Information Session AMIF 9 th Call for Proposals 12 th June 2017 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Information Session – AMIF 9th Call for Proposals

12th June 2017

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020 Co-financing rate: 75% EU Funds 25% Beneficiary’s Funds Sustainable Management of Migration Flows

Calls for Project Proposals

■ As per article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No

1042/2014 which lays down the provisions with regard to the management and control responsibilities

• f

Responsible Authorities, provides that one of the tasks of the Responsible Authorities, provides that one of the tasks of the Responsible Authority is to:

• issue calls for applications.

Calls for Project Proposals 2

■ In this respect, Article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation

(EU) No 1042/2014 states that:

• As a general rule, the Responsible Authority shall award
• As a general rule, the Responsible Authority shall award

grants for projects under the national programme on the basis of open calls for proposals.

■ This signifies that call is open to all organisations which are

interested in applying.

Calls for Project Proposals 3

• The third option laid down in the Regulation is to go for a direct
• award. In this respect article 7 declares that:
• The Responsible Authority may award grants directly
• The Responsible Authority may award grants directly

where the specific nature of the project or the technical

• r administrative competence of the relevant bodies

leaves no other choice, such as in the case of de jure or de facto monopolies.

• The grounds justifying the use of a direct award is set out in

the call itself.

Calls for Project Proposals 4

• The Responsible Authority is making use of two types of calls to

implement the National Programme , that is open calls and restricted calls.

• With respect to open calls, the National Programme provides a list of

all the types of organisations which could benefit from the Fund. In this respect, section 6.7.1 lists the following entities:

• State authorities, local public bodies, non-governmental organisations,

international public organisations, national Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, private and public companies (so long as they are established in Malta), education/research organisations, social partners

Calls for Project Proposals 5

• With respect to the restricted calls, the National Programme

lists the entities to which a direct award will be provided, under section 6.7.2.

• The

Refugee Commissioner receives, processes and determines asylum applications.

• Activities of Forced Return, under the Return Measures

Objective, will be awarded to the Immigration Police, in view of the de jure monopoly existing in return management.

Calls for Project Proposals 6

■ The Detention Service enjoys a de jure monopoly in the

management of closed reception centres.

■ The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers is solely ■ The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers is solely

responsible for the implementation of national legislation and policy concerning the welfare of refugees, beneficiaries of protection and asylum seekers.

■ The Ministry for Education is responsible for compulsory

education and the national curriculum in schools.

Calls for Project Proposals 7

■ The previous Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer

Affairs and Civil Liberties was responsible for the policies of equality, anti-discrimination and integration.

■ The Ministry for Health is in charge of providing the

mainstream national health services in Malta.

Calls for Project Proposals 8

■ Both the Open calls and the Restricted calls will be

subject to an evaluation by an independent Project Selection Committee.

■ Applications are accompanied by a set of Guidance

Notes, whose purpose is to guide the Applicants during the application process.

Calls for Project Proposals 9

■ Upon application submission, the RA shall conduct a

completeness check to determine the validity of the

• application. The Documents to be submitted are indicated

in the Guide for Applications, which has been uploaded on in the Guide for Applications, which has been uploaded on the website.

■ The RA shall request any missing documentation which is

marked as required, but not submitted by the applicant, within one week following disclosure.

Calls for Project Proposals 9

■

It is important that the checklist which is present in the Application and reproduced in the Guidance Notes is followed:

CHECK-LIST The Responsible Authority requests 1 original spiral bound copy of the application form (each page initialised by the project leader, with final page duly signed by all parties), 1 spiral bound photocopy and a soft copy (on CD or pen drive) of each application and its annexes. and a soft copy (on CD or pen drive) of each application and its annexes.

OBLIGATORY: 1 spiral bound grant application in original form, with salient sections duly completed and signed in original by the person authorised to enter into legally binding commitments on behalf of the applicant (each page initialised by project leader and signed at the back with all applicable signatures) REQUIRED: 1 spiral bound copy including the annexes to the Application Form REQUIRED: Soft copy (on CD or pen drive) of the application form and its annexes (preferably in word format in relation to the Application Form) REQUIRED: Annex I: Log frame on the implementation of the project REQUIRED: Annex II: Declaration by Partner Organisation (one for each partner organisation) (where applicable) OBLIGATORY: Annex III: ‘Detailed Budget Estimate Report’ duly completed (Excel Format – including sub-worksheets) OBLIGATORY: Annex IV: ‘Timescale’ duly completed (Excel Format ) REQUIRED: Annex V: Declaration from the VAT Department (for entities who are claiming VAT as an eligible cost) stating that the organisation claiming VAT will not be recovering VAT for this particular project – applicable also for partners which will be receiving funds from the project)

Calls for Project Proposals 10

■ The eligibility criteria, outlined in the guidance notes, shall be

used to determine whether an application is eligible for funding.

■ Ineligible projects will not be considered further; however

applicants shall be informed at the first instance and also given the right of appeal to an independent Appeals Board.

Calls for Project Proposals 11

■ Projects that make it through the eligibility check shall proceed

to the next round and will be assessed according to the selection and award criteria.

■ The PSC shall then award marks according to the criteria and

rank projects, according to the marks obtained.

■ In order to qualify for selection, the proposal needs to obtain at

least 50% of the marks.

Calls for Project Proposals 12

■ For those eligible projects undergoing the assessment stage,

the PSC shall re-seek clearance from the State Aid Monitoring Board (SAMB) to ensure that the projects do not entail state aid.

■ The

eventual approval

• f

projects is dependent

• n

the available budget (unless the RA agrees to increase the budget available for the call), in which case the highest ranking projects shall be offered a grant, while others may be put on reserve list.

Information on Calls launched 1

■ As announced on the 26th May 2017, two (2) open calls

targeting two different national objectives, were launched;

a) Under Reception & Asylum

• For renovation works to be done in open centers run by
• For renovation works to be done in open centers run by

NGOs and/or the provision of integration measures and/or the provision of material aid and/or the provision

• f support services, to be provided to asylum seekers;

b) Under Integration & Legal Migration

• Integration measures to be provided to Third Country

Nationals;

Information on Calls launched 2

■ The budgets made available are the following:

Open Call EU Funds made available Renovation of Open Centers/ € 1,500,000 Renovation of Open Centers/ Integration Measures/Material Aid/ Support Services for asylum seekers € 1,500,000 Integration Measures for TCNs € 1,200,000

Information on Calls Launched 3

■ The Deadline for the Submission of all Applications is set for

Friday 23rd June 2017.

■ All

the documentation with respect to the call can be downloaded from www.eufunds.gov.mt. downloaded from www.eufunds.gov.mt.

The Application Form 1

■ Points to take into consideration:

• The EU Budget Available;
• Availability of Funds to cover the co-financing rate of
• Availability of Funds to cover the co-financing rate of

25%;

• To submit a complete Application Form;
• To submit at least the obligatory Annexes to the

application especially the Budget Breakdown excel sheet and the Timeline excel sheet.

The Application Form 2

The First section of the Application includes basic information. Kindly try and respect the character limitations as the information provided would need to be reproduced in the Commission’s database.

The Application Form 3

The Applicants can be of various categories. It is important that the enrolment with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisation is presented when applicable. Kindly submit the Deed

• f

Foundation/Statute/Articles of Association as per Annex XII.

The Application Form 4

The Application has to be originally signed by the Head of the Organisation or CEO as well as the Project Leader. It is important that the Project leader is employed or forms part of the Organisation and is available after the end of the project activities to process the

• payments. It is also vital that the selected person has knowledge of EU funding rules.

The Application Form 5

In this section, list the persons who will be employed or assigned

• n the project as well as their functions vis-à-vis the project.

The Application Form 6

In this section describe how the persons identified in the previous section are answerable, and to whom. This should be reflected in the organigram which has to be attached to the application form.

The Application Form 7

If you have partners on the project, please identify the type of partnership. Partners just to provide the co-financing? Will they provide co-financing but will also monitor the activities? Will they be involved in the activities? Will they be paid for the activities for which they will be involved in? Those who will co-finance the project, need to submit the declaration of availability

• f funds and their accounts and if they will claim costs for activities undertaken they need to

submit the VAT Declaration Form, apart from the Partnership Form Annex II.

The Application Form 8

Please note that the partner organization needs to be at least established in Malta and is in its remit to carry out the activities as listed in the application form. The the Deed of Foundation/Statute/Articles of Association need also be submitted for the partner organisation.

The Application Form 9

OR Make sure you are compiling the correct application form targeting the national objective which will be addressed by your project. OR

The Application Form 10

Description of what is expected to cover the National Programme is listed in section 3.2. In this section you need to delineate how the project supports AMIF’s objectives which are present in Regulation 516/2014. In addition make sure you address all the points listed in the descriptive part.

The Application Form 11

Description of what is expected to cover the National Programme is listed in section 3.2. In this section you need to delineate how the project supports AMIF’s objectives which are present in Regulation 516/2014. In addition make sure you address all the points listed in the descriptive part.

The Application Form 12

Please note that the project activities can extend till the 31th of December 2022. So when planning the project activities one can spread them out to attain the necessary

• flexibility. However keep note that request for payments should also be spread out to

meet the National Programme’s yearly financial commitments. One should note that the first de-commitment target will be applied in mid-October 2017.

The Application Form 13

What target group is considered as ‘vulnerable’ is listed in the footnote to this section. Please note that you need to state whether vulnerable persons as per definition will be involved in the project and provide an estimated amount. This will need to be compared to the total number of TCNs.

Vulnerable as defined in Regulation 14.1 of subsidiary legislation 420.06 shall include include victims of trauma or torture, children, women, victims or potential victims of trafficking, asylum seekers with disabilities, older asylum-seekers, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers

The Application Form 14

Specific Objective Asylum and Reception targets only asylum seekers or refugees.

The Application Form 15

Integration under the Specific Objective Integration / Legal Migration targets only Third Country Nationals who have entered Malta legally.

The Application Form 16

The objectives include a number of indicators which are common to all Member

• States. Here you need to insert your contribution to the Fund, through the

identification of the number of target group persons who will be assisted, and if the project involves renovation of open centres you need to record any increase in accommodation capacity vis a vis the current accommodation capacity.

The Application Form 17

For this indicator, one needs to list the number of measures or tools which will be undertaken by means of the project.

The Application Form 18

These are other indicators for which information needs to be gathered vis a vis the mid-term evaluation that will be undertaken following July. Only estimates need to be provided at this stage but try to be less optimistic and based on previous activities undertaken. With respect to integration measures, please note that the Commission may propose to carry out a tracer study of the individuals who have benefitted from the measures, so make sure to have in hand the details of the persons who have participated in the project, in order to be able to trace them.

The Application Form 19

These are other indicators for the asylum and reception specific objective application.

The Application Form 20

Please note that an indicator should be made up by a definition, a value and a measurement unit. Result indicators relate to the direct and immediate effect on beneficiaries brought about by a project. Impact indicators refer to the consequences of the project beyond the immediate effects. Two concepts of impact can be defined: Specific impacts are those effects occurring after a certain lapse of time but which are, nonetheless, directly linked to the action taken and the beneficiaries; Global impacts are longer-term effects affecting a wider population.

The Application Form 21

In this section, one needs to provide in detail what is being planned in the project

• activities. Basically you are being asked to beef up what you have inserted in Annex

1, the log frame. Please note that the second question asks for the problem which is being addressed by the project and not any problems which the project will be encountering.

The Application Form

The Application Form

It is important that if you are claiming VAT as an eligible cost, the Declaration from the VAT Department on whether you can claim back the VAT submitted and be given a credit should be submitted. Please note that if your organisation receives a credit, the VAT costs on the project are ineligible. If you do not get a credit for the VAT paid from the VAT Department then the VAT paid on the project, can be claimed as an eligible cost.

The Application Form

The column expenditure is to indicate the costs of the project, while the column income should provide the amount requested from the EU funds amounting to 75% of the eligible costs, the 25% equivalent co-financing share (to be provided either by the applicant/ partner or third party) and the deduction of any profit, so that the total eligible and the total income should be the same.

The Application Form

The Application Form

The above costs are the eligible expenditure. Please go through the eligibility rules in order to grasp the obligations for each budget component. In case of renovation please note that the actual renovation under real estate should not exceed €200,000. Where land is purchased, the cost of the said land should not exceed 10% of the total eligible expenditure for the project concerned.

The Application Form

The above costs are the eligible expenditure. Please go through the eligibility rules in order to comprehend the obligations for each budget component. With regards to indirect costs, up to 7% of the eligible costs identified could be requested as indirect costs. In case indirect costs are being claimed, costs below €100 will need to claimed from these costs.

The Application Form

Applicants who receive an operational grant cannot ask for indirect costs. This is also applicable for partners. In fact partners have to submit the Declaration from the head of the organisation stating that the organisation is not receiving an

• perational grant from the European Union budget. See Annex IX attached to the

application form.

The Application Form

The budget available/project activities can be spread over the following no of

• years. Activities which have already started under the project can only be

eligible prior to the signing of a grant agreement if these can be justified and a request for reimbursement of the said could be submitted following approval of the project. Payments on the projects cannot go beyond 2022.

The Application Form

Governmental Entities need to follow the Public Procurement Regulations, NGOs need to follow the thresholds outlined in our Manual of Procedures. There are three thresholds for NGOs: below €5000 (one quotation), between €5000 & €100,000 (three quotations), over €100,000 (open tender).

The Application Form

In this section, one needs to insert previous projects undertaken and financed through EU Funds which were complementary to the project. Please note that double funding is prohibited. Project Activities must only be financed from one EU Funding programme.

The Application Form

Here, one needs to insert previous projects undertaken and financed through EU Funds which were not related to the proposed project.

The Application Form

Points are given to projects which complement other initiatives emerging from national policies in the relevant area or other projects which were or are being undertaken from EU or national funds. This section needs to be linked to what is stated in the section on ‘previous projects’ undertaken.

The Application Form

Please note the durability clause attached to purchases made under the project in relation to real estate costs and equipment. If renovations are paid from the project, the renovated building has to continue to be utilised for the activities

• utlined in the project for at least 10 years following final payment made by

European Commission on the project. While for example if ICT equipment is purchased from the project, these need to continue to be used for 4 years following final payment. A declaration in this respect would need to be submitted during the implementation of the project.

The Application Form

Points are given to projects which have already a clear plan of action and have maybe tenders/quotations already drafted. Information on how the target group will be approached in case of integration measures and in the provision of support services and material aid to asylum seekers would need to be provided.

The Application Form

Beneficiaries are obliged under the Regulation to make the general public aware of the project and how this was co-financed. Apart from describing the actions undertaken, one needs to fill in the table below and mark the publicity measures that will be undertaken. In case of training and employment of staff one should note the obligation of having both the trainees and the staff aware that the training/ salary is being part-financed from EU funds.

The Application Form

The Application Form

One should note that in case of NGOs the possibility of not having sufficient funds to cover the co-financing share on the project (the 25%) cannot be a

• condition. Insufficiency of funds leads to non-eligibility.

The Application Form

It is important to contact the State Aid Monitoring Board in order to verify that the project activities and/or the involvement of private entities as partners to the project do not involve State Aid. Contact details of the State Aid Monitoring Board are listed in the Guidance Notes to the Application Form.

The Application Form

It is important to read through the Declaration prior to signing the application form and have it submitted to the Responsible Authority in Santa Venera by noon of the 23rd of June 2017. it submitted to the Responsible Authority in Santa Venera by noon of the 23rd of June 2017. The Application needs to be signed by the Project Leader and the CEO/head of the Applicant Organisation. All pages need to be initialised by the project leader. In case of Government Entities, the form needs also to be signed by the Permanent Secretary. Do not forget to submit also the Annexes to the Application form, especially the Budget Breakdown and its separate sheets.

Thanks for your Attention

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020 Co-financing rate: 75% EU Funds 25% Beneficiary’s Funds Sustainable Management of Migration Flows