Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme

Transcription

1 Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme Questions and answers Action grants to support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration Topic ref. REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016 Version December 2016

2 History of changes Version Date Change Page Initial version New questions and answers added 7 to New questions and answers added 24 to

3 Questions and answers Nr Question Answer provided 1 I am contacting you to request some clarifications on REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016 and what are the limits of family-based care for this call's purposes. More specifically, we would be interested to know if, under the priorities of this call, we could include in our proposal a small scale reception facility for unaccompanied minors that has a family-like structure, with a small number of social workers and caretakers assuming a role resembling that of a guardian. 2 Although, I have read the eligibility and admissibility conditions section, I am uncertain if research institutions are entitled to participate in the call as applicants and/or as partners. Could you kindly clarify, if research entities are eligible to apply for funding. 3 Bonjour, Pourriez-vous me communiquer le lien vers la version française de l'appel suivant: Appel à propositions : Soutenir le développement de capacités dans le domaine de la protection des droits de l enfant et des professions de protection des enfants dans le cadre des demandes d asile et de la migration Thank you for your interest in our call for proposals and for consulting us. The facility you describe however cannot be considered as family-based care as it is involves social workers, thus resembles to an institution, is not a family house where children could be temporarily placed. For more information please see the links of the bibliography published in the additional Complementary information document. Alternative care/family-based/foster care for unaccompanied children 1. UN Guidelines for the alternative care of children 2. NIDOS RLF project - see NIDOS mapping of family based care 3. NIDOS Alfaca (capacity-building) In principle, research organisations are eligible as any other legally established bodies based in the eligible countries (EU + Iceland). However, research component of a project, if any, needs to be limited and justified, in line with the following (see under Topic description): This call aims to fund targeted, practical projects ensuring maximum tangible and demonstrable benefits and impact on the lives of unaccompanied and separated children in the context of migration.(.) Activities such as the development of materials, the mapping of existing materials or research should be, at most, minor components of project proposals. If included, the need should be solidly justified in the proposal; they should lead to practical applications and interventions. Pour les questions d économie et efficacité, nos appels à propositions sont publiés uniquement en anglais. Toutefois, nous sommes en mesure de répondre aux questions et demandes de clarifications dans d autres langues, et il est en effet possible de soumettre un projet dans toutes les langues officielles de l Union européenne. 3

4 En anglais: TOPIC : To support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration Topic identifier: REC-RCHI-PROF-AG Publication date: 22 June 2016 Types of action: REC-AG REC Action Grant Deadline Model: Planned opening date: single-stage 13 September Good afternoon, My organisation is interested in applying for the REC fund which opens on 13th September: To support capacity building on the rights of the child and child migration. However, the eligibility criteria states that participating organisations must be based in EU Member States or Iceland. We were wondering whether a UK based organisation can be included in the project despite the decision to leave the EU? The UK would still be a Member State at the time of submitting the application and for the majority of the project, depending on its length and when the process of leaving the EU begins, but we wanted to check prior to applying. The Statement of 29 June 2016 of the Heads of State or Government of 27 Member States, as well as the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, which confirms that until the UK leaves the EU, EU law continues to apply to and within the UK, both when it comes to rights and obligations. This includes the eligibility of UK legal entities to participate and receive funding in the REC programme's actions. Therefore, the UK is currently an EU Member State and as such, the entities and bodies legally established in it are currently eligible to apply for funding under the REC programme, in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down in individual calls for proposals. Thanks in advance for your help and best wishes, 5 We have a question concerning the call for application JUST/2016/RCHI/AG/PROF. Call for proposals to support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration. We confirm that the scope of this call is not limited to Roma children, children in migration refers to third country nationals in migration and it relates in particular to unaccompanied children. As we read the information available on the applicant portal, we thought that the focus on the call is promoting the rights of unaccompanied migrants and children migrating (refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants etc...) However, we noticed that the legal basis for this call, Art. 4 and 5 Regulation (EU) No 1381/2013 specifically refer to the 4

5 integration strategy for ROMA. We would therefore like to understand what the commission mean with the term children in migration? Is the call targeting ROMA minors specifically, or broader categories of child migrants? I thank you in advance for any information you are able to provide. 6 Bonjour, J aimerais clarifier avec vous la question de l éligibilité de l organisation pour laquelle je travaille, pour ce qui est de l appel ci-dessus : dans la section «List of eligible countries», est-il question des pays pouvant recevoir les interventions, ou de ceux pouvant recevoir la subvention? Nous sommes en effet une organisation internationale canadienne et j aimerais savoir si cela nous exclut, Bien cordialement, 7 We would be grateful if you could kindly let us know the amount of funding reserved for projects under this strand. We would also like to know whether it is possible for an organisation such as ours to be lead partner projects under the two strands indicated in the call. 8 Can one organisation be lead partner in two projects, one in each strand (priority)? Oui, les organisations internationales (qui ont un tel statut suivant la définition de l OCDE) sont éligibles indépendamment de l endroit où se situe leur siège. Les pays éligibles mentionnés sont ceux qui peuvent recevoir la subvention (i.e. présenter un projet en tant que coordinateur) et/ou être partenaires dans les projets (si c est ce que vous voulez dire). International organisations are entities established by formal political agreements between their members that have the status of international treaties; their existence is recognised by law in their member countries; they are not treated as resident institutional units of the countries in which they are located. This is the definition given by OECD. It refers to organisations, like Council of Europe, United Nation organisations like UNICEF, Red Cross international. 1) Official requirements connected to the status of an "international organisation" are international treaties. 2) As stipulated in the call text, applicants and partners must be legally constituted public or private organisations, or international organisations. An international organisation can apply as applicant but to ensure the trans-nationality needs to present a project in partnership with other organisations; The budget foreseen for co-funding of projects selected under this topic is 3,100,000 EUR (see under Call budget overview button on the top, just below the title of the topic). Yes, you may submit more than one application under this call for proposals. The applicant may be awarded more than one grant under this call for proposals (for different projects). An organisation may participate as applicant or partner in several applications (please see page 16 of the Guide for Applicants). Yes, you can apply as lead applicant in the two strands (i.e. Priority 1. This priority aims to expand the national systems of family-based care, such as 5

6 foster care, for children in migration or Priority 2. Capacity-building and cooperation mechanisms for guardians whose role is to safeguard the rights of unaccompanied and separated children in migration). 9 My organisation is consider applying to the following calls for proposals, and had some questions: REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016 REC-RDAP-CHIL-AG-2016 We are based in the UK, but have branches of our organisation in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic which are legally registered in their countries but are affiliated with the UK organisation. Would these organisations be eligible project partners? For example, could the UK organisation be the lead applicant with the branches in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic as partners, or would we also need other external partners? In order to build the capacity of professionals in each country, we were wondering if it is possible to include training delivered by experts from non-eu countries in the proposal? For example, could we bring an expert from Moldova to Bulgaria to deliver training to professionals as part of the project? I understand that there are minimum grant amounts of 75,000 and 100,000 respectively for these calls for proposals. I have not been able to find any maximum amounts are you able to provide an indicative figure for this? 10 I have a question relating to the Guide for Applicants, Annex on Eligibility of Costs. Regarding personnel costs (category A), cost of permanent staff of a public organisation it is stated that : Yes, if the branches of your organisation are separate legal entities in other countries then of course they can be considered as partners for the project in order to meet the eligibility criteria. Yes, a non-eu expert can participate in your project and the activities will be eligible as long as they take place in the eligible EU country. There is formally no maximum budget per project under this call for proposals. Indicatively, the size of our projects usually ranges from to EUR (in terms of requested EU contribution). This means that, being a university, you are not concerned by this possible restriction to the eligibility of staff costs, and you do not need to worry about this. This section refers to costs of permanent staff of a public organisation, meaning all public entities. It is not applicable to staff costs of universities, regardless of their status. Since, we are an university could you please provide us an explanation what does this mean? 6

7 11 Concerning the topic "To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration" REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016: would you be kind to inform us if the coordinator of a project could be a private non-profit organisation, instead of a public entity? Yes, the coordinator of a project can be a private non-profit organisation in line with the eligibility criteria: 2.2 Eligibility of the applicant and of the partners The applicants must be public entities or private organisations, duly established in one of the countries participating in the Programme, or international organisations. Organisations which are profit-oriented must submit applications in partnership with public entities or private non-profit-oriented organisations; In such a case, a support letter from a public authority (one per participating country) must be provided, see eligibility criterion 2.3(b) (b) At least one public authority from each participating country must either be involved in the project (as applicant or co-applicant) or express in writing its support to the application; These public authorities can be Ministries and/or agencies responsible for children (e.g. child protection agencies and services, national guardianship institutions, Ministries for children, child protection, education, health, social affairs, justice, children's ombudspersons and/or national human rights institutes for children, responsible regional authorities, etc). The rationale for the choice must be documented and explained in Annex 1- Project Description and Implementation Form. In practical terms, it means that if, for instance, a transnational project is submitted by a partnership involving four different eligible countries, at least four public authorities as described above (one per each eligible country) must either be involved in the project as applicant or partner(s) or express in writing its support of the application. In the latter case, this support will be expressed through Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application 12 Where can I find Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application? TOPIC : To support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration 13 We are writing regarding call for proposals No. REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016 "To support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration". Could you please clarify more detailed, who can apply for this call for proposals? Does non-governmental organisation corresponds to the indicated "public entities or private organisations, duly established in one of the countries participating in the Programme, or international organisations"? Please be informed that there is no template for Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application. It is up to the applicant/supporting public authority to draft it. I confirm that non-governmental organisations are eligible under this call (they are in fact usually private entities). 7

8 14 I have a question regarding the budget for a project in the new Participant Portal. For the previous calls, we ve had a detailed budget Annex, which allowed to break down the costs and assign them to specific workstreams. I was looking at the application now, and I can t find the budget form anymore. The only place for the budget calculation is in the section 3 of the proposal, but that provides only an overall summary of costs. Could you clarify if this is the only budget form that we need to fill in? Is there any template for working out the budget? Indeed, for 2016 calls there is no more a need to fill in a detailed budget at the application stage. The only budget table to be submitted is the one available in the submission system Part A. However, there is a detailed budget template in excel format (published on the call page under Topic conditions and documents), to help you to prepare a proposal, in line with p. 26 of the guide for applicants ( prog/common/just-rec-guide-applicants_en.pdf ): A detailed budget template (see ''Topic conditions and documents'' on the Participant Portal) is also made available by the Commission to facilitate the planning of your project. Please note that it is not obligatory to use this template when preparing your application for funding and that it is NOT foreseen for the detailed budget to be uploaded in the Electronic Submission System (i.e. at the application stage). However, following the finalisation of the evaluation procedure by the Commission, applicants recommended for the award of a grant may be requested to provide their detailed budget estimate (either prior to the signature of the grant agreement or at any point during the project s implementation phase). At the moment the budget template is completed with sample data for demonstration purposes, which you need to replace with the data corresponding to your project. 15 I would like to be specified if among the public authorities involved we can consider the municipality of our city, in particular the department of education. If you refer to the TOPIC To support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration (REC- RCHI-PROF-AG-2016) and Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application, the answer is yes, involving the municipality of your city is possible. 16 With reference to the REC opportunity: To support capacity building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration. REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016 Please could you clarify the reference to operating costs (see in italics and bold below). Which kinds of operating costs are referred to here? Please provide some examples. The aim of the call is to ensure better protection and respect for the rights of all children in migration on EU territory through capacity- Operating costs are usual costs of running an organisation, and are not linked to a specific project. Actions grants, as opposed to operating grants, aim to support specific projects that, without the funding, the organisation would have not undertaken. To be precise, from a financial perspective (and for budget preparation), in fact up to 7% of the project budget of an action grant can be dedicated to such general costs which are not project-specific. They are called indirect costs: "Indirect costs" are those costs which are not specific 8

9 building for family-based care for unaccompanied children (Priority 1) and through building capacity and cooperation mechanisms for guardians whose role is to safeguard the rights of children in migration (Priority 2) This call does not aim to support operating costs costs directly linked to the implementation of the project and can therefore not be attributed directly to it. They may not include any costs declared as eligible direct costs. Eligible indirect costs shall be declared on the basis of a flat rate of maximum 7% of the total eligible direct costs. Please see page 60 of the guide for applicants for more details: _prog/common/just-rec-guide-applicants_en.pdf (ANNEX ON ELIGIBILITY OF COSTS) To note however that an organisation which is already beneficiary of an operating grant from the Commission cannot include such indirect costs in their budget. 17 Referring to the topic To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration (REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016), how can we involve our municipality? With just a letter supporting the application or it must be registered in the beneficiary register as a partner? Is there any part of the administrative form the municipality has to fill? At the application stage, if the municipality will be involved as partner with an active role in the project and part of EU funding, there is no need for them to fill in themselves the project forms (the main applicant indicates himself administrative data of partners in Part A of the proposal). However, they would need to register and obtain a PIC (for the beneficiary register): ktop/en/organisations/register.html Otherwise, it is of course possible to ask the municipality only for a support letter (Annex 5, needed under eligibility criteria). You will then have to find other partners as under this call a minimum partnership of 4 organisations is necessary. 18 Referring to the topic To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration (REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016), if we design a professional figure with certification, could it be accredited by the EQF? Is it correct that standard requirements for this figure are not yet set up? 19 In the new system there does not seem to the possibility to add associated partners. We have a large number of Ministries, Can you please explain more in detail what do you mean by professional figure? Please note that as the EQF (European qualifications framework) issue seems to go beyond the limits of this call and the REC calls team is not familiar with it, providing a reply to your question will also require additional internal consultations. As a general remark, at this stage, before the closure of the call, we are not allowed to provide opinions on ideas of draft content of project proposals via for the reasons of equal treatment of applicants. A dedicated evaluation committee will be of charge of proposals evaluation after the call deadline. Indeed, in the new system the notion of associate partners has disappeared. If you refer to the topic REC-RCHI-PROF-AG-2016: To support capacity 9

10 authorities and Services that we would like add to our upcoming proposal as associated partners. Is this now replaced with the letter of support to be submitted in Annex 5? 20 Since the project proposal is going to be submitted by the Faculty of Law (we are a department of our University) who can grant us the role of Primary Coordinator Contact? It is stated in the H2020 Online Manual that the Commission needs to intervene in the assignment of the following 2 key roles: 1. LEAR (Legal Entity Appointed Representative) - organisation role 2. Primary Coordinator Contact - project role What is the procedure for assigning the role of Primary Coordinator Contact? Can you please explain the procedure? Does the LEAR need to inform the Commission? building on rights of the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration, where Annex 5 is foreseen, then, yes you could use this possibility. Otherwise, please indicate the involvement of such 'associate' partners in the project description Part B. Please see the following webpage : funding-guide/user-account-and-roles/roles-and-accessrights_en.htm In fact, the Commission needs to intervene in assigning/confirming a new Primary Coordinator Contact (during the project implementation): A new PCoCo can be assigned in the system only by the Commission project officer. If such a replacement becomes necessary in a project, the coordinator should send a request to the project officer via the messaging system in the grant management service of the portal. Otherwise, it is up to the applicant to assign their Primary Coordinator Contact, who is in fact by default the proposal initiator in the submission phase. 21 Which kind of declaration the APPLICANT need to recollect? In the second chapter of the Guide for applicants is it written that a number of self-declarations have to be made by applicant by clicking the corresponding boxes some of them of behalf partners, could you specify that sentences? Please see here below the declaration in Part A that the main applicant confirms in the system (available under Standard proposal template, see Topic conditions and documents : Please also note that the notion of associate partners has disappeared (their involvement can be mentioned in Part B project description). 10

11 22 As far as child protection policy is concerned, does the applicant need to: a. Upload the child protection policy as annex 4 b. Insert in the project description part B a description of the policy? 23 Referring to the topic "To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration", at point 2.2. Elegibility of the applicant and of the partners, what does it mean that "Organisations which are profitoriented must submit applications in partnership with public entities or private non-profit-oriented organisations"? We need, as organisation profit oriented, a partnership agreement on the project to submit the application or the public entity must be involved in the proposal as partner? 24 Going further with the application stage, we have faced other issues: 1. Adding a partner - Which is the difference between Main contact and Contact person? I read the submission manual but it is not clear - Is it necessary to give full access right? - Is it necessary to insert Name, Surname and . Does these data refers to the ECAS contact (Lear or administrator)? 2. Regarding the Form A administrative data of participating organisations - Person in charge of the proposal - is it the same inserted in the previous part (see above) or is the person who is following the proposal? 25 Referring to the topic "To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration", at point 2.3.(b), we have public authorities both partners and supporting, but what does it mean that "must be involved in the project (as applicant or co-applicant)"? Co-applicant is the same of partner? 26 We would like to seek your assistance in clarifying the contractual conditions applicable to pillar assessed organizations in case successful under this call: Yes, your understanding is correct. If you are a profit-making entity, you need to present a proposal with partners who are either a private non-profit making organisation (e.g. NGO) or a public entity. No formal partnership agreement is needed at the application stage. The answers to your questions here below can be at least partially found at the following page : 20-funding-guide/user-account-and-roles/roles-andaccess-rights_en.htm and among the FAQ section on the Participant Portal: ktop/en/support/faq.html. If this is not helpful, then you can contact the Horizon 2020 or the IT Helpdesk who are better placed to reply to such questions. Yes, the meaning of partner is the same as coapplicant. The PAGODA template grant agreement - specifically adapted to international organisations - can be used for mono-beneficiary grants, however in this case, as a multi-beneficiary grant is concerned, the 11

12 - in case the lead applicant is a pillar assessed international organization, can the template adopted be the PA Grant? - if not, as it is indicated that the published template is provided for information purposes only, can you please clarify what is the margin of negotiation of the proposed Multi- Beneficiary Grant Agreement? published on the call page template will be used, to which it will be however possible to add some specific provisions for international organisations: ARTICLE I.XX THE BENEFICIARY WHICH IS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION [1] [if the international organisation does not accept Article II.18.1: I.XX.1 Applicable law [Option 1: if the international organisation accepts Union law as the applicable law but not Belgian law as subsidiary law: As an exception to Article II.18.1, the Agreement is governed by the applicable Union law, complemented where necessary by [the law of (insert law of a Member State or an EFTA country)]. [Option 2: if the international organisation does not accept Union law as the applicable law: Article II.18.1 does not apply.]] [if the international organisation does not accept Article II.18.2: I.XX.2 Dispute settlement Arbitration [Option 1 Permanent Court of Arbitration: As an exception to Article II.18, if any dispute between the Commission and the beneficiary relating to the Agreement cannot be settled amicably, it must be referred to arbitration. In such cases, the Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Rules for Arbitration involving international organisations and states in force at the date of entry into force of the Agreement apply. The appointing authority is the Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration following a written request submitted by either party. The arbitration proceedings must take place in Brussels and the language used in the arbitral proceedings must be English. The arbitral award is binding upon the parties, which hereby expressly agree to renounce any form of appeal or revision.] [Option 2 Arbitration committee: As an exception to Article II.18, if any dispute between the Commission and the beneficiary relating to the Agreement cannot be settled amicably, it must be referred to an arbitration committee in accordance with the procedure specified below. When a party intends to resort to arbitration, it must send a formal notification to the other party informing it of its intention and of its [1] This provision should not be included in a grant agreement for an operating grant. 12

13 appointed arbitrator. The second party must appoint its arbitrator within one month of receipt of that formal notification. The two arbitrators must appoint, by joint agreement and within three months of the appointment of the second party s arbitrator, a third arbitrator who is the chair of the arbitration committee, unless both parties agreed to have a sole arbitrator. Within one month of the appointment of the third arbitrator, the parties must agree on the terms of reference of the arbitration committee, including the procedure to be followed. The arbitration proceedings must take place in Brussels. The arbitration committee must apply the terms of the Agreement. The arbitration committee must set out in its arbitral award detailed grounds for its decision. The arbitral award is final and binding upon the parties, which hereby expressly agree to renounce any form of appeal or revision. The costs, including all reasonable fees incurred by the parties related to any arbitration, must be apportioned between the parties by the arbitration committee.] [if an international organisation does not agree for the certificate to be drawn up by an external auditor: I.XX.3 [Certificates on the financial statements] [and] [certificates on the compliance of the cost accounting practices] [Certificates on the financial statements] [or] [certificates on the compliance of the cost accounting practices] to be provided by the beneficiary in accordance with Articles I.4.1 of the Special Conditions and Article II.23.2 Of General Conditions may be drawn up by its regular internal or external auditor, in accordance with its internal financial regulations and procedures. [if an international organisation does not accept Article II.27: I.XX.4 Checks and audits [Option if no framework agreement containing a verification annex has been signed between the international organisation and the Commission: The competent bodies of the Union must address any requests for checks or audits referred to in Article II.27 to the Director General of the beneficiary. The beneficiary must make available to the competent bodies of the Union, upon request, all relevant financial information, including statements of accounts concerning the action, where it implements the action or where its affiliated entities or a subcontractor take part in the action.] [Option if a framework agreement containing a verification annex has been signed between the international organisation and the Commission: Article II.27 must be applied in accordance with any specific agreement concluded in this respect by the international organisation and the 13

14 European Union.]] I.XX.5 Privileges and immunities Nothing in the Agreement may be interpreted as a waiver of any privileges or immunities which are accorded to the beneficiary by its constituent documents or international law.] 27 I'm writing to ask you some clarification about the annex 5 to be attached to the project proposal. This is the specific case that we are dealing with: Our potential partner University is not a public body, as well as the Hospital that has a Convention (accreditation) with our Region, but it is in any case private. According to EU definitions, a "public body" is "any entity established for social purposes meeting needs of the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character. Therefore, considering the undoubted public utility of these 2 entities (University and hospital) and their highest value, are they suitable for signing the annex 5 foreseen by the topic for this Call for Proposal? As specified in the text of the call, under Topic conditions and documents point 2.3(b) Eligibility of the application: At least one public authority from each participating country must either be involved in the project (as applicant or co-applicant) or express in writing its support to the application; These public authorities can be Ministries and/or agencies responsible for children (e.g. child protection agencies and services, national guardianship institutions, Ministries for children, child protection, education, health, social affairs, justice, children's ombudspersons and/or national human rights institutes for children, responsible regional authorities, etc). The rationale for the choice must be documented and explained in Annex 1- Project Description and Implementation Form. In practical terms, it means that if, for instance, a transnational project is submitted by a partnership involving four different eligible countries, at least four public authorities as described above (one per each eligible country) must either be involved in the project as applicant or partner(s) or express in writing its support of the application. In the latter case, this support will be expressed through Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application. Therefore, organisations mentioned by you (university, private hospital) are not considered "public authorities" for the purposes of this call's Annex Referring to the topic "To support capacity building on rights of the child and child migration", could be a public authority considered the only subject partner from a country? Or we need a private organization from that country? 29 We are gathering the consortium for the project under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme (REC), the ongoing call for proposals for action grants: Rights of the child; violence against children. We are applying under the topic: To support capacity building on rights of If indeed a public authority is a partner to the project there is no need to have another private organisation from the same country to fulfil the transnationality rule, if this is what you mean. As stated in the text of the call point 2.3(b) under Topic conditions and documents, one supporting letter from a public authority per participating country must be submitted. Therefore, if your project has for example 5 partners coming from 4 different Member States (i.e. 2 of the partners come from the same Member State), you will need 4 14

15 the child and child protection for professionals in asylum and migration, under the priority: To ensure better protection and respect for the rights of all children in migration on EU territory through capacity-building for family-based care for unaccompanied minor migrants. I have a question regarding the application; namely if it is necessary for each partner in the consortium to get letter of support from public authority, or it is enough if (only) leading partner gets it. 30 Is it possible to submit support letters also later, after the application is already submitted? support letters. 2.3 Eligibility of the application (b) At least one public authority from each participating country must either be involved in the project (as applicant or co-applicant) or express in writing its support to the application; These public authorities can be Ministries and/or agencies responsible for children (e.g. child protection agencies and services, national guardianship institutions, Ministries for children, child protection, education, health, social affairs, justice, children's ombudspersons and/or national human rights institutes for children, responsible regional authorities, etc). The rationale for the choice must be documented and explained in Annex 1- Project Description and Implementation Form. In practical terms, it means that if, for instance, a transnational project is submitted by a partnership involving four different eligible countries, at least four public authorities as described above (one per each eligible country) must either be involved in the project as applicant or partner(s) or express in writing its support of the application. In the latter case, this support will be expressed through Annex 5 - Letter from the public authority supporting the application. In principle, no but please note the following (page 20 of the guide for applicants): prog/common/just-rec-guide-applicants_en.pdf Once the proposal is submitted, the applicant will not hear from the Commission until the proposal has been evaluated, unless: The Commission needs to contact the applicant to clarify matters such as eligibility or to request additional information; 15