Locations
GRANT CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Supporting communities in implementing the initiatives focused on monitoring and protecting the environment
1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this announcement is to provide information to non-governmental organisations on the call for proposals in support of communities, vulnerable groups and people in need in Ukraine, which is conducted within the framework of the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, and to explain the procedure for submitting project proposals. The Announcement sets out the criteria for compliance with the requirements of the call for proposals, the process of submission and selection of project proposals, and the requirements for evaluation of projects to be selected through this call.
The call for proposals is held in the following target area:
SGP_UN_RPP_2_2022_Services: «Grants for supporting communities in implementing the initiatives focused on monitoring and protecting the environment»
2. INFORMATION ON THE UNITED NATIONS RECOVERY AND PEACEBUILDING PROGRAMME
The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The programme is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union, the European Investment Bank, and the governments of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan.
The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is focused on the main priority needs for stabilisation, peacebuilding, economic recovery and governance in eastern Ukraine. Following the escalation of the hostilities across Ukraine, the Programme is now seeking partners to implement rapid response activities to address the urgent needs of war-affected populations in their communities and in areas of displacement.
The Programme activities are grouped according to the following key components, which reflect the priority needs of the region:
- Component I: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure
- Component II: Local Governance and Decentralisation Reform
- Component III: Community Security and Social Cohesion
This call for proposal is launched as part of the Programme’s 2nd Component (Local Governance and Decentralisation Reform) in response to the sudden escalation of military activities and the resulting environmental damage.
Funding for the call for proposals will be provided with the support of the government of Sweden.
The financial management of the call for proposals is entrusted to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
3. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS AND THE PROJECT TERRITORIES
3.1. Non-governmental or charitable organisations submitting project proposals for this call for proposals must meet the following requirements:
- be officially registered with the status of a legal entity in the territory of Ukraine;
- have the status of a non-profit or charitable organisation (non-profit codes 0032, 0034, 0036, 0038, 0039, or 0048);
- do not have open court cases, as defendants, as well as heads of organisations;
- have a valid current account in a bank in Ukraine;
- demonstrate a capability to implement activities in the given geographical areas under the current situation;
- have the appropriate expertise and professional staff to implement the project (project manager, finance professional/accountant, and other specialists as required by the project);
- experience in cooperation with international organisations will be an additional advantage.
3.2. The personnel involved in the project must meet the following requirements:
The project team should at least consist of a project manager (in charge of the general coordination of project implementation and reporting to the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme), an accountant (in charge of accounting and financial reporting), and persons directly involved in the project implementation:
- project manager must have at least two years of experience in the public sector;
- accountant must have at least two years of experience in accounting;
- language proficiency: fluency in Ukrainian;
- readiness to implement all rules and regulations of cooperation proposed by the international donor.
3.3. Project territories:
3.4. The UNDP will determine whether an NGO is eligible for UNDP funding based on the Capacity Assessment Checklist (CACHE) results.
Proposals from organisations that do not meet the above requirements will not be considered. Applications from individuals, commercial organisations, public institutions and organisations, local self-governments, trade unions, political parties, and religious organisations will not be considered.
4. TASK DESCRIPTION AND EXPECTED RESULTS
Small grants under this call for proposals will address issues related to strengthening the implementation of environmental initiatives, providing practical support, and expanding and automating ecological monitoring, control and environmental reporting systems in target communities.
Grants in this call for proposals can be focused on the following areas:
a) restoration and/or management of ecosystems by regional authorities and territorial communities (degraded lands and forests, land previously contaminated with unexploded ordnance, elimination of water and soil pollution, flooding in mines, etc.); comprehensive study of the condition and restoration of small rivers; improvement of accessibility and quality of drinking water; green tourism as the basis for the development and promotion of recreational areas;
b) ecological monitoring (automated radiological monitoring around nuclear power plants, automated monitoring of meteorological conditions in natural ecosystems (forests and forest edges), regarding fire risks and automated geolocation of fires, modern monitoring of ground- and subsoil waters, modern automated monitoring of the emissions into the atmosphere, including from industrial enterprises etc.);
c) development of renewable energy sources; revitalisation and development of the territories in terms of decarbonisation;
d) integrated control over the disposal of inorganic and organic waste.
5. PROJECT DURATION
It is expected that the duration of the proposed projects should be up to five months.
6. PROJECT PROPOSAL EXPENSES
The maximum budget of the project proposal should not exceed 25,000 USD.
6.1. Permitted expenses
Acceptable expenses are deemed to be those that:
necessary to achieve the project's goals and objectives;
consistent with the principle of efficiency and cost-effectiveness ("high quality at the lowest price").
The funds provided within the call for proposals may be used only as follows:
- remuneration of project staff, including remuneration, insurance, and other additional costs; may not exceed 5 % of the total grant amount;
- travel and accommodation costs of the team for project activities;
- costs for the purchase of equipment and furniture (typically, the value of one lot of purchase cannot exceed 3,000 US dollars. If it is required to make a purchase of one lot for more than 3,000 USD, it is necessary to obtain additional approval from UNDP),
- costs of stationery and consumables;
- costs of paying for the services of experts/consultants, developers of evaluation tools, online applications, etc.;
- costs under subcontracts (webinars, transport and logistics services, etc.);
- other costs directly related to the implementation of the project (dissemination of information, evaluation process, translation, publications, communications, etc.), including financial services (including bank transfers and commissions).
6.2. Ineligible costs due to grant funds:
- preparing a project proposal for participation in the call;
- recovery of expenses related to exchanging rate fluctuations
- refund of VAT and other taxes;
- rent of CSO office rent and utility bills;
- payment for repairs of premises and equipment;
- acquisition of land, buildings, and vehicles;
- debts and provisions to cover losses and debts;
- payment of interest;
- debts of third parties;
- international business trips
- hospitality.
7. PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING PROJECT PROPOSALS AND OBTAINING ADVICE DURING THE PREPARATION OF PROJECT PROPOSALS
The application package consists of the following:
1) Full application form (filled in MS Word format, *.docx / *.doc);
2) Project budget (in Excel format, *.xlsx / *.xls);
3) Appendices - scanned copies of the following documents (*.pdf):
- Extract from the USREOU
- Non-profit certificate
- Bank account certificate
- Copy of the CSO’s Charter
- Project manager resume (by the template)
- Project accountant resume (by the template)
- Letter of support from the LSGA or MCAs (by the template)
- Document on cooperation (partnership), etc. between the applicant and the project implementation partner, indicating the amount of co-financing of the project and the distribution of responsibilities for the project
- Report on the use of revenues (profits) of a non-profit organisation for the previous year for CSOs established before 2021
- Training programs, if provided by the project
- Project budget
4) Completed Capacity Assessment Checklist (CACHE) and supporting documents thereto;
5) A letter of support from the local self-government body or the MCA on support for the implementation of the project in the territory of the community
One CSO can submit more than one application but can receive funding only for implementing one project.
Organisations submitting project proposals must complete and submit the full application package (paragraphs 1-5) above to the e-mail address grants.ua@undp.org, indicating the message’s subject: SGP_UN_RPP_2_2022_Ecology_Name of organisation.
The full application package must be submitted by 23:59 2 October 2022. The application package (paragraphs 2-5) must be sent by one letter in the archive (*.rar), the size of which must not exceed 15 Mb.
If CSO submits several applications for this Call for Proposals, each application must be submitted in a separate e-mail.
Received project proposals will be checked for compliance with the requirements of the call, and those that meet the requirements will be submitted for consideration by the Selection Committee.
Project proposals received after the deadline will not be considered.
To receive answers to questions that may arise during the preparation of project proposals under this call for proposals, please contact grants.ua@undp.org with the message subject SGP_UN_RPP_2_2022_Ecology: information request. Responses to questions received will be provided in writing within 1-2 working days.
Nota Bene:
● The materials submitted for the call are not returned and not reviewed.
● The results of the call will be communicated to applicants via e-mail.
● The final decision on the project or proposal is not subject to review.
● Reasons for project rejection or support will not be communicated.
● Applications submitted after the deadline or not in full (application form, appendices, budget) will not be considered.
8. PROJECT PROPOSAL EVALUATION
8.1. The evaluation of project proposals consists of several stages.
Stage 1: Evaluation of the submitted project proposals by the Grant Selection Committee. At this stage, the submitted project proposals are evaluated according to the established evaluation criteria. Project proposals that get less than 70 points of the total score will be rejected. Proposals requiring further improvement per the recommendations of the Grant Selection Committee will be returned for revision with a relevant deadline for the submission of the updated proposal.
Stage 2: UNDP reserves the right to conduct the defence of grant applications by the CSO team before final approval of the winning projects' proposals recommended by the Grant Selection Committee for support.
The Grant Selection Committee will be composed of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme representatives in accordance with their key areas of work and other experts involved. In addition, the Grant Selection Committee will have the right to seek an independent expert opinion during the selection process, as well as the opinion of local authorities from the territory where the project activities will take place.
8.2. Project evaluation criteria:
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Summarised form for the technical proposal evaluation |
Maximum score |
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1. |
Compliance with the subject and priorities of the call (the submitted application is fully consistent with the subject and priorities — 25 points; the application partially complies with the subject and priorities — 15 points; the application does not comply with the subject and priorities of the call — 0 points) |
25 |
|
2. |
Specificity, feasibility and effectiveness of the project’s planned measures (the project’s planned actions are specific — 5 points, feasible — 10 points, and effective — 10 points, measures do not meet the above conditions — 0 points) |
25 |
|
3. |
The ability of the applicant organisation to successfully implement the project with provided resources and in a timely manner (the applicant organisation has necessary experience and resources for successful implementation — 20 points; the applicant organisation partially has necessary experience and resources for successful implementation — 15 points; the applicant organisation has no necessary experience and resources for successful implementation — 0 points) |
20 |
|
4. |
Relevance of planned costs and required resources relative to the expected results (the financial proposal is reasonable and adheres to the “highest quality at the lowest price” approach — 20 points; the financial proposal requires revision and/or cost reduction — 10 points; the financial proposal is not reasonable — 0 points) |
20 |
|
5. |
The level of competence (specialised education, work experience) of the project staff (involved staff has the appropriate level of competence – 10 points, does not have the necessary level of competence – 0 points) |
10 |
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Total Score |
100 |
9. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GRANT PROJECTS
9.1. Monitoring and Evaluation
The grant recipient is responsible for monitoring project implementation and evaluating the results thereof. The United Nations Development Programme will monitor the implementation of the grant project through the grant recipient's reports, meetings with project staff, their partners and beneficiaries, monitoring visits, and participation in project activities.
9.2. Reporting
The Grant recipient will submit reports in the format specified by the United Nations Development Programme:
● interim reports, including a description of the activities and results as per the agreed monitoring indicators and the financial component (to be clarified within the framework of the respective grant agreement);
● on-demand summary reports that may be required by UNDP from time to time when information about the grant project is required between regular reports;
● a final report, which will include a description of the activities and results, as well as a financial report for the entire grant agreement period.
The activities under the grant agreement shall be carried out in accordance with the norms, rules, policies and procedures of the UN Development Program. The instructions on the implementation of grant projects can be found through this link.
10. FINANCING
The grantee organisation will receive an advance payment for the planned activities under the grant agreement. The amount of advance and subsequent payments will be specified in the grant agreement. This amount will be determined individually based on the total grant amount, type of activity, etc. The subsequent tranches will be disbursed upon receipt and approval by the UNDP of the organisation’s interim reports.
Nota bene! The final tranche will be disbursed to the grantee organisation upon 100% completion of project reporting, including confirmation of all financial transactions.