Embassy fund 2011 - Guidelines for application

The embassy Fund for 2011 is closed. We will not consider any new applications this year.

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade administers a fund for small-scale projects aimed at developing civil society in Montenegro and Serbia. This year the amount allocated for this purpose is Seven Million Norwegian Kroner (7 MNOK).

The following areas will be given priority:

• Gender Equality
• Security Sector Reform
• Human Rights

These priority areas will be given advantage in the selection process but the support will not be limited to these areas. It would also be interesting if the applicant is mainstreaming these topics in the proposal or if synergy with other Norwegian support is enabled. The relevance and feasibility of the project are of major importance in the evaluation of applications.     

Who can apply and what can be supported?

The assistance should be of use to all levels of society. Most often applicants are institutions and organizations in the public sector or civil society. Ethnic minorities, children, young people and women are particularly important target groups.

All local organizations should submit a proof of registration from APR (Agencija za Privredne Registre).

 Costs that cannot be covered by the grant scheme:

·         Financing the export, import or marketing of goods or services;

·         Operating costs beyond initial costs in the start-up phase;

·         Establishing activities in Norway;

·         Developing or testing new technology;

·         Transport of relief supplies.

Submitting and processing of the applications

Applications should be submitted in English language and appropriate form should be used. Two application forms are available and the applicant should use the template which is more appropriate for the concrete project:

·         S51 – application form for project/programme support, which is most commonly used. There is also a Guide to filling in S51 Application form

·         S52 - application form for small-scale grants, which is used for small/simple projects e.g. travel support, arrangement support, conference attendance, productions etc.

Other mandatory documents are:

·         Budget - Example of Budget with more detailed instructions can be found in the forms:

·         Payment instructions - Name of the applicant (organization); Address of the applicant; Contact details (telephone, e-mail); Name, function and signature of the authorized person (legal representative); Name of the bank where the applicant has an account; Bank account number

Applications could be sent by e-mail (preferably) or by letter. E-mail applications should be sent to info.belgrade@mfa.no and have project name as a subject. Letter applications should be clearly marked “Embassy Fund” on the envelope and sent to Royal Norwegian Embassy, Uzicka 43, 11040 Belgrade.

Applications are processed throughout the budget year. The processing usually takes some months, so applicants are requested to apply early enough before the project. Each application is assigned an application number. This number should be used in further correspondence for easier reference. The applicant will receive written notification of the decision.

Agreement, disbursement and implementation

If the application is successful, an Agreement is prepared in two copies. The agreement template can be altered if there are special conditions to be met. Both copies of the Agreement must be signed by someone authorized to bind the grant recipient. One copy is retained by the grant recipient, while the other is kept by the embassy.

Unless agreed otherwise, the Embassy will pay 90% of the agreed amount in RSD in Serbia and in EUR in Montenegro on partner’s bank account as specified in the payment instructions after the signing of agreement. The remaining 10% will be paid after the partner has completed the activities and sent the Final Report, and after the Embassy has approved the Final Report.

The partner should inform the embassy timely if there are changes from the agreed work plan during the project implementation. Any significant changes have to be approved by the Embassy.

If there are unused funds exceeding NOK 1000 and the Embassy did not approve their reallocation, these funds should be repaid to the Embassy’s bank account. Up to 10% deviation from the total budget within a budget line is allowed – partners need to inform the Embassy but not to ask for approval. Embassy needs to approve changes in value above 10%. Expenditures for new types of costs (outside of the agreed budget lines) are not allowed.

The Embassy representatives may visit the project during or after the project implementation.

Reporting

As soon as the project has been implemented, and at the latest by the date indicated in the agreement, a report is to be submitted to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade, Uzicka 43, 11040 Belgrade.

All the reports should be in English language and include narrative and financial report. The following forms should be used for the narrative report:

·         S61 Progress report (if S51 was used and if the project is longer or complex)

·         S81 Final report (if S51 was used) and S82 Final report (if S52 was used)

Financial report should be structured in such a way that it is possible to compare the use of funds against the budget in the original application. Example of Financial report is given in forms,

Copies of the bills showing the use of the funds are to be attached. A number should be written on each bill that corresponds to the number of type of cost from the financial report.

All payments need to be on bank accounts. When reporting on fees and salaries, partner will need to provide a copy of agreement containing the bank account number and bank statement of payment. Payments of goods and services should be against invoices.

If the costs were shared among different parties, and if Norwegian support was specified to cover certain types of costs, the financial report should present the costs of different donors separately. All the costs (regardless of source of financing) should be presented and copies of receipts provided.

If a lump sum is offered without specifying the types of costs to be covered by the embassy grant, the report should cover all the sources of financing for the whole project (including Norwegian donation) and all the costs accompanied by copies of bills.

If another donor has a specific reporting template, this could be used also when reporting to the Norwegian embassy.

All possible deviations from the planned budget should be explained in the narrative report.

Any unused funds should be repaid to the Royal Norwegian Embassy’s bank account.

If there is serious deviation from the Agreement and achieved results, the report will not be approved and the paid amount will be reclaimed, partially or the whole amount.