact on the general public and Roma themselves.

The approach can differ in:

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Size of the target group: from the general public to individual subgroups (e.g. employers, teachers, police, and football fans) and the balance between non-Roma and Roma within the target group.

Nature of the message to be conveyed: from more general messages about empowerment or discrimination to specific ones (e.g. economic arguments behind the need for Roma integration).

Methods used to convey the message: while the phrase “increasing public awareness and disseminating information” seems to imply a traditional media-driven approach, this need not be so. Innovative approaches would be highly welcome. To give illustrative examples, these can include: socio-psychological diversity training, community round tables, sports and sport activities and other means of facilitating inter-ethnic communication. There is no specific limit on what types of activities are eligible as long as they can be persuasively shown to contribute to the objective.

The metric used to measure the impact of the campaign: from changes in public opinion documented through polling to impact on actual behavior documented through action.

However, there are also some elements that need to be respected by a proposal. There should be a clear identification of the target group and the nature of the message to be conveyed. There should be a clear metric to measure success and standard social science instruments (e.g. control groups) should be utilized to ensure the results are valid.

Additionally, the nature of the methodology should be such that it would be possible to repeat it in the same country or transfer it to other countries should it prove successful. In other words, it should not be highly country-dependent. Ideally, the methodology would be suitable for reproduction and repetition by those who have participated in the campaign (e.g. participating school/police staff should be able to replicate it later or elsewhere).

C) Lessons and mainstreaming

This component is about dissemination of knowledge generated in the field of intervention both with regard to nature of stereotypes and prejudices faced by the Roma and potential public awareness and information remedies. The specific activity mix in this component could include:

Production of written outputs on lessons and effectiveness of the pilot project. Organisation of events (conferences, seminars, workshops) on lessons and

effectiveness of the pilot project. Collaboration with public and/or private actors to spread / replicate the approach in

the same country or in other countries.

3. Geographical coverage

The information and awareness raising at the heart of the project (component B) should be implemented in two Member States with high numbers of Roma population of which one will be an EU15 Member State, and one an EU12 Member State.

Other project components can be implemented in all EU member states and candidate countries.

4. Financing

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The indicative budget allocated for this field of intervention is maximum EUR 1,000,000 (20% of the overall Roma pilot project budget) but the final amount can vary depending on the quality of applications in all fields of intervention.

The budget will be allocated to one single project.


5. Duration

The initial planned duration of the project may not be less than 12 months and not exceed 18 months.


The application should consist of the following documents:

Concept note (up to 10 pages), detailing the project proposed,

CVs of the key personnel (up to 3, each up to 3 pages),

Estimated budget,

Timetable for the planned activities,

Presentation and commitment letter from financial partners.



Methodology, including critical review of similar awareness and information rising projects/activities,



Sustainability strategy.

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1.3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The pilot project covers four fields of intervention, as detailed in section 1.2.2; three of them will be implemented through this call for proposal, the fourth one is detailed below.

Tools and methods for evaluation and data collection as a basis for evidence based policy making.

The component foresees the improvement of evaluation methods (tools and methods for data collection) for Roma integration policies, with specific focus on impact evaluation. This component will be highly sensitive to results and outcomes of specific interventions and will suggest approaches that allow assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of individual approaches with regards to the inclusion of vulnerable populations such as Roma. This component will be implemented in parallel to the other three using the projects under those as pilots to test possible approaches in the area of monitoring and evaluation. It will go beyond project evaluation per se though and will suggest possible approaches to policies impact assessment as well.

The action, among other, would incorporate the following components: conducting an impact evaluation of pilot projects on early childhood development and micro-credit interventions; and advising on data collection on Roma and improved monitoring and impact evaluation of Roma inclusion interventions for Structural and Social Funds.

The fourth component "Tools and methods for evaluation and data collection as a basis for evidence based policy making" will be implemented through a contribution agreement – joint management with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission.

The indicative budget for this component amounts to € 400,000 (8% of the overall Roma pilot project budget).

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1.4 REFERENCES

European Commission (2008) - Communication from the Commission "Non-discrimination and equal opportunities: A renewed commitment" COM (2008) 420, 2 July 2008

European Commission (2008) - Commission Staff Working Document on "Community Instruments and Policies for Roma Inclusion", 2 July 2008.

European Commission (2006) - Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion, Council Decision of 6 October 2006, (2006/702/EC).

European Commission (2009) – "Tackling Social and Cultural Inequalities through Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe", EURYDICE, ISBN 978-92-9201-007-2. http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/eurydice/documents/098EN.pdf

European Commission (June 2009) – "Early Childhood Education and Care. Key Lessons from Research for Policy Makers". An independent report submitted to the European Commission by the NESSE Network of experts

Lynch, R. G. (2004). "Exceptional returns: Economic, fiscal, and social benefits of investment in early childhood development". Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.

Schweinhart, L. J., Barnes, H. V., & Weikart, D. P. (1993). Significant benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study through age 27. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

Korynsk, P., Szoltes, A. (2006). Midterm Evaluation and Replication Analysis of the Project "Micro-credit programme for the disadvantaged groups in Hungary – with the special focus on the Roma population HUN/00042644" – UNDP Bratislava

UNESCO (2007a). "Towards quality education for Roma children: transition from early childhood to primary education". Paris: UNESCO and Council of Europe

UNESCO (2007b). EFA Global Monitoring Report, Regional Overview. Paris: UNESCO

Zigler, E., Finn-Stevenson, M. & Hall, N. W. (2002). "The first three years and beyond". CT: Yale University Press.

Korynsk, P., Szoltes, A. (2006). Midterm Evaluation and Replication Analysis of the Project "Micro-credit programme for the disadvantaged groups in Hungary – with the special focus on the Roma population HUN/00042644" – UNDP Bratislava.

1.5 FINANCIAL ALLOCATION PROVIDED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The total indicative amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 4,500,000-.The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the project and the amount requested from the European Commission) must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Community budget.

Field of intervention 1 –"Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)"Indicative budget foreseen depending on the quality of proposals submitted: € 2,000,000.The EU contribution will represent no more than 95% of eligible project costs.

Field of intervention 2 –"Self-employment and microcredit"Indicative budget: € 1,500,000. The EU contribution will represent no more than 90% of eligible project costs.

Field of intervention 3 "Information and awareness rising"Indicative budget: € 1,000,000.The EU contribution will represent no more than 90% of eligible project costs.

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http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/eurydice/documents/098EN.pdf

2. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF THE APPLICATION

All applications will be examined by an Evaluation Committee which will consider the exclusion, eligibility, selection and award criteria set out in this section.

Only proposals which satisfy the exclusions, eligibility and selection criteria will be assessed against the award criteria.

Upon completion of its work, the Evaluation Committee will draw up a list of proposals recommended for funding.

The Commission will inform each applicant of the final decision taken.

Applicants whose proposals have not been selected for funding will be informed of the results of the evaluation process including reasons for rejections in writing by the end of 2009.

2.1 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE (ECEC)

2.1.1 Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, projects must: Be submitted before the deadline, Be complete and submitted according to the published form, Be linked to the objectives of the specific field of intervention, Include activities related to both components (A and B) listed in section 1.2.3.1, Comply with the minimum and the maximum allowed percentage of European

Community co-financing, Be fully carried out in the Member States of the European Union and candidate

countries.

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must: Be legal persons, Be non-profit making, Be one of the following: non-governmental organisations, international and regional

inter-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, or public sector not-profit agencies, institutions and organisations or networks at local, national, regional, and international level,

Be established in one of the 27 Member States of the European Union, Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the activities with

their partners, not acting as an intermediary.

The applicants may be a European network representing bodies active in the field of Roma. It may be a body whose activities are solely for the benefit of Roma or a body with wider aims, some of the activities of which are for the benefit of Roma.

Submission of specific commitment letters from public authorities or service providers is required for at least 50% of the targeted locations as proof of the project sustainability.

As far as the geographical coverage is concerned, the Component A) will be implemented at least in 3 countries with a high proportion of disadvantaged Roma communities, namely:

- EU Member States: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia22

- EU candidate countries: Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.

The activities should be provided in 2 locations per country (1 urban and 1 rural), leading to a minimum of 6 locations. Applicants can bring in further countries if they consider it relevant for the fulfilment of the project objectives. Activities linked to exchange of information and awareness raising can be organized on a wider (regional, national) basis, involving a larger number of EU countries.

2.1.2 Exclusion criteria

The applicants should certify that they are not in one of the situations listed in Articles 93(1) and 94 of the Financial Regulation (OJ, L 248 of 16.09.2002, p. 26).

2.1.3 Selection criteria

The applicant must have the financial and operational capacity to complete the activity for which funding is requested. Thus the applicant must have access to solid and adequate funding to maintain the activities for the period of implementation of the project and to help finance it as necessary. Also, the applicant must have the operational resources (technical, management) needed to successfully complete the activity.

Financial capacity – means of proof required

Proof of financial standing must be provided by one or more of the following:

Bank declarations;

Balance sheets or summarised balance sheets covering at least the last two years for which the accounts have been closed ; A statement of general turnover or turnover relating to the services in question, covering the last three financial years.

Grant applications must be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved external auditor. This report shall certify the accounts for the last year available. This obligation does not apply to public bodies and international organisations under public law (Art.173 (4) IR).

If, on the basis of the documents submitted, the Commission considers that financial capacity has not been proved or is not satisfactory, it may:

Reject the application Ask for further information Require a financial guarantee Offer a grant agreement without pre-financing.

The verification of financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies, or to international organisations under public law [art. 176(4) of the Implementing Rules of the Financial Regulation (IR)].

Technical and professional capacity – means of proof required

Technical capacity will be assessed with regard in particular to expertise, knowledge, efficiency, experience and reliability of the proposed personnel. CVs of up to 5 individuals proposed by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles:

thematic experience in ECEC and Roma issues to be proven by a list of projects carried out in the last 5 years in this field;

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experience in programme design and implementation to be proven by a list of programmes carried out in the last 5 years in the field of ECEC for Roma inclusion;

experience in policy analysis, design and advocacy carried out in the last 5 years have to be proven;

participation of experts of Roma origin in the design, implementation and monitoring of the project;

use of personnel with long-standing experience to ensure smooth functioning of the project.

The following shall serve as proof: The educational and professional qualifications,

A list of the projects and/or publications of the past five years,

The Curriculum Vitae of the staff proposed for the tasks and potential sub-contractors.

Proposals that will not receive a minimum of 50% per criterion will be excluded from the evaluation and will not be awarded the grant.

2.1.4 Award criteria

Eligible applications which have also met the selection criteria will be checked against the following award criteria:

Assessment of the current situation, including awareness of existing experiences (20%)

Methodology and cost effectiveness (30%)

Management structure and personnel allocation (30%)

Sustainability strategy (20%).

Evaluation of the assessment of the current situation will be based on the relevant sections of the concept note. The document should review the existing state-of-the-art in scientific and policy knowledge with regard to ECEC in general, ECEC in relation to vulnerable groups and ECEC in relation specifically to disadvantaged Roma children, both at the level of individual countries where the project proposes to implement is core activities and overall within the EU. It should not only identify the main barriers to access of disadvantaged Roma children to quality early childhood care and education, but also ways in which delivery of early childhood care and educational services could be adjusted to overcome such barriers. The evaluation will also take into account the quality of the baseline scenario in the selected location (current situation and scenario of the future without the project activities).

When evaluating the methodology and cost effectiveness, the concept notes and budgets submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles:

clarity and realism of the project approach;

coherence and consistency of project activities;

clear demonstration of the potential value added of the project and steps taken to limit dead weight, displacement and distortion in any test activities;

clear set of input, output and outcome indicators and appropriate data sources;

explicit and well-designed measurement of outcome costs for pilots and of probable outcome costs if the project activities would be mainstreamed through follow-up action;

incorporation of an explicit scaling-up / mainstreaming strategy;24

use of different project strategies for different sites/countries allowing to measure the impact of various approaches;

participation of the Roma population in all stages of the project cycle from identification, project design to implementation and evaluation;

the quality of the ECEC services provided, with an indication of how it has been assessed and established;

selection of countries with regard to the current level of access of the disadvantaged Roma children to early childhood education and care.

The project proposal should comprise output results, intermediate outcome and impact indicators, as well as contain specific target values, such as the following:

indicators of early childhood development, including cognitive development, health and nutrition;

number of children/families enrolled/served by the project, including number of children/families enrolled/served in addition to the baseline scenario and cost per outcome;

indicators of acceptance to and performance in mainstream primary schools, where possible;

studies produced, conferences organized; follow-up projects implemented.

The project should also lay out the approach to project monitoring and evaluation. The European Commission will arrange for the successful applicant to discuss with the beneficiaries of the fourth field of intervention of the pilot project, detailed in section 1.3., on indicators and methodologies for collection of data.

When evaluating the management structure and personnel allocation, the concept notes submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles to evaluate practical feasibility of the proposed actions:

clear division of responsibility between participating institutions and well-designed accountability systems to ensure project performance,

consistency of methodology and personnel with management structure,

participatory nature of the project management, including involvement of the Roma.

When evaluating the sustainability strategy, the concept notes submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles to evaluate the likelihood that the EU funding will contribute to a lasting impact:

fit of the proposed activities with the mandate and previous activities of the applicant(s) and its partner(s),

dissemination strategy, particularly with regard to component B activities and to the transferability of the project,

clear and realistic commitment of funding of the continuation of project activities after the termination of the pilot project (letters from public authorities and/or ECEC service providers will be an asset).

The sustainability strategy should also outline the approach of the applicants towards evaluation of project outcomes after the project conclusion. While some of the beneficial effects of the project activities are likely to be manifested in the short run, it is crucial to

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ensure monitoring of the more long-term effects. The proposal should therefore contain commitments on this issue together with explanation of the practical approach of the applicants towards their fulfilment over the period of 10 years following the project finalization.Finally, activities envisaged will be designed and conducted in a way that can facilitate the mainstreaming, scaling-up and transnational transfer of effective policies and practices, as specified in components A and B of this field of intervention. Both components should identify policies and disseminate good practices, among other activities.

Activities under component B should not exceed 20 % of the overall budget of the project, unless duly justified. They should cover a wider number of EU member states and candidate countries than the minimum of the 3 countries set for component A. Use of knowledge already generated within other similar projects (and not rediscovering approaches already tested) is of particular importance for a proposal to be successful.

2.2 SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND MICROCREDIT


To be eligible, projects must: Be submitted before the deadline Be complete and submitted according to the published form Be linked to the objectives of the specific field of intervention. Comply with the minimum and the maximum allowed percentage of European

Community co-financing. Be fully carried out in one of the 27 Member States of the European Union and

candidate countries. The grant support may not be part of any revolving fund.

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:

Be legal persons, Be non- profit making, Be one of the following: non-governmental organisations, international and regional


Be established in one of the 27 Member States of the European Union, Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the activities with their

partners, not acting as an intermediary.


If necessary, applicants may:- create partnership with non-profit institutions/organisations specialized in the development of microcredit and/or technical assistance to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) covering the three components (A, B and C),

- or subcontract tasks of technical assistance to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) carrying out microcredit projects involving Roma in at least three of the countries listed above.

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Although credit cannot be funded under the pilot project, applicants should have an agreement with a financial partner who eventually may provide credit resources. Information about the financial partner, the type, amount and conditions of financing should be included in the proposal.

Activities in the component C can be implemented in all EU Member States and candidate countries as relevant but have to be implemented at least in the countries where components A and B are implemented.Proposals submitted in this field of intervention must include activities from each component (A, B and C), with the mix varying according to needs. Component C should not exceed 20% of the total budget of the project, unless duly justified.




The applicant must have the financial and operational capacity to complete the activity for which funding is requested. Thus the applicant must have access to solid and adequate funding to maintain the activities for the period of implementation of the project and to help finance it as necessary. Also, the applicant must have the operational resources (technical, management) needed to successfully complete the activity.

Financial capacity – means of proof required


Bank declarations,

Balance sheets or summarised balance sheets covering at least the last two years for which the accounts have been closed,

A statement of general turnover or turnover relating to the services in question, covering the last three financial years.

Grant applications must be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved external auditor. This report shall certify the accounts for the last year available.This obligation does not apply to public bodies and international organisations under public law (Art.173[4] IR).


Reject the application, Ask for further information, Require a financial guarantee, Offer a grant agreement without pre-financing.

The verification of financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies, or to international organisations under public law (art. 176(4) IR).

Technical and professional capacity – means of proof required


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Thematic experience in microcredit, business development services and Roma issues to be proven by a list of projects carried out in the last 5 years in this field,

Experience in programme design and implementation,

Experience in policy analysis, design and advocacy,

Participation of Roma ,

Use of personnel with long-standing links to the applicants / partners to ensure smooth functioning of the project.

The following shall serve as proof:

The educational and professional qualifications,

A list of the projects and/or publications of the past five years,

The Curriculum Vitae of the staff proposed for the tasks and potential sub-contractors.

Proposals that will not receive a minimum of 50% per criterion will be excluded from the evaluation and will not be awarded the grant.



Methodology, objectives and cost effectiveness (35%) Management structure and personnel allocation (35%)

Sustainability strategy (30%).

When evaluating the proposal methodology and objectives, the concept notes and budgets submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles:

Clarity and realism of the project approach. Coherence and consistency of project activities. Quality of the baseline scenario in the selected locations (expected development without

the project activities) and persuasive demonstration of the potential value added of the project and steps taken to limit dead weight, displacement and distortion.

Explicit and well-designed measurement of outcome costs for pilot projects and of probable outcome costs, if the project activities would be mainstreamed through follow-up action.

Incorporation of an explicit scaling-up / mainstreaming strategy. Use of different project strategies for different sites/countries, making it possible to

measure the impact of various approaches. Participation of the Roma population in all stages of the project cycle, from identification

and project design to implementation and evaluation. Balanced selection of countries and regions with regard to the current level of access of

disadvantaged Roma to microcredit and business development services. Besides classical microcredit indicators, the project proposal should contain specific

targets for output, outcome and impact indicators such as the following: o Indicators of employment and self-employment of Roma as well as earnings,

compared to baseline situation

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o Number of Roma served by the project’s different financial and non financial components, including the number of additional Roma served compared to the baseline scenario, and cost per person served

o Volume of credits allocated, average size and duration of loans, credit repayment ratios

o Indicators on social integrationo Information, articles, studies produced, meetings and conferences organizedo Follow-up of projects implemented.

The project proposal should also lay out the approach to project monitoring. Indicators and methodologies for collection of data should be discussed and agreed with the beneficiaries of the fourth theme of the pilot project, detailed in section 1.3.

When evaluating management structure and personnel allocation, applicants’ concept notes will be assessed from the following angles to evaluate the practical feasibility of the proposed actions:

Clear division of responsibility between participating institutions and well-designed accountability systems to ensure project performance

Consistency of methodology and personnel with management structure Participatory nature of project management, including involvement of Roma Use of pre-existing multi-actor project management processes Exchange of experience among all partners Since the core of project activity will be support of implementation, the project period is

relatively short, and it will be a major advantage if applicants can secure commitments from specific public authorities to facilitate the project.

When evaluating sustainability strategy, applicants’ concept notes will be assessed from the following angles to estimate the likelihood that the EU funding will contribute to a lasting impact:

Fit of the proposed activities with the mandate and previous activities of applicants and their partners.

Exchange of good practices and dissemination strategy. Clear and realistic vision of funding of continued project activity after the pilot project

ends.

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2.3 INFORMATION AND AWARENESS RAISING


To be eligible, projects must: Be submitted before the deadline specified in section, Be complete and submitted according to the published form, Be linked to the objectives of one up to three fields of intervention of the call, Comply with the minimum and the maximum allowed percentage of European

Community co-financing, Be fully carried out in the Member States of the European Union and candidate

countries.

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must: Be legal persons, Be non-profit making, Be one of the following: non-governmental organisations, international and regional


Be established in of the 27 Member States of the European Union, Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the activities with

their partners, not acting as an intermediary.


As far as the geographical coverage is concerned, the information and awareness raising at the heart of the project (component B) should be implemented in two Member States with high numbers of Roma population of which one will be an EU15 Member State, and one EU12 Member State.Other project components can be implemented in all EU member states and candidate countries.




The applicant must have the financial and operational capacity to complete the activity for which funding is requested. Thus the applicant must have access to solid and adequate funding to maintain the activities for the period implementation of the project and to help finance it as necessary. Also, the applicant must have the operational resources (technical, management) needed to successfully complete the activity.

Financial capacity – means of proof required:


Bank declarations,

Balance sheets or summarised balance sheets covering at least the last two years for which the accounts have been closed,

30

A statement of general turnover or turnover relating to the services in question, covering the last three financial years.

Grant applications must be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved external auditor. This report shall certify the accounts for the last year available. This obligation does not apply to public bodies and international organisations under public law (Art.173 (4) IR).


Reject the application Ask for further information Require a financial guarantee Offer a grant agreement without pre-financing.

The verification of financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies, or to international organisations under public law (art. 176(4) IR).

Technical and professional capacity – means of proof required:


thematic experience in public awareness and information and Roma issues to be proven by list of projects carried out in the last 5 years;

experience in project design and evaluation to be proven by list of projects carried out in the last 5 years;

participation of Roma experts in the team; use of personnel with long-standing links to the applicants / partners to ensure smooth

functioning.

The following shall serve as proof: The educational and professional qualifications. A list of the projects and/or publications of the past five years. The Curriculum Vitae of the staff proposed for the tasks and potential sub-contractors.



Methodology, objectives and cost effectiveness (45%), Management structure and personnel allocation (35%), Sustainability strategy (20%).

When evaluating the methodology, objectives and cost effectiveness, the concept notes and budgets submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles: clarity and realism of the project approach; coherence and consistency of project activities; innovative nature of the proposed campaign; explicit and well-designed monitoring and evaluation strategy; evidence of potential transferability to other countries.

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A crucial part of evaluation of the methodology will be assessment of the suitability of the metric (variable used to measure the project impact). In other words, how do the applicants propose to measure the impact of their activities and what targets they would like to achieve? While it might not be always possible to propose specific target values before the project start, the proposal should be clear about what it will measure and the level of the ambition of the project.

When evaluating the management structure and personnel allocation, the concept notes submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles to evaluate practical feasibility of the proposed actions:

Proven previous experience of the applicant to conduct both public awareness and information activities and measure their impact. Generally, a combination of national and/or grassroots NGOs and institutions with strong social science research background is most likely to successfully fulfill the criterion;

Clear division of responsibility between participating institutions and well-designed accountability systems to ensure project performance;

Consistency of methodology and personnel with management structure participatory nature of the project management, including involvement of the Roma use of pre-existing management structures and processes.

When evaluating the sustainability strategy, the concept notes submitted by the applicants will be assessed from the following angles to evaluate the likelihood that the EU funding will contribute to a lasting impact:

fit of the proposed activities with the mandate and previous activities of the applicant(s) and its partner(s);

dissemination strategy, particularly with regard to component C activities; cooperation with existing awareness raising initiatives and national Equality Bodies; clear and realistic vision of funding of the continuation of project activities after the

termination of the pilot project.

Project proposal under this field of intervention must include activities from each component. The activity mix can vary, but activities under A) and C), indicatively, should together not exceed 20% of the overall project budget, unless duly justified.

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3. MAIN FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT RULES

Disclaimer: this document provides applicants with a quick summary of the main legal and financial rules contained in the Financial Regulation (FR) applicable to the general budget of the European Communities and its Implementing Rules (IR). The information given is not exhaustive and beneficiaries are therefore asked to carefully read the grant agreement sent to them, as it will constitute the legal basis for the grant.

Applications may be submitted in any of the official languages of the European Community, but it would be helpful to apply in English, French or German in order to facilitate the selection process.

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Co-financing principle

Community grants may not finance the entire cost of the action to be subsidised. The applicant must contribute to the implementation of the action either by way of own resources or by financial contribution from third parties (in the form of public or private assistance obtained elsewhere) (Art. 113 FR and 172 IR).

Beneficiary

The beneficiary is the contracting party and will act as the lead organisation.

In case of partnership, commitment letters stating the precise amount of each financial (cash) contribution to the budget of the project must be provided with the application. If other institutions or organisations (partners) are involved in carrying out the project, the letter of commitment, from each of the partners, should also provide the name, address and person responsible and explain the nature of their involvement.

Definition of a projectA project is composed of a set of activities.

Duration Activities co-financed under the pilot project cannot start before the signature of the grant agreement with the Commission and will have to be completed by 31/12/2011.

The duration of a project may not be less than 12 months and shall not exceed 24 months (or 18 months for the third field).

A detailed timetable for the activities should be annexed to the application.

Applicants should note that if their project is selected, they will not necessarily receive the grant agreement prior to the starting date indicated and should, therefore, take this into account in programming the timing of their project. Any expenditure incurred before signature of the grant agreement is at the applicant's risk.

Ineligible activities

The following types of activities are ineligible:(1) activities concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in

workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses;

(2) activities concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;

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(3) activities supporting directly political parties;

(4) one-off conferences: conferences can only be funded if they form part of a wider range of activities to be implemented in the life-time of a project activity. For these purposes, preparatory activities for a conference and the publication of the proceedings of the conference do not, in themselves, constitute such "wider activities";

(5) activities which consist exclusively or primarily in capital expenditure, such as land, infrastructure, equipment and resources;

(6) activities which discriminate against individuals or groups of people on grounds of their gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or lack of them, or their ethnic origin.

Eligibility of partnersApplicants’ partners participate in designing and implementing the project, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the grant beneficiary. They must therefore satisfy the same eligibility criteria as applicants.

Monitoring and EvaluationApplications should include planning, human resources and estimated budget for the internal monitoring of the project together with objectively verifiable indicators. Furthermore, applications must include in the estimated budget provision for a final external evaluation of the project.

PartnershipsPartnerships involving different types of actors are strongly encouraged. For activities taking place in more than one EU Member State or candidate country, partnership and close cooperation with clearly identified partner organisation(s) established in the other Member State(s) is obligatory.

Dissemination Applications should include a communication and dissemination plan both in the application and the estimated budget.

No double financing ruleEach action may give rise to the award of only one grant; therefore, there can be no duplicate European Community funding of the same expenditure. The applicant must indicate the sources and amounts of any other funding received or applied for in the same financial year for the same action or for any other action and for routine activities (Art. 111 FR and 173(5) IR).

No-profit ruleThe Community grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary. Profit is defined as a surplus of total actual receipts over the total actual costs of the action. Any income of the action must be indicated in the estimated budget and the final financial statement. The amount of the grant will be reduced by the amount of any surplus (Art. 109(2) FR and 165(1) IR).

Number of proposals per applicantAn applicant may not submit more than one proposal under this Call for proposals. An applicant may at the same time be partner in other applications. Partners may take part in more than one application.

Third parties: Associates and subcontractorsOther organisations may be involved in all fields of intervention. Those organisations can have the status of associates or subcontractors. Such associates and/or subcontractors play a real role in the

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project but cannot receive funding from the grant with the exception of per diem or travel costs. Associates do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in section 2.1.1.

The associates and/or subcontractors have to be mentioned in section IV "Project implementation – concept note" of the Grant Application Form.

2. THE ESTIMATED BUDGET OF THE PROJECT

2.1 The budget must be detailed and balanced

Grant applications must include a detailed estimated budget presented in Euro (see application form). Applicants established in countries outside the Euro zone must use the conversion rates published in the Official Journal of the European Community:http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?Language=en Applicants should be aware that they fully carry the exchange rate risk.

The budget estimate must be properly balanced: the two totals (income and expenditure) must be the same, since the available income (including the grant requested from the Commission) will have to finance the planned expenditure (Art. 173(3) IR).Please make sure that all the items related to the implementation of the project are included and not just those for which financing are being sought.

2.2 Expenditure

Expenditure must include the estimated costs exclusively for the implementation of the action.

2.2.1 General criteria for eligibility of costs

In order to be eligible for Community funding, costs must meet the following criteria (Art. 172a IR):

be incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and audit certificates;

be indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action attached to the grant agreement; be necessary for the implementation of the action which is the subject of the grant; be 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;

comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation; be reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in

particular regarding economy and efficiency.

The beneficiary must avoid any unnecessary or unnecessarily high expenditure.

The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit a direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.Documentation justifying costs must be kept by the beneficiary for five years following final payment by the Commission.Expenditure eligible for financing may not have been incurred before the grant application was lodged.

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http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?Language=en

2.2.2 Eligible direct costs

The eligible direct costs for the action are those costs which, provided that they satisfy the criteria of eligibility set out above, are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to the implementation of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly.In particular, the following direct costs are eligible:

Staff costsThe costs of staff (permanent or temporary staff employed by the beneficiary or the partners) assigned to the implementation of the action, comprising actual salaries plus social security charges and other statutory costs included in the remuneration, are eligible. The salary costs should not exceed the average rates corresponding to the beneficiary's usual policy on remuneration. In addition, they should not be higher than the generally accepted market rates for the same kind of task.The costs of personnel of public administrations may be considered as eligible to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned were not undertaken.Please fill in the form reserved for these costs in the budget estimate (see application form) indicating the persons to be remunerated (full-time/part-time), the number of days of work to be performed and the daily rate calculated on the basis of an average of 20 days per month, up to a maximum total of 220 working days per year.When submitting the request for final payment, the beneficiary may have to provide pay slips and timesheets justifying the actual staff costs declared.The cost of any work to be performed by external experts by means of subcontracting must not be included in staff costs but under services.

Travel, accommodation and subsistence allowancesTravel costs must not exceed the most reasonable rates available on the market.Accommodation and subsistence costs related to the participants to the action are eligible provided that they are in line with the beneficiary's usual practices on travel costs or do not exceed the scales approved periodically by the Commission which are set out in the table below.Journeys must be carried out by the most direct and economic route. Economy class fares will be used as the benchmark for analysing air travel costs. Air travel is acceptable only for distances above 400 km, i.e. return flight above 800 km. For other modes of transport, the benchmark is the first-class rail fare. Car journeys: equivalent of corresponding first-class train ticket.

The Daily subsistence allowances (DSA) are paid in addition to costs for accommodation as a flat-rate amount and are considered to cover breakfast and two main meals, local transport, the cost of telecommunications and all other sundries.Daily subsistence allowances are to be calculated as follows according to the duration of the mission:−stays less or equal to 6 hours: reimbursement of actual costs (on production of supporting documents);−more than 6 hours up to 12 hours inclusive: 0.5 DSA;−more than 12 hours up to 24 hours inclusive: 1 DSA;−more than 24 hours up to 36 hours inclusive: 1.5 DSA;−more than 36 hours up to 48 hours inclusive: 2 DSA;−More than 48 hours up to 60 hours inclusive: 2.5 DSA, etc.

The maximum amounts (in Euro per calendar day) accepted for each country are set out in the table below, and applicants are advised to adhere to these rates in their budget estimates (the daily allowance rates are subject to periodic review by the Commission):

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Destinations DSA in EUR Maximum hotel price in EUR

AT Austria 95,00 130,00

IT Italy 95,00 135,00

BE Belgium 92,00 140,00

LT Lithuania 68,00 115,00

BG Bulgaria 58,00 169,00

LU Luxembourg 92,00 145,00

CY Cyprus 93,00 145,00

LV Latvia 66,00 145,00

CZ Czech Republic 75,00 155,00

MK F.Y.R. of Macedonia 50,00 160,00

DE Germany 93,00 115,00

MT Malta 90,00 115,00

DK Denmark 120,00 150,00

NL The Netherlands 93,00 170.00

EE Estonia 71,00 110,00

PL Poland 72,00 145,00

EL Greece 82,00 140,00

PT Portugal 84,00 120,00

ES Spain 87,00 125,00

RO Romania 60,00 170,00

FI Finland 104,00 140,00

SE Sweden 97,00 160,00

FR France 95,00 150,00

SI Slovenia 70,00 110,00

HR Croatia 60,00 120,00

SK Slovakia 80,00 125,00

HU Hungary 72,00 150,00

TR Turkey 55,00 165,00

IE Ireland 104,00 150,00

UK United Kingdom 101,00 175,00

RS Serbia 80,00 140,00

Please note that the Commission and the other European Institutions cover the travel and subsistence costs of their own officials when they participate in an event organised by the beneficiary and these should therefore not be included in the budget estimate.

CateringThe total amount calculated according to the above mentioned rules regarding Daily subsistence allowances shall constitute a maximum. If catering services are provided by the organisers, the DSAs directly paid to participants must be reduced accordingly.

Costs of servicesInformation dissemination, publication costs can be taken into account provided that they are directly related to the action. Please give, for each publication and/or other materials, a description, an estimate of the number of pages and copies planned the frequency and language of publication, an indication of the production costs per copy as well as an estimate of the distribution costs where appropriate.

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Translation costs must include the following details: the number of languages, the number of pages to be translated, and the rate applied per page. These rates may not exceed the most reasonable market rates.

Interpretation: the different components must be specified. In particular, the number of languages, the number of interpreters, the number of days and the daily rates must be specified. The accepted daily fee of an interpreter may not exceed 700 EURO (including VAT). Interpreters should be hired locally. For their travel and subsistence expenses to be covered by the grant, it must be impossible to hire them locally and it must be explained why this is so.Evaluation: if the proposal supported requires some form of evaluation, monitoring and evaluation methods must be developed, as well as tools to assess, on an on-going basis, the progress of the action in relation to the objectives defined at the beginning and to benchmark the results. The cost of such work will be regarded as eligible expenditure.

Subcontracting

Any service undertaken by an external party in connection with the implementation of the action is considered to be subcontracting (Art. 120FR, 184 IR). Applicants should have the operational capacity to complete the action to be supported.However, when justified and necessary, parts of the project may be subcontracted to another person or organisation. In this case, the beneficiary shall ensure that some of the terms liability, conflict of interests, confidentiality, publicity, evaluation, assignment and checks and audits applicable to itself under the agreement are also applicable to the subcontractors.It must be clearly specified in the description of the project which tasks it is intended to subcontract and why this subcontracting is necessary.

Main rules related to subcontracting activitiesWhen concluding external contracts in order to implement the action, the beneficiary must seek competitive tenders from potential contractors and award the contract to the bid offering the best value for money, i.e. the best price-quality ratio. In doing so, the beneficiary shall observe the principles of transparency and equal treatment of potential contractors and shall take care to avoid any conflict of interests.

Contracts as referred above may be awarded only in the following cases: They may only cover the execution of a limited part of the action; Recourse to the award of contracts must be justified having regard to the nature of the tasks

necessary for the implementation of the action; The tasks to be subcontracted and the corresponding estimated costs must be set out in detail

in the budget estimate; Any recourse to the award of contracts while the action is underway shall be subject to prior

written authorisation by the Commission; The beneficiary shall retain sole responsibility for the implementation of the action and for

compliance with the provisions of the agreement. The beneficiary must undertake the necessary arrangements to ensure that the subcontractor waives all rights in respect of the Commission under the agreement;

The beneficiary must undertake to ensure that the terms, mentioned above, applicable to him under the agreement are also applicable to the subcontractor.

External expertiseIn addition to the general rules applying to all subcontracting, the following rules must be observed for subcontracting for external expertise.

- Subcontracting for external expertise is only admissible if the staff of the project partners do not have the skills required.

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- Work and tasks carried out by the project partners (as described in the letters of support) are not subject to these rules on subcontracting. However, it is not permissible to include normal commercial suppliers of goods and services as project partners in order to avoid these rules. By way of example, the Commission does not find it appropriate to include as project partners independent consultants, conference organisers, and so on.

- The work programme of the grant application must include a declaration and justification of the nature and value of all external expertise. Applicants should note that projects with insufficiently clear explanations of the external expertise and which do not respect the rules outlined in the paragraph related to sub-contracting , will be rated accordingly.

- The description of the subcontracting plans and procedures for external expertise included in the work programme of the beneficiary will form a part of the grant agreement. The Commission reserves the right to verify that the beneficiary has carried out the subcontracting in accordance with this description and with the rules included in the grant agreement. Failure to comply with these conditions will constitute grounds for non-acceptance of the costs of subcontracting in the final accounts of the beneficiary.

Administration costsDepreciation for purchase of equipment (Art. 172a.2 IR) : the purchase cost of equipment (new or second-hand) is eligible provided that it is written off in accordance with the tax and accounting rules applicable to the beneficiary and generally accepted for items of the same kind. Only the portion of the equipment's depreciation corresponding to the period of eligibility for Community funding covered by the grant agreement and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account by the Commission.A justification for the need of purchasing such equipment is to be annexed to the budget estimate.

Other eligible administrative costs are: rent of meeting rooms (coffee breaks included), rent of interpretation booths, communications' costs, charges for financial services, costs relating to a bank guarantee and to external audits, etc. Indicative amounts for rental of booths, excluding technical equipment: 750€ (excluding VAT) per day.Rental of booths with equipment and technical assistance: 1200€ (excluding VAT) per day.

2.2.3 Eligible indirect costs (overheads)

Indirect costs are general administrative costs – overhead costs incurred in connection with the eligible direct costs for the action. They are limited to a maximum flat-rate of 7% of the total eligible direct costs for the action. These can include maintenance, stationery, photocopying, mailing postage, telephone and fax costs, heating, electricity or other forms of energy, water, office furniture, insurance and any other expenditure necessary for the successful completion of the project. Postage costs are considered as overhead costs and cannot be accepted under the headings "publications" or "administration".If the accepted budget includes a provision for flat-rate funding in respect of indirect costs, they need not to be supported by accounting documents.Indirect costs are not eligible for an action where the beneficiary already receives an operating grant from the Community budget during the period in question.

2.2.4 Non-eligible costs

The following costs shall not be considered eligible: contribution in kind: these are contributions that are not invoiced, e.g. voluntary work by a

private individual or corporate body, equipment or premises made available free of charge, etc.)

recruitment costs return on capital; debt and debt service charges;

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provisions for losses or potential future liabilities; interest owed; doubtful debts; exchange losses; VAT, unless the beneficiary can show that he is unable to recover it according to the

applicable national legislation. It should be noted that VAT paid by a public body to operators who are subject to VAT (when purchasing goods or supplying services within the framework of the implementation of the co-financed action) is not eligible. The VAT thus collected by operators liable for tax will in fact be returned to accounts of the Member State of the public body. Considering this VAT as an eligible cost would lead to double financing (by the Community and by the fiscal revenue).

costs declared by the beneficiary and covered by another action or work programme receiving a Community grant;

excessive or reckless expenditure costs for infrastructure equipment, land and second-hand equipment (only the amount of

annual depreciation of the equipment is accepted).

2.2.5 Income

Total income must be identical to total expenditure. The income side of the budget must show:

The beneficiary's contribution in cash: the direct monetary (cash) contribution from the applicant's own resources and/or the contribution from any other fund providers. This means a financial flow that can be traced in the written accounts of the beneficiary.

The revenue generated by the action: any income expected to be generated by the implementation of the action should be detailed (e.g. the yield from sales of publications).

The Community grant: the grant requested from the Commission.

3. HOW THE GRANT WILL BE CALCULATED

If the proposal is selected for a grant, the Commission will calculate the Community contribution as a percentage of the total eligible costs as shown in the estimated budget for the implementation of the project. The Commission reserves the right to reduce the grant requested if the proposal is acceptable but considered too expensive, and to reduce individual unit costs if these are estimated to be too high.

Determination of the final amount of the grant

The Community final grant is calculated on the basis of the actual eligible expenditure by applying the "double ceiling" rule and verifying compliance with the no-profit rule.

- Application of the "double ceiling" rule limiting the grant both to the percentage of the eligible costs and to the maximum amount mentioned in the grant agreement The Community final grant is calculated by applying the percentage for the co-financing of the eligible costs laid down in the grant agreement to the total of the actual eligible costs. This amount must not exceed the maximum amount for the Community grant laid down in the grant agreement.As a result, if the actual expenditure turns out to be lower than the expenditure you budgeted, the actual grant will also be reduced in application of the percentage contribution which will remain the same. If the actual expenditure turns out to be higher than the expenditure budgeted, the Community grant will not be increased. It is therefore in the applicant's interest to submit a realistic estimate of expenses.

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- Verification of compliance with the n o-profit rule The grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary (Art. 109(2) FR).On the basis of the above rule if the total income of the action is higher than the total costs, the final grant amount will be reduced accordingly so that it will not produce a profit.

A mere forecast of expenditure does not give entitlement to a grant. This is why the final grant amount cannot be calculated until the Commission has received the final activity report and the final statement of expenditure. The expenditure that is committed to the implementation of the action must be justified by invoices or equivalent supporting documents, in order to be accepted as actual expenditure. It must also relate to actual rather than inputted costs.

4. AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE GRANT

Should the Commission award a grant, a standard grant agreement for an action setting out the conditions and maximum level of funding will be concluded with the beneficiary.

Successful applicants will receive two original copies of the grant agreement for acceptance and signature. Both of these copies must be sent back to the Commission, which will then return one of them once it has been signed by both parties.

5. PAYMENT PROCEDURES

The payment procedures will be laid down in the grant agreement.

6. GUARANTEE

The Commission may require the beneficiary to provide a guarantee in advance, in order to limit the financial risk linked to the payment of the pre-financing. This guarantee shall be denominated in Euro and shall be valid for a period sufficiently long to allow it to be activated. The guarantee shall be provided by an approved bank or financial institution established in one of the Member States.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. The guarantee may be replaced by a joint and several guarantees by a third party or by the irrevocable and unconditional joint guarantee of the beneficiaries of an action who are parties to the same grant agreement.A guarantee is compulsory in the case of pre-financing representing over 80% of the total amount of the grant and exceeding € 60 000. However, this requirement may be waived for public-sector bodies and international organisations or for beneficiaries who have signed a framework partnership agreement with the Commission. (Art.118 FR and 182(1) IR).

7. BANK ACCOUNT AND INTEREST GENERATED BY PRE-FINANCING PAYMENTS (ART. 5(A) FR, ART. 3, 4 IR

Payment shall be made to the beneficiary's bank account or sub-account denominated in Euro. This account or sub-account indicated by the beneficiary must make it possible to identify the funds transferred by the Commission.

If the funds paid to their account yield interest or equivalent benefits under the law of the State on whose territory the account is opened, such interest or benefits, if they have been generated by pre-financing payments which remain the property of the European Community, shall not be treated as a receipt for the action.

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As specified in the grant agreement, the beneficiary shall inform the Commission of any interest or equivalent benefits yielded by pre-financing payments it has received from the Commission higher than EUR 50,000,. Notification must be made when the request is introduced for interim payment or for payment of the balance that clears the pre-financing.

Interests yielded by pre-financing payments between EUR 50,000 and 750,000 will be directly deducted from payments. Interests generated by pre-financing payments higher than EUR 750,000 will be recovered by a recovery order. Interests shall not be due to the Communities for pre-financing paid to Member States, to their regional or local authorities including organisms and administrative and instrumental structures under their control or paid in the framework of joint management with international organisations.

All costs related to these requirements (such as the cost for opening and closing accounts) are eligible and may be submitted in the budget estimate.

8. SUBMISSION OF REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

The project manager should keep the Commission informed on the development of the action and informed in good time of the main events being organised as part of the action.The final report on the implementation of the action, along with a final financial statement of all actual expenditure and actual revenue, are to be sent within three months from the closing date of the action.

The final report should be drafted in English or French and should, at a minimum, answer the following questions:

1. How was the action carried out? (Please provide a short description of the action, results and methodology. This part of the report will be published.)2. How has the action met the objectives of the budget heading?3. Describe the transnational dimension of the operation.4. What contribution was made by the partners?5. How has the action contributed to the priorities, activities or results of?6. What added value, i.e. lasting impact and/or multiplier effect, has the project contributed?7. How was the action publicised and how have the results been disseminated?8. What lessons have been learnt from this experience?9. Are there any plans to follow up this project, and if so, how?10. Describe the results of the evaluation (internal/external) of the implementation of the action.

An electronic version of the final report on the implementation of action should also be provided on a CD-ROM, in word processing format.Should the final report be deemed to be inadequate or of low quality, the Commission reserves the right to request additional information within 30 days of reception of the final report, and, if necessary, to suspend the final payment until the requested information is provided.

9. PUBLICITY

Beneficiaries of the grant are required to mention clearly the fact that they have received funding from the Community in any publication, in other materials and during activities (conferences or seminars, etc.) for which the grant is used, using the following wording:"With support from the European Union". The logo of the EU given at the following web address: http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/emblem/index_en.htm should also be visible.

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Any communication or publication by the beneficiary, in any form and medium, including the Internet, shall indicate that sole responsibility lies with the author and that the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.In addition to these minimum requirements, references specified in the text of the call for proposals must also be indicated.All grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published on the Internet site of the Community institutions during the first half of the year following the closure of the budget year in respect of which they were awarded.By signing the grant agreement for an action, the beneficiary authorises the Commission to publish the following information in any form and medium, including via the Internet site of the Community (Art. 110(2) FR, 169(2) IR):- the beneficiary's name and the address- the subject of the grant,- the amount awarded and the rate of funding of the costs of the action.In order to achieve a wider dissemination of results, the project description will also be published on the European Commission's website.Upon a duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, publication of this data can be waived if it threatens the safety of the beneficiary or harms his business interests.For guidance only, please refer to the EC visibility guidelines: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm

10. EX-POST EVALUATION

Successful proposals could be the subject of an ongoing and ex-post evaluation led by the Commission and/or by independent experts selected by the European Commission.Therefore, the beneficiaries of the grant undertake to make available to the Commission and/or persons authorised by it, all necessary documents or information and to give these persons the rights of access required.

11. CHECKS AND AUDITS

An external audit report is required in the following cases:

11.1 Audit report in support of grant applications (Art. 173(4) IR)

Organisations' proposals for an action for which the grant exceeds € 500 000, shall be accompanied by an external audit report produced by a certified auditor. That report shall certify the accounts for the last financial year available.

11.2 Audit report in support of requests for payment (Art. 180(2) IR)

In the case of a grant for an action over € 750 000, requests for payment shall, when the cumulative amount per financial year of requests for interim payments and for payment of the balance is at least € 325 000, be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer. Its purpose is to certify that the submitted accounts comply with the financial provisions of the agreement, 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 according to the grant agreement and that all receipts have been declared.The obligation to provide such a certification of the financial statements and underlying accounts may be waived in the cases of grant beneficiaries that are public bodies or the beneficiary himself shall certify on his honour that information contained in requests for payments is full, reliable and true. He shall also certify that the costs incurred can be considered eligible in accordance with the

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http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm

grant agreement and that requests for payment are substantiated by adequate supporting documents that can be checked.The beneficiary undertakes to provide any detailed information requested by the Commission or by another qualified outside body chosen by the Commission for the purposes of checking that the action and the provisions of the agreement are being properly implemented. The beneficiary must enable the Commission and/or the European Court of Auditors to verify the organisation's accounting documents, if they deem this appropriate. To this end, documentation justifying items of expenditure must be retained by the applicant's organisation for five years following final payment by the Commission.

12. HOW TO APPLY AND THE PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW

Grant Application Form

Applications must be submitted in 1 original and 2 copies in A4 format, using the application documents annexed to the present Guidelines. These documents must also be supplied in electronic format (CD-Rom). The electronic version must be identical to the paper version. The electronic version of the applications will only be printed in black and white for evaluation purposes.

All documents can be downloaded from the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/tender/proposition_en.htm

Applicants should keep strictly to the format of the "Grant Application Form" otherwise the applications will be rejected. Hand-written applications will be rejected.

It is strongly suggested to use the enclosure 6 "Check-list for applicant" to the Grant Application Form.

Clarifications will only be requested to the applicants when information provided is unclear, thus preventing the European Commission from conducting an objective assessment.

Only the Grant Application Form and its annexes will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that these documents contain ALL relevant information concerning the project.

Where and how to send the Applications

Applications must be submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail with delivery confirmation, private courier service or by hand-delivery at one of the addresses below (a signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt will be given by the European Commission).

The evidence of the date of dispatch shall be constituted by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip.

Postal addressEuropean CommissionDG Regional PolicyCSM1 04/62B-1049 Brussels, Belgium

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http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/tender/proposition_en.htm

Address for hand-delivery or by private courier serviceEuropean CommissionDG Regional PolicyCentral Mail ServiceAvenue du Bourget 1B-1140 Brussels (Evere), Belgium Att: Ms Suzanne Andersson, Mr Alekos TsolakisUnit D2 Thematic coordination, innovation

Applications sent by any other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses will be rejected.

The outer envelope must bear the reference and the title of the Call for Proposals (CCI 2009CE160AT085 Pilot Project "Pan-European Coordination of Roma Integration Methods" - Roma inclusion), the full name and address of the applicant, and the words "Not to be opened before the opening session".

Applicants must verify that their application is complete using the check-list for project proposal, (Annex 6). Incomplete applications may be rejected.

Deadline for submission of Applications

The deadline for the submission of applications is 25 September 2009 as evidenced by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip.In the case of hand-deliveries, the deadline for receipt is 25 September 2009 at 16.00 hours (Brussels time), as evidenced by the European Commission’s signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt given to the bearer.

Any application sent after the deadline or, in the case of hand-deliveries, received after the stipulated time will be rejected.

Any application received by the European Commission on or after the effective date of completion of the evaluation of the applications will be treated as having been submitted after the deadline and, therefore, rejected.

The Applicant is solely responsible for the choice of means of expedition amongst those indicated in section 2.2.2 and for following-up the delivery in accordance with the stipulations of the present section.

Further information for Applicants

For practical reasons, questions concerning this Call for Proposals may be sent by e-mail no later than 5 days before the deadline for the submission of applications to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals:

E-mail address: [email protected]

After the deadline for submission of Proposals, the above-mentioned e-mail address can only be used by the European Commission to initiate correspondence regarding any requests for clarification that may be required.

No individual replies to queries with regard to the status of the selection procedure can be given via this mailbox.

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mailto:[email protected]

Notification of the European Commission’s decision

Content of the decision

Applicants will be informed in writing of the European Commission’s decision concerning their application and, where applicable, the principal reason(s) for a negative decision.

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the Eligibility check stage of the procedure wishing to obtain further information should send their request by letter, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:

European CommissionDG Regional PolicyCentral Mail ServiceAvenue du Bourget 1B-1140 Brussels (Evere), Belgium Att: Ms Suzanne Andersson, Mr Alekos TsolakisUnit D2 Thematic coordination, innovation

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the award evaluation stage of the procedure wishing to obtain further information should send their request, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:


The request for further information should be sent to the European Commission no later than 2 months from the date of receipt of the letter informing the applicants about the negative decision concerning their application.

The European Commission must reply no later than 2 months from the date of receipt of the said petition.

Thereafter, applicants believing that there has been an error or irregularity during the award process may send a petition no later than 2 months from the date of receipt of the above-mentioned reply from the European Commission, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to the following address:


The European Commission must reply no later than 2 months of receipt of the said petition.Lastly, the applicant may have recourse to procedures established under Community legislation. European citizens or residents, including legal entities with a registered office in the European Union, also have the right to complain to the European Ombudsman, who investigates complaints of maladministration by the European Community Institutions.

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Indicative timetable

Deadline for submission of proposals: 25 September 2009

Award decision: End 2009

Signature of the grant agreements: First quarter 2010

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CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S DECISION TO AWARD A GRANT

Following the decision to award a grant, the beneficiary will be offered a contract based on the European Commission's standard contract. By signing the Grant Application Form (Annex 1), the applicant declares accepting, in case his awarded a grant, the Contractual conditions as laid down in the Standard Contract.

Implementation contractsWhere implementation of the project requires the beneficiary to award procurement contracts, it must award the contract to the tenderer offering the best value for money, that is to say, the best price-quality ratio, in compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment for potential contractors, care being taken to avoid any conflict of interests.

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GLOSSARYThe following explanations are provided for clarity and easy-reference. They have no legal authority, and do not replace any official definitions set out in the relevant legal acts.

Acknowledgement of receipt: applicants are informed by e-mail after the deadline that a proposal has been successfully submitted. This information does not prejudge the application's eligibility.

Activity: the specific action taken by applicants and for which funding is requested.

Applicant: the organisation responsible for submitting the application.

Associate: organisation that plays an active role in the project but which cannot benefit from funding under the grant.

Award criteria: these are part of the evaluation criteria on the basis of which proposals will be assessed.

Beneficiary: successful applicant

Candidate countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey.

Eligible costs: these are costs accepted by the Commission as being reimbursable (up to the limits established in the grant agreement).

Eligibility criteria: the minimum conditions which a proposal must fulfil if it is to be evaluated.

EU15 Member States: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom

EU12 Member States: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia.

Evaluation: the process by which proposals are, or are not, retained with a view to selection as projects. Evaluation is conducted through the application of eligibility, award and selection criteria. The evaluation is conducted by the European Commission.

Evaluation criteria: the eligibility, award and selection criteria against which proposals are assessed.

Financial Regulation (FR) and its Implementing Rules (IR): Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1606/2002 of 25 June

2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (Official Journal L 248, 16.09.2002, p. 1), as amended by Regulation No 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006 (OJ L 390, 30.12.2006, p. 1).

Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation (OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p.1), as last amended by Commission Regulation No 478/2007 of 23 April 2007 (OJ L 111, 28.04.2007, p. 13).

Grant: grants are direct financial contributions covered by a written agreement, by way of donation, from the Community budget in

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order to finance either an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a European Union policy; or the functioning of a body which pursues an aim of general European interest or has an objective forming part of a European Union policy.

Grant agreement: agreement between the Commission and the beneficiaries setting out the conditions of the awarding of Community grants.

Negotiation: the process of establishing a grant agreement between the Commission and an applicant whose proposal has been favourably evaluated, and when funds are available.

Partner: member organisation of the partnership other than the applicant.

Partnership: the grouping of organisations, i.e. the main applicant and its partners, for the purpose of implementing the proposed project.

Potential candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, Montenegro, Serbia.

Project: the package of actions and activities proposed by applicants.

Proposal: a description of the planned activities, information on who will carry them out, how much they will cost, and how much funding is requested.

Re-granting financial support that may be given to third parties by the beneficiary of the Community grant where the implementation of the project so requires, subject to the conditions laid down in Article 120 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities and the Article 184a of the Rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation.

Selection criteria: these are part of the evaluation criteria on the basis of which proposals will be assessed. The selection criteria relate to the applicant's financial and operational capacity to carry out the project.

Subcontractor organisation contracted by the beneficiary or its partner(s) in accordance with the appropriate procedures in order to execute specific tasks in implementing the project.

Thresholds: for a proposal to be considered for funding, the evaluation scores for individual criteria must reach certain thresholds. There is also an overall threshold for the sum of the scores.

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4. List of ENCLOSURES

Annex 1: Grant Application Form

Annex 2: Draft Grant Agreement

Annex 3: Draft Estimated Budget form

Annex 4: Financial identification form: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/execution/ftiers_en.htm

Annex 5: Legal entity form: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/execution/legal_entities_en.htm

Annex 6: Check-list for Applicants

Annex 7: Model Interim report

Annex 8: Model Final report

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http://ec.europa.eu/budget/execution/legal_entities_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/execution/ftiers_en.htm

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