EU Funding Policies and Practices: the Black Sea Region and Beyond Hanna Asipovich, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) Nessebar, Bulgaria June 3, 2010 Copyright © 2010 European Center for Not-for-Profit Law This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of Moldova Civil Society Strengthening Program. The contents are the responsibility of ECNL and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

General Information  EU one of the major donors in the region, e.g. the largest donor in Ukraine in  Estimated € 1,000 million a year is allocated to NGOs directly by the Commission.  Roughly 22% of funding is centrally managed by the European Commission. Source: New funds, better rules - Overview of new financial rules and funding opportunities , A Beginner’s Guide, 2008 edition

EU External Relations  6 DGs work on external relations issues.  DG Development and DG External Relations are in charge of preparing policies and country strategy papers.  EuropeAid Cooperation Office and local Delegations implement Commission’s external aid instruments.  130 Delegations and offices.

EuropeAid Programming  Annual action programs are financing decisions by the EC that set priorities and earmark funding for regional and country- based programs, as well as thematic programs.  Annual work programs identify specific grants to be awarded during the year through the call of proposals. AWP include the title of the call, indicative amount, eligibility criteria and timeline.

EuropeAid Programming 

Financial Instruments  Geographic instruments are based on the country and regional strategy papers, e.g. ENPI.  Thematic instruments seek to help developing countries to meet MDGs, e.g. EIDHR.

Financial Instruments allocations  ENPI: €11.5 billion( ) Eastern Partnership Program (ENPI): € 600 million ( )  IPA: € million ( ) Civil Society Facility (IPA): € 27 million ( ), € 81 million ( ).  EIDHR: €1.104 million ( )

EIDHR  Aim: promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide.  Established in  Objectives:  1: Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries and regions where they are most at risk;  2: Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform in facilitating the peaceful coalition of group interests and in consolidating political participation and representation;  3:Supporting actions on human rights and democracy issues in areas such as human rights defenders, death penalty, torture, children and armed conflcit ;  4: Supporting and strengthening the international and regional framework for the protection of human rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy;  5: Building confidence in and enhancing the reliability and transparency of democratic electoral processes, in particular through election observation.

EIDHR  projects and programs;  grants to finance projects submitted by civil society and/or international/intergovernmental organizations;  small grants to human rights defenders;  grants to support operating costs of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC);  human and material resources for EU election observation missions;  public contracts.

Eastern Partnership Program  A program within framework of ENPI to “accelerate political association and further economic integration.”  Established at Prague Eastern Partnership Summit May 7,  Parties: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine.  Civil Society Forum established in  vil_society/forum/working_group1_en.pdf vil_society/forum/working_group1_en.pdf  CSOs are invited to submit their expression of interest for the 2 nd Civil Society Forum, Berlin, November, Deadline for submission: July 2.

Eastern Partnership Program Financial Support  Comprehensive Institution Building Programs;  Pilot regional development programs;  Multilateral dimension.

Grants and Contracts  Grant is a financial contribution by the Contracting Authority to implement an action in order to promote EC policy aim.  Contract is the outcome of the procurement procedure, when the Contracting Authority receives a service or goods in return of payment.

Key Documents  Financial Regulation (FR);  Implementing Rules (IR);  Practical Guide for Contract Procedures for EC external actions (PRAG) and its annexes, e.g. standard grant contract.

Useful Sources  Punto.sud helpdesk for EuropeAid funded projects: europeaid/

Public Consultation on the Review of Financial Regulation  Triannual review of the FR and IR.  Second review takes place in  Consultation webpage set up in  The targeted topics concerned: award of grants and Commission’s handling of files.  235 contributions submitted from individuals, CSOs, local authorities.  Synoptic overview of submissions prepared and main conclusions drawn.  Next Steps: Commission proposals to be presented mid2010.

ECNL’s Survey on Accessibility of EU Funding  50 respondents:  30 filled out the online survey  20 interviews  18 out of 30 had first-hand experience with working on an EU funded project.

General Information

EU Funding: Accessibility

EU Funding: Implementation

Major Issues  Indirect rate (Article 181 IR);  Co-financing and contributions in- kind (Article 109 FR, Article 172 IR);  Exchange rate losses;  Grant opportunities and paperwork for applicants.

ECNL Recommendations  EC to bear its fair share of project funding, including full recovery of the indirect costs properly allocated to EC funded projects.  To allow a greater inclusion of in-kind contributions as a part of co-financing, develop guidance and criteria.  To recognize exchange rate losses as eligible expenses for the action.  To launch one well-structured portal which contains consolidated information from all DGs and financial instruments; to ensure equal access when requiring the use of e-tools; to ensure two- stage applications; to introduce label system based on eligibility criteria.

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