presentation information session amif 9th call funds programmes/migration...information session –...

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 FundsSustainable Management of Migration Flows

Calls for Project Proposals

■ As per article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No1042/2014 which lays down the provisions with regard to themanagement and control responsibilities of ResponsibleAuthorities, provides that one of the tasks of the ResponsibleAuthorities, provides that one of the tasks of the ResponsibleAuthority 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 awardgrants for projects under the national programme on thebasis of open calls for proposals.

■ This signifies that call is open to all organisations which areinterested in applying.


� The third option laid down in the Regulation is to go for a directaward. In this respect article 7 declares that:

- The Responsible Authority may award grants directly- The Responsible Authority may award grants directlywhere the specific nature of the project or the technicalor administrative competence of the relevant bodiesleaves no other choice, such as in the case of de jure orde facto monopolies.

� The grounds justifying the use of a direct award is set out inthe call itself.


� The Responsible Authority is making use of two types of calls toimplement the National Programme , that is open calls and restrictedcalls.

� With respect to open calls, the National Programme provides a list ofall the types of organisations which could benefit from the Fund. In thisrespect, section 6.7.1 lists the following entities:

- State authorities, local public bodies, non-governmental organisations,international public organisations, national Red Cross, InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Crossand Red Crescent Societies, private and public companies (so long asthey are established in Malta), education/research organisations, socialpartners


� With respect to the restricted calls, the National Programmelists the entities to which a direct award will be provided, undersection 6.7.2.

� The Refugee Commissioner receives, processes anddetermines asylum applications.

� Activities of Forced Return, under the Return MeasuresObjective, will be awarded to the Immigration Police, in view ofthe de jure monopoly existing in return management.


■ The Detention Service enjoys a de jure monopoly in themanagement of closed reception centres.

■ The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers is solely■ The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers is solelyresponsible for the implementation of national legislation andpolicy concerning the welfare of refugees, beneficiaries ofprotection and asylum seekers.

■ The Ministry for Education is responsible for compulsoryeducation and the national curriculum in schools.


■ The previous Ministry for Social Dialogue, ConsumerAffairs and Civil Liberties was responsible for thepolicies of equality, anti-discrimination and integration.

■ The Ministry for Health is in charge of providing themainstream national health services in Malta.


■ Both the Open calls and the Restricted calls will besubject to an evaluation by an independent ProjectSelection Committee.

■ Applications are accompanied by a set of GuidanceNotes, whose purpose is to guide the Applicants duringthe application process.


■ Upon application submission, the RA shall conduct acompleteness check to determine the validity of theapplication. The Documents to be submitted are indicatedin the Guide for Applications, which has been uploaded onin the Guide for Applications, which has been uploaded onthe website.

■ The RA shall request any missing documentation which ismarked as required, but not submitted by the applicant,within one week following disclosure.


■ It is important that the checklist which is present in the Application andreproduced 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)


■ The eligibility criteria, outlined in the guidance notes, shall beused to determine whether an application is eligible forfunding.

■ Ineligible projects will not be considered further; howeverapplicants shall be informed at the first instance and also giventhe right of appeal to an independent Appeals Board.


■ Projects that make it through the eligibility check shall proceedto the next round and will be assessed according to theselection and award criteria.

■ The PSC shall then award marks according to the criteria andrank projects, according to the marks obtained.

■ In order to qualify for selection, the proposal needs to obtain atleast 50% of the marks.


■ For those eligible projects undergoing the assessment stage,the PSC shall re-seek clearance from the State Aid MonitoringBoard (SAMB) to ensure that the projects do not entail stateaid.

■ The eventual approval of projects is dependent on theavailable budget (unless the RA agrees to increase the budgetavailable for the call), in which case the highest rankingprojects shall be offered a grant, while others may be put onreserve list.

Information on Calls launched 1

■ As announced on the 26th May 2017, two (2) open callstargeting 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 measuresand/or the provision of material aid and/or the provisionof 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/ € 1,500,000Renovation 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 forFriday 23rd June 2017.

■ All the documentation with respect to the call can bedownloaded 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 of25%;

- To submit a complete Application Form;

- To submit at least the obligatory Annexes to theapplication especially the Budget Breakdown excelsheet and the Timeline excel sheet.


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


The Applicants can be of various categories. It is important that theenrolment with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisation ispresented when applicable. Kindly submit the Deed ofFoundation/Statute/Articles of Association as per Annex XII.


The Application has to be originally signed by the Head of the Organisation or CEO as wellas the Project Leader. It is important that the Project leader is employed or forms part ofthe Organisation and is available after the end of the project activities to process thepayments. It is also vital that the selected person has knowledge of EU funding rules.


In this section, list the persons who will be employed or assignedon the project as well as their functions vis-à-vis the project.


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


If you have partners on the project, please identify the type of partnership. Partners just toprovide the co-financing? Will they provide co-financing but will also monitor the activities? Willthey be involved in the activities? Will they be paid for the activities for which they will beinvolved in? Those who will co-finance the project, need to submit the declaration of availabilityof funds and their accounts and if they will claim costs for activities undertaken they need tosubmit the VAT Declaration Form, apart from the Partnership Form Annex II.


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


OR

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

OR


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


Please note that the project activities can extend till the 31th of December 2022. Sowhen planning the project activities one can spread them out to attain the necessaryflexibility. However keep note that request for payments should also be spread out tomeet the National Programme’s yearly financial commitments. One should note thatthe first de-commitment target will be applied in mid-October 2017.


What target group is considered as ‘vulnerable’ is listed in the footnoteto this section. Please note that you need to state whether vulnerablepersons as per definition will be involved in the project and provide anestimated amount. This will need to be compared to the total number ofTCNs.

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


Specific Objective Asylum and Reception targets only asylum seekers orrefugees.


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


The objectives include a number of indicators which are common to all MemberStates. Here you need to insert your contribution to the Fund, through theidentification of the number of target group persons who will be assisted, and if theproject involves renovation of open centres you need to record any increase inaccommodation capacity vis a vis the current accommodation capacity.


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


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


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


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 ofimpact can be defined:

Specific impacts are those effects occurring after a certain lapse of time but which are, nonetheless, directlylinked to the action taken and the beneficiaries;

Global impacts are longer-term effects affecting a wider population.


In this section, one needs to provide in detail what is being planned in the projectactivities. Basically you are being asked to beef up what you have inserted in Annex1, the log frame. Please note that the second question asks for the problem which isbeing addressed by the project and not any problems which the project will beencountering.

The Application Form


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


The column expenditure is to indicate the costs of the project, while the column income shouldprovide 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) andthe deduction of any profit, so that the total eligible and the total income should be the same.


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


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


Applicants who receive an operational grant cannot ask for indirect costs. This isalso applicable for partners. In fact partners have to submit the Declaration fromthe head of the organisation stating that the organisation is not receiving anoperational grant from the European Union budget. See Annex IX attached to theapplication form.


The budget available/project activities can be spread over the following no ofyears. Activities which have already started under the project can only beeligible prior to the signing of a grant agreement if these can be justified and arequest for reimbursement of the said could be submitted following approval ofthe project. Payments on the projects cannot go beyond 2022.


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).


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


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


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


Please note the durability clause attached to purchases made under the projectin relation to real estate costs and equipment. If renovations are paid from theproject, the renovated building has to continue to be utilised for the activitiesoutlined in the project for at least 10 years following final payment made byEuropean Commission on the project. While for example if ICT equipment ispurchased from the project, these need to continue to be used for 4 yearsfollowing final payment. A declaration in this respect would need to besubmitted during the implementation of the project.


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


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


One should note that in case of NGOs the possibility of not having sufficientfunds to cover the co-financing share on the project (the 25%) cannot be acondition. Insufficiency of funds leads to non-eligibility.


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


It is important to read through the Declaration prior to signing the application form and haveit 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 theApplicant Organisation. All pages need to be initialised by the project leader. In case ofGovernment 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 BudgetBreakdown and its separate sheets.

Thanks for your Attention

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020

Co-financing rate: 75% EU Funds 25% Beneficiary’s FundsSustainable Management of Migration Flows