Apply for EU’s Increased Transparency and Accountability in PFM Grant Program

Deadline: 29 April 2019

The European Union is currently accepting applications for Increased transparency and accountability in PFM Grant Program to strengthen evidence gathering, analysis and communication of findings to provide viable policy options as well as to professionalise the PFM practitioners in Malawi.

Priorities Area

• Priority/Lot 1: Follow up and analysis of key budget cycle events at national and local level
• Priority/Lot 2: Academic research: building robust evidence from available information / anecdotal studies to inform and facilitate decision making at policy level.
• Priority/Lot 3: Enhanced PFM curriculum at tertiary institutions and other relevant bodies to professionalise PFM practitioners in Malawi

Funding Information

• Indicative allocation of funds by lot:
  • Priority/Lot 1: EUR 1,500,000
  • Priority/Lot 2: EUR 750,000
  • Priority/Lot 3: EUR 750,000
• Size of grants
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 375,000
    • maximum amount: EUR 750,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person and
  • be established in :
    • an ACP State;
    • a Member State of the European Union; Beneficiaries of the Instrument for pre-accession assistance;
    • a Member State of the European Economic Area;
    • Overseas Countries and Territories;
    • developing countries and territories, as included in the OECD-DAC list of ODA Recipients, which are not members of the G20 group, without prejudice to the status of the Republic of South Africa, as governed by Protocol 3 of the partnership Agreement
    • countries for which Commission has adopted a decision approving the request for reciprocal access to external assistance in agreement with ACP countries; Currently there are no such countries.
    • a Member State of the OECD, in the case of contracts implemented in a Least Developed Country (LDC) or a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC), or in the case of contract implemented in regional or global programmes which include at least one LDC or HIPC country
  • ‘For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise10, 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 will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12.2 of the grant agreement’.
  • This obligation does not apply to international organisations and
  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations
• The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s). For the applicant not established in Malawi, the involvement in the action of at least one co-applicant established in Malawi is obligatory.
• 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 himself.
• Affiliated entities
  • 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 coapplicant(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.
  • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the 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.

How to Apply

• The application procedure consists of two phases:
  • Concept notes
  • Full applications
• The concept note together with the declaration by the lead applicant must be submitted at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2F9Ojl5 and download the guidelines.