subject : AFKAR II Project Information session
place : OMSAR - conference room
Date : 05/09/06
1 - Project Overview
A general presentation of the AFKAR II programme and its objectives took place at the beginning of the session, including the roles of the European Union (funding party) and OMSAR (managing party). It also emphasized the cooperation between the European Union, the public sector (OMSAR), and the Lebanese civil society. Since AFKAR aims at the strengthening of the action of the Lebanese civil society in favour of the respect of civil and political rights, and the consolidation of the Rule of Law, and in light of the war that recently took place in the country, it was noted during the session that the projects must take into account the newly-emerged needs, particularly those pertaining to social, psychosocial, economic… issues, but without tackling humanitarian or charity issues.
2 - Presentations
AFKAR programme coordinator Mrs. Youmna Chacar Ghorayeb presented the project objectives, sectors of actions, eligibility conditions of applicants and partners, as well as the action types that might benefit from a grant in AFKAR II.
The presentation
Mrs. Joelle Ramy Haddad, procurement officer at OMSAR, explained the eligibility of costs and the evaluation procedure.
The presentation
During the session, the audience was notified of the changes that were made following the July war, especially concerning the deadline of submittal of proposals (12 October 2006 at 2 p.m.).
New timetable :
Deadline for asking questions : 22 September 2006
Deadline for answering questions : 2 October 2006
3 - Questions & Answers
Participants were asked to come forward with their questions concerning the project and file submittal conditions.
Q1
- Is it possible for an NGO to be an applicant in a project and a partner in another?
-Yes, but any institution (be it applicant or partner) cannot be awarded more than one grant in this call for proposals and cannot submit two proposals as applicant.
Q2
- Is it possible for an NGO to submit a project with a municipality as a partner?
- According to the guidelines (2.1.2), municipalities can be associates.
Q3
- Is it possible for an NGO to be a partner in more than one project?
- Yes, but please refer to question 1 regarding award of grants.
Q4
- In the concept note, NGOs are required to state in points 2.1 and 2.2 the relevance of their proposal towards the needs and constraints of the target country(ies) or region as well as the problems to be resolved and the needs to be met. Isn’t this somehow repetitive?
- On the contrary, this is complementary and constitutes the standard model of concept notes pertaining to all EU grant projects.
Q5
- Can a foreign non-profit association be a partner in a project submitted within the framework of AFKAR ?
- No, because according to the guidelines partners must meet the same eligibility criteria as the applicant. A partner association must be a Lebanese NGO headquartered in Lebanon (point 2.1.2 of guidelines).
Q6
- Can we apply to AFKAR and to the Human Rights EC microprojects at the same time?
- If you have already received a grant from the European Commission or if you have submitted a proposal to a current call for proposals, you must mention it in your proposal (section I article 4 in application form). All proposals will be studied, but it must noted that the EU does not finance the same activities or the same project in two different programs.
Nature of project
Q7
- What do you mean by «priority will be given to operational and concrete actions, and not to seminars/workshops that are costly and unproductive»?
- The AFKAR programme does not totally exclude seminars and workshops. But applicants must avoid submitting projects whose activities are limited to seminars/workshops, given the fact that AFKAR encourages operational and concrete actions. Depending on the nature of the project submitted and the targeted themes, activities may be concretized by information sessions, focus groups…
Q8
- Is it possible for a project to combine actions from both sectors? If yes, does this affect the evaluation?
- It is preferable for your project to target just one sector with a simple and specific objective in order to improve your file’s quality.
Q9
- Can a project be directly addressed to the Lebanese society and involve an Arab participation at the same time?
- This is considered eligible, as long as the action takes place on the Lebanese territory. This dimension can be used at the service of durability or impact beyond the country. It will be the role of the selection committee to evaluate your proposal’s quality based on the evaluation grids published in the guidelines. It is advised to use these tools to auto-evaluate yourself after filling the application form.
Evaluation
Q10
- If instead of a partner, an NGO submits its project with many associates, will this weaken its position during evaluation?
- No, it all depends on the sector of action, and on the experience and competences of your associates. It was noticed in AFKAR I that a very small number of NGOs actually worked in partnerships or consortiums. Regarding certain subjects, you have to be more than one in order to be more efficient. In the evaluation grid, partnerships are strongly encouraged if an NGO does not have any partners, it only receives one point out of 5 (point 3.3). Moreover, partnerships will also be evaluated for quality: the role of partners or associates in implementation will be evaluated the same way.
Q11
- What is the duration of each of the three evaluation stages of the AFKAR programme ?
- The indicative timetable published in the guidelines will be amended, and the changes will be published on our website. Please note that these dates are only given as an indication:
The date on which OMSAR plans to inform the applicants about the outcome of the opening session and the administrative check is 26 October, 2006. This date is indicative only.
The date on which OMSAR plans to inform the applicants about the outcome of the evaluation of the concept note is 24 November, 2006— This date is indicative only.
The date on which OMSAR plans to inform the applicants about the outcome of the evaluation of the full application form is 21 December, 2006 — this date is indicative only.
The date on which OMSAR plans to announce the award decision after having verified the eligibility of applicant and partners is 15 January, 2006. This date is indicative only.
Q12
- Since some of our projects involve schools, when will the selected projects be launched ?
- According to the indicative timetable that will be published, the selected projects will be probably launched during the first semester of 2007 (around February 2007). An exact date cannot be given in advance, since it all depends on the number of received proposals.
Budget and financial considerations
Q13
- Are there any conditions pertaining to the purchase of equipements or services?
- All the conditions are stated in annex IV of the contract.
Q14
- Must we specify what our administrative costs are (7%)?
- No, not in the budget submitted with your proposal, but it is crucial to keep all the related invoices and
documents incurred during implementation.
Q15
- The NGOs that were selected in AFKAR I were supposed to obtain 80% of the grant upon signature of the contract and the remaining 20% after submittal and approval of their financial reports. Does the same principle apply for AFKAR II, knowing that the grant sum is larger?
- The same payment method applies to AFKAR II, irrespectively of the grant amount : 80% as down payment and 20% upon submittal and approval of technical and financial reports at the end of the project.
Q16
- A copy of the applicant’s latest accounts is among the required documents. What about newly-established NGOs whose financial accounts are not yet available?
- If the NGO is newly-established, a copy of the applicant’s latest accounts is not requested. However, such NGOs are advised to apply with a partner, since their management capicity will be evaluated. Having a partner would reinforce a newly-established NGO’s management capacity.
Q17
- Should NGOs include tenders in their provisional budget ?
- No, but all expected expenses must be specified.
Technical Assistance
Q18
- Will AFKAR II offer training sessions like AFKAR I ?
- The institution which will be entrusted with the AFKAR II technical assistance will organize at a later stage training sessions (that will be open even to non-selected NGOs) that meet the needs of Lebanese NGOs.
Q19
- What will be the role of the institution which will be entrusted with the AFKAR II technical assistance?
- We have developed the role of the technical assistance for AFKAR II according to our experience in AFKAR I : technical follow-up, monitoring, thematic exchanges, training sessions, updating the study pertaining to civil society… A tendering procedure for a service contract is under way.