Education and Training
Operational procedures and
reporting
Civil Society Coordinators' Meeting
Cristina CAMAIANI, Project Adviser
Education and Training
Presentation overview
Legal documents – the Framework Partnership Agreement and the Specific Grant Agreement
Actors
Monitoring
Amendments
Reporting
Renewal of the Specific Grant Agreements in 2016 & 2017
Education and Training
Legal Documents:
the Framework Partnership Agreement
Mono-beneficiary: "Partner in the FPA" Subject of the partnership: long-term cooperation to: contribute to the objectives of the Programme and implement the Strategic Plan (Art I.1.1)
Duration of the partnership: 3 years (Art I.2)
Conclusion of Specific Agreements: To award a specific grant to carry out the annual work
programme, specific annual agreements will be proposed to the partners (Art I.1.3)
Education and Training
Legal Documents:
the Framework Partnership Agreement
Annexes:
I. The strategic plan described in the application
II. General Conditions:
Part A - Legal and Administrative provisions
Part B – Financial provisions
III. Model Specific Grant Agreement
IV.V.VI Activity report, financial statement & supporting
documents available on:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/beneficiaries-space_en
Education and Training
Legal Documents:
the Specific Grant Agreement
Subject: for the implementation of the annual work programme (Art 1)
Eligibility period: from 01/01/2015 until 31/12/2015 (Art 2)
(No extension of the eligibility period is allowed for OG: Art II.12)
Max amount and form of the grant (based on Unit costs) (Art 3)
Reporting periods, payments and supporting documents (Art 4)
(A final activity report, including the final financial statement & Declaration of
Honour, with all supporting documents should be submitted within 2 months
following the end of eligibility period: 29/02/2016)
Annexes:
Annex I: Annual Work Programme of the beneficiary (ref: application)
Annex II: Estimated budget (ref: application)
Education and Training
Main Actors
"The Beneficiary" (Specific Grant Agreement) =
"The Partner" (Framework Partnership Agreement)
EACEA
European Commission (DG EAC)
Education and Training
The legal representative:
• Signs all legal documents (grant agreement, amendment requests, reports, etc.)
• Is accountable for financial management • Signs contracts / agreements with other organisations Contact person
• Manages daily communication from and to the Agency
• Is responsible for the implementation of the WP
• Manages the work programme and members' work
• Monitors the budget, controls the costs and the justifying documents
"The Beneficiary"
Education and Training
EACEA
•Responsible for general management of the programmes, including:
• Calls, selection, contracts, monitoring & payments
Project adviser:
- Performs continuous monitoring of the beneficiary, including participation and involvement to events, conferences & seminars
- acts as helpdesk during the grant lifetime
- Responsible for assessment of final reports' operational parts
Financial officer:
- Acts as helpdesk concerning financial matters
- Responsible for assessment of final reports' financial parts
Commission and EACEA - Partners with complementary roles
Policy Programme implementation
- DG EAC
• Policy documents • Programme definition • Call Priorities • Committees • Impact analysis
• Management of centralised actions
• Whole project life-cycle • Results & feedback
• ~450 staff • Based in Brussels
Management of decentralised actions via National Agencies
Education and Training
Projects Life Cycle
Education and Training
Monitoring visits: positive findings
Expert’s recommendations at selection stage followed
Clear management structure and division of tasks
Good internal/external communication
Web page as a dynamic tool for dissemination and promotion
Highly engaged target groups and stakeholders
Education and Training
Monitoring visits: negative findings
Delays in work plan
Poor dissemination plan-weak implementation of dissemination strategy
No compliance with publicity obligations and visibility clause (Art. 7.2 of the Specific Grant Agreement and II.7 of the
Framework Partnership Agreement)
No internal quality control / evaluation mechanisms
Education and Training
Amendments Some flexibility may be necessary as a reaction to a situation or as an initiative to add value to the work programme implementation
Submission of the request:
Who? Beneficiary – request duly signed by the Legal Representative
How? Requests should be duly justified - Modifications should be detailed
When? Modifications should be introduced before they take place and at least one month before the end of the eligibility period (30/11/2015).
(Art. II.12 of the FPA)
Where? To the Agency – the relevant Unit responsible for the action, mentioned in the Specific Grant Agreement (Art. I.3. of the FPA)
Education and Training
Amendments
Changes via the Participation Portal
http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/register.html
a) Change of the legal status of the beneficiary
b) Change of legal name of the beneficiary organisation (but still the same organisation)
c) Change of address of the beneficiary
The Agency should be informed by e-mail when one of the 3 above mentioned modification is made via the Participation Portal.
The Agency will ensure that the change(s) introduced is in line with the eligibility and selection criteria of the Call, originally applied.
After this verification, the Agency will confirm by letter that the change(s) was introduced in the Participant Portal by the beneficiary and that has been accepted
Education and Training
Amendments Changes via exchange of letters
a) Change of the legal representative
b) Change of contact person
For changes of legal representative and contact person it is sufficient:
A scanned letter, signed by the legal representative with all the contact details of the new legal representative or contact person, together with an official document confirming the capability of the new legal representative (e.g. statutes and minutes of the Board) should be sent by email only to the Agency.
The Agency will confirm that the change(s) has been accepted.
c) Change of bank account
d) Change to the work programme
For changes of bank account and work programme, a specific amendment form should be sent with the scanned letter and the requested annexes.
The amendment form and guidelines will be available on:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/beneficiaries-space_en
Education and Training
Reporting: Purpose of the reports For the beneficiary: Measure the state of progress of planned activities Adopt solutions to improve certain aspects Improve the visibility of the organisation in the wider community Reinforce the dissemination strategy For the Agency: Overall evaluation on the activities' outcomes, their impact and European
added value Decision on the final payment Identification of good practices or of organisations needing following up in
the future Feedback to the Commission for policy-making
Education and Training
Phases in processing the reports
•Submission to the Agency: report must reach the Agency
not later than the date mentioned in the grant agreement (Art. 4
of SPA & Art II.23.2) (29/02/2016) signed by the Legal
Representative, with all requested documentation provided
•Analysis of the Report
•Request for supplementary information on content or
financial matters if necessary
•Decision on final payment and feedback on the report to
the beneficiary including recommendations from the Agency, no
later than 60 days after submission of the report (excluding
suspension for additional information)
Education and Training
Structure of the final report
Operational part
A. PUBLIC PART
Relevance to objectives & strategic plan
Work programme, activities & outcomes
Dissemination and exploitation results
Impact
Operational part
B. CONFIDENTIAL PART
Implementation of the work programme
Overall Management of the WP:
Staff
Statutory activities
Internal Communication
Information about the evolution of the organisation
other information Financial Statement
Declaration of Honour by the Beneficiary
Education and Training
Final Reports
Relevance to objectives & strategic plan
• How activities implemented are relevant to the objectives of the Call and to your strategic plan?
Work Programme, Activities & Outcomes:
• Which were the activities performed, results reached and members' involvement?
• Has the work programme been implemented according to the original WP included in the application?
• Have variations been explained & duly justified?
Education and Training
Final Reports
Dissemination and exploitation results:
• How results have been processed to your stakeholders (dissemination) & used by policy makers, at local, regional, national and European level (exploitation)?
Impact:
• Which indicators were identified by your organisation to measure impact?
• Which was the internal monitoring strategy put in place?
Education and Training
Final Reports
Operating management of the organisation:
• Information about the staff involved in the work programme implementation and the statutory meetings organised.
• How was organised the networking with the member organisations? Has the coordination been effective in decision making and problem solving?
• How effective was the internal communication strategy?
• Any significant changes in the evolution of your organisation?
Education and Training
Common strengths and weaknesses
Weaknesses:
1. Inconsistency between the work programme realised and the WP presented in the application, significant
deviations not justified;
2. Impact too vague;
3. Dissemination activities not well targeted
Strengths:
1. Correct and consistent implementation of the work programme;
2. Participants/stakeholders used according to their competences with clear added value;
3. Specific and tangible impact indicators;
4. Well developed and targeted web-site
Education and Training
Renewal of the Specific Grant Agreements in 2016
Invitations to submit proposals for 2016, with Specific Guidelines, will be sent to the beneficiaries in autumn 2015.
Beneficiaries will have to fill in an eform (very similar to the 2015 application form) with a detailed work programme for 2016 in line with the strategic plan 2015-2017.
Max grant amount which can be requested for 2016 is the max grant awarded in 2015.
Applications will be assessed by the Agency and the Commission and an Award Decision will be taken.
Specific Grant Agreement will be proposed to the beneficiaries for 2016, (at the beginning of 2016)
For 2017, the same procedure applies.
Education and Training
Erasmus pages
Education and Training
THANK YOU!
Contact mailbox for Civil Society Operating Grants: