European Commission: Seeking Proposals for its Training Caregivers of OVCs Nationwide in Swaziland grant Programme

Deadline: 14 June 2018

European Commission is seeking proposals for its ‘Training caregivers of OVCs nationwide in Swaziland’ grant programme to develop a training programme to capacitate different groups of caregivers of vulnerable children in any centre or programme nationwide in Swaziland.

The training programme for caregivers contributes to capacity development of NCSD, but the contracted NGO/CSO itself does not have the task to map/register child care centres, elaborate standards and inspect the mentioned centres and programmes. These tasks remain the mandate of the NCSD.

The applicant NGO will however, check & monitor its own training programme and the quality of ECCD in the mentioned centres caring for vulnerable children

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is:

• Decentralized centres and programmes in the community have greater capacity to deliver social protection, specifically providing care for vulnerable children, with special attention to vulnerable girls.
• The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  • To develop a training programme, in close cooperation with the National Child Services Department (NCSD) in the Deputy Prime Minister Office (DPMO) and with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), and Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development to capacitate different groups of caregivers of vulnerable children in any centre or programme nationwide in Swaziland.
  • To implement a modular training programme at regional level, inviting different groups of caregivers to participate as trainees, which will increase the quality of child protection services.
  • The training programme for caregivers contributes to the capacity development of the NCSD:
    • to map, register, profile and have oversight on all centres and programmes, that support vulnerable children in the communities, with improved coordination and management;
    • to establish standards for centres and programmes that support vulnerable children in the communities;
    • to effectively coordinate childhood care, drawing from the evolving initiatives to structure and concretise ECD/ECCD/ECCE initiatives;
    • to have eyes and ears, at community level, to identify children services delivery gaps, explore collaborative initiatives/partnerships at national and regional levels that can use domestic resources to holistically address children issues;
    • to have a dynamic mechanism to scan and assess child vulnerability and associated referrals to inform NCSD data base from community, regional and national levels;
    • to have raw data on which to base advocacy for good practices based on local community duty of care for children, volunteerism, national solidarity, and hence improve communal resilience to poverty, hunger, unemployment.
    • to plant seeds for a holistic systematic approach on child care, protection, and empowerment based on full societal partnerships based on SADC MPS , human rights-based approaches and home-grown values of communal care;
    • to undertake spot-checks, monitor, evaluate, advise and inspect centres and programmes that support vulnerable children in the communities;
    • to identify key priority areas of concern in child care that need our collective investment in research and innovation to inform more effective targeting of children programs.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 636,800.00.
• The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all or part of the available funds.
• Size of grants
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 500,000.00
    • maximum amount: EUR 636,800.00
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
    • Minimum percentage: 80% of the total eligible costs of the action.
    • Maximum percentage; 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
  • The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund .

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

• be a legal person and
• be non-profit-making and
• be a specific type of organisation such as:
  • be a civil society organisation (this includes non-governmental non-profit organisations,
  • community-based organisations, private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional level), and
• be established in a Member State of the European Union or in Swaziland or in one of the member countries of SADC .

• For British applicants:
  • If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or be required to leave the project.
  • This obligation does not apply to international organisations and be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
  • If the lead applicant is a local NGO or CSO or NSA, it may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
  • If established in the European Union State or SADC member state, the lead applicant must act with a local Swazi co-applicant (s).
  • If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as the Coordinator.
  • The Coordinator is the main interlocutor of the Contracting Authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant
  • If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the Coordinator).
• Affiliated entity(ies)
  • The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies)
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  • Entities affiliated to applicant may hence be:
    • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by an applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by an applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
    • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
    • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
  • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.
  • The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the grant; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.
  • By way of exception, an entity may be considered as affiliated to an applicant even if it has a structural link specifically established for the sole purpose of the implementation of the action in the case of so-called “sole applicants” or “sole beneficiaries”.
  • A sole applicant or a sole beneficiary is a legal entity formed by several entities (a group of entities) which together comply with the criteria for being awarded the grant. For example, an association is formed by its members.

How to Apply

In order to apply to this call for proposals, organisations must register in PADOR and submit their application in PROSPECT.

For further information, please visit European Commission.