EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION TO THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI

Support to Civil Society Organisations in Eswatini - Call for Proposals ref. 180946 Questions and Answers nn. 1 to 5

Question 1:

1. Eligibility criteria for lead applicant/co-applicant - International Non-Governmental Organisa- tion – footnote 8 “Non-governmental organisation ‘(NGO) means a voluntary, independent from government, non-profit organisation, which is not a political party or a trade union; Internation- al NGO (INGO) means a NGO which has offices, subsidiaries and/or brunches in different coun- tries (minimum two), each of them having legal personality according to the laws of the country in which they are established.”:

   1. Would you confirm whether the ‘minimum two’ may include the headquarters and the branch?

   2. How will you evaluate whether the lead applicant / co-applicant fully meet this criterion?

Answer 1:

1- a) the EUD confirm that the ‘minimum two’ may include the headquarters and the subsidiaries and/or branches.

1- b) the EUD will assess this on the basis of the statutes or articles of association of the lead ap- plicant, (if any) of each co-applicant and (if any) of each affiliated entity, and of the certificate of registration in the country(ies) where the branches are established.

Question 2: Do local NGO’s qualify to be lead applicants?

Answer 2: No, the lead applicant must, among other things, be a specific type of organisation such as International Organisation and/or International Non-Governmental Organisation.

Question 3: Should the CSOs be identified within the full application or is the identification pro- cess of CSOs expected as part of the activities once implementation begins?

Answer 3: Please refer to point 2.1.3 of the Guidelines.

In general, “the actions, which may be funded, should be result based, indicating a coherent set of activities with clearly defined impact, outcomes and outputs, target groups within a specified timeframe, aligned with the specific objectives”.

With reference to the Financial Support for Third Parties, “in compliance with the present guide- lines and notably of any conditions or restrictions in this Section, the lead applicant should define mandatorily in Section 2.1.1 of Annex A.2 (Grant application form – Full application):

1. the overall objectives, the specific objective(s) and the outputs^[1] (i.e. the results) to be achieved with the financial support
2. the different types of activities eligible for financial support, on the basis of a fixed list
3. the types of persons or categories of persons which may receive financial support
4. the criteria for selecting these entities and giving the financial support
5. the criteria for determining the exact amount of financial support for each third entity, and
6. the maximum amount which may be given.

In all events, the mandatory conditions set above for giving financial support (points (i) to (vi)) have to be strictly defined in the grant contract as to avoid any exercise of discretion”.

Question 4: If the maximum amount of financial support per third party of 60 000 per entity can be exceeded, can the project use EU part funding (EU Funds) to exceed the threshold?

Answer 4: According to point 2.1.3 of the Guidelines “The maximum amount of financial sup- port per third party is EUR 60 000 except where achieving the objectives of the actions would otherwise be impossible or overly difficult, in which case this threshold can be exceeded. A threshold below EUR 60 000 can be set if appropriate”.

Question 5: Would the EU find it appropriate if the Youth Advisory Board was consulted on the development of the concept note and full proposal?

Answer 5: The potential applicants may in principle contact all interested parties who deem ap- propriate for the development of the proposal. According to Guidelines point 2.2.1 “Applications must be submitted in accordance with the instructions on the concept note and the full applica- tions in the grant application form annexed to the guidelines.” We would also like to draw atten- tion to point 2.1.5. of the Guidelines: Ethics clauses and Code of Conduct, a) Absence of conflict of interest.