NGO Block Grant

There are 43 projects to be implemented under the Call "Strenghtening the Contribution of Civil Society Organisations in Sustainable Development Education for the Improvement of Economic and Social Cohesion".

On the basis of the Framework Agreement (signed on 30 June 2015) and the project agreement between Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Ministry of Regional Development and Funds of the European Union (signed on 30 May 2017) the agreement between GOfCNGOs and the National Coordination Unit (Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds) on implementing the “Non-Governmental Organization Block Grant” was singed on March 28^th 2018.
 
On May 17^th 2018 the 1^st Steering Committee Meeting was held. The Steering Committee of the “Non-Governmental Organization Block Grant” adopted the documentation of the Call for Proposals.
 
On June 4^th 2018 GOfNGOs launched the Call for Proposals "Strenghtening the Contribution of Civil Society Organisations in Sustainable Development Education for the Improvement of Economic and Social Cohesion". Total amount of the allocation is 31.500.000,00 kunas.

The aim of the Call is to promote the contribution of civil society organisations to economic and social cohesion and sustainable development of local communities. Specific aims of the Call are to increase the role of civil society organisations in the development of competences of children and youth on sustainable development issues; and to empower partnerships of civil society organisations, schools and local communities in raising awareness on sustainable development issues. The planned duration of project implementation is 12 – 24 months from the date of signing the contract.

In order to ensure the possibility of submitting applications to applicants with lower annual budgets and without experience, the budget allocation is divided into two funding groups. 
 

Total Budget of the Call: 31.500.000,00 kunas	Group 1	10.000.000 kunas
	Group 2	21.500.000 kunas
	ALLOCATION AMOUNT
	Minimum value	Maximum value
Group 1	140.000,00 kunas	500.000,00 kunas
Group 2	500.000,00 kunas	1.300.000,00 kunas

On July 10^th GOfCNGO carried out informative workshop for potential applicants where the documentation on the Call was presented in detail. Also, potential applicants were informed on the criteria for assessment and selection of projects and the use of indicators that will be used in project monitoring and assessment of their results and effects. The EA provided permanent assistance to potential applicants: information and advice over the phone and e-mail and published questions and answers on the website.
 
After the first application deadline (10^th September), the EA started to carry out the evaluation procedure. The Committees for Administrative Compliance and Eligibility Check were established for each funding group and they checked completeness and formal adequacy of each individual application. GOfCNGOs received:

• 25 project proposals for 1^st funding group of which 20 project proposals were sent to the quality evaluation procedure;
• 58 project proposals for 2^nd funding group of which 49 project proposals were sent to the quality evaluation procedure.

 
GOfCNGOs carried out the selection procedure for external experts – the members of Evaluation Committee and established the Project Proposal Evaluation Committee for 1^st funding group in October and for 2^nd funding group in December. The task of the Evaluation Committees is to evaluate project proposals against the criteria adopted by the Steering Committee. At the end of 2018, project proposals under the 1^st funding group were quality evaluated and the EA started the revision of budget forms (budget clearing); and project proposals under the 2^nd funding group were in the procedure of the quality evaluation.
 
Based on the conducted administrative check, it has been concluded that there will be unused funds within the first funding group, so GOfCNGOs published second application deadline (10th December) for 1^st funding group. 26 project proposals were submitted.