Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs

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1 Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 1. Basic Information 1.1 CRIS Number: 2005/ Title: Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 1.3 Sector: Non-profit 1.4 Location: Poland 2. Objectives 2.1 Overall Objective(s): To promote participation of citizens in public life with special focus on the areas of the acquis connected with environment and health protection. To strengthen the activities of the NGOs/NPOs in selected chapters of the acquis. 2.2 Project purpose: - To increase the role of civil society in assisting implementation of environmental and health policies - To encourage individuals and groups to actively participate in public life, in particular in the field of the environment and health, - To strengthen the advocacy and monitoring functions of the NGOs/NPOs 2.3 Justification: Under several priorities of the Comprehensive Monitoring Report on Poland s preparation for membership the non-profit and non-governmental organisations are indicated as important partners of the government in the activities related to the implementation of the acquis communautaire. In view of their important role in promoting high environmental and health standards as well as activating and maintaining advocacy and monitoring activities in the society, the capacity of NGOs/NPOs needs to be further enhanced. 3. Description 3.1 Background and justification: Non-governmental and non-profit organisations play a basic role in the democratic system and are necessary in the development of an open civil society. Organisations that are established by citizens themselves to serve their fellow-citizens and communities, deal with issues that result from the process of building a modern state and society. This process focuses among other goals, on protecting the environment and health of the population. Functioning NGOs and NPOs have a key role in articulating the demands of the citizens through active participation and awareness raising. Many elements of the acquis communautaire are based on the existence and functioning of active NGOS and NPOs. Without the activities of such organisations, the acquis could not find social acceptance and be fully implemented. The important role of NGOs/NPOs in implementation of the acquis has also been repeatedly confirmed by the European Union in the Comprehensive Monitoring Report Poland s preparations for membership. Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 1

2 Accession to the European Union increases the pressure on Polish government to solve environmental and health problems while developing its economy. Community environment policy aims to promote sustainable development and protect the environment for present and future generations, and is based on the integration of environmental protection into other Community policies. The Community health policy is focused on improving public health in the European Union, preventing human illness and diseases and recognizing sources of danger to human health. Another problem recognized by the EU is the importance of the effects of the environment on health. According to the Comprehensive Monitoring Report, Poland meets the commitments and requirements arising from the accession negotiations in the environmental sector and public health protection. However, substantial efforts are still needed to improve the health status of the population and the protection of the environment, especially on the regional and local level. NGOs/NPOs operating on the local level and with specific groups of interest can promote ideas and regulations very widely. Their effectiveness in reaching different social groups is significant. They can define the needs very precisely, plan activities answering to those findings and effectively implement them for the benefit of the citizens and the local communities. This project seeks to give assistance to the development of a strong civil society and protection of the health and environment at local as well as regional level. Secondly, this project aims to strengthen co-operative efforts between NGOs/NPOs and local authorities, which play a main role in implementing the acquis. Finally, it assumes improving level of active participation of individuals and groups in public life and strengthening advocacy and monitoring activities, the so called watch dog function. 3.2 Linked activities: The previous EU programmes proved very effective in awarding grants on the basis of open competitions of projects, formulated by non-profit and non-governmental organisations. The endeavours of those entities also provide high visibility of the assistance of the EU. The current project has been developed taking into account the experience gathered within previous programmes on the development of civil society, including the LIEN, Partnership and Democracy programmes, and Phare ACCESS and more specifically: Phare 1999 ACCESS Programme (5,575 MEUR) - the programme was a multi-country operation focusing on a.o. implementation and awareness raising with respect to acquis communautaire in the environment and health and social policy sectors. Phare 2000 ACCESS Programme (5,85 MEUR) grants for raising awareness with respect to acquis in socio-economic development, environmental protection, and social sector. Phare 2001 Civil society development (2 MEUR) - initiatives related to adoption and implementation of the acquis in the areas of: socio-economic development, environmental protection, and social sector. Phare 2003 NGOs for Sustainable Development (3 MEUR). Transition Facility 2004 Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs (3,8 MEUR). The beneficiaries of all the above listed programmes were Polish non-governmental and nonprofit organisations. 3.3 Results: Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 2

3 Approximately 150 projects submitted by NGOs/NPOs will be successfully concluded with the following potential outcomes: Social awareness in the areas linked with implementation of environmental and health policies improved; Increased active participation of individuals and groups in implementation and monitoring the environment and health legislation Skills and activities of the NGOs/NPOs in the process of advocacy and monitoring functions enhanced 3.4 Activities: Initiatives related to adoption and implementation of the acquis in environment and health protection sectors can be financed within the project. Eligibility of activities: The initiatives financed within the project will relate to the following: 1. Raising social awareness in the areas linked with environment and health protection and improving the level of active participation of individuals and groups in the public life. Within this subject eligible activities will include: - promotion of the way of living in terms of health protection, - promotion of health, prophylaxis and health education, - obeying the health and safety at work regulations, - co-ordination of social security, - development of model projects aimed at implementation of environmental acquis,(in particular water and air pollution, management of waste and chemicals, biotechnology, nature protection, industrial pollution and risk management, noise, and radiation protection), - promotion of environment protection driven attitudes of individuals and groups, - ecological education - promotion of renewable energy resources, - promotion of co-operation between health and environment sectors (ex. preventing health from environmental risks, identifying new threats and assessing the health impact, etc.) - provision of better access to information for citizens (information on the implementation of the acquis, improving the information chain to understand the links between sources of pollution and health effects, etc.), - activation of local communities and building coalitions for complex social problems. 2. Strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities Within the subject eligible activities will include: - upgrading professional skills of organisations acting in the fields being the subject of the project, - monitoring of the legislation process and of respecting the law (also on the local level), including implementation of the social consultations idea, - better access to information on progress of implementation of regulations concerning health and environment, - monitoring in the field of health and environment protection, - supporting common initiatives of NGOs/NPOs and local administration that aim at reorienting the functioning of administration on citizens needs. Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 3

4 It is expected that a single grant will remain within the range of 5000 to 50,000 euro, and the Transition Facility grant will cover up to 80% of eligible costs of such a grant. The number of supported initiatives will be approximately 150. General eligibility criteria will be developed using the grant schemes guidelines, as appropriate. The grant projects would last up to 10 months. Eligibility of applicants: The project is addressed to Polish non-governmental and non-profit organisations (e.g. foundations, associations and other non-profit bodies according to the Polish Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism) as well as social partners. In particular the following types of organisations may apply for grants: - officially registered, - formed voluntarily, - not created to generate personal profit and not pursuing the commercial interests of their members, - independent of government and other public authorities and of political and commercial organisations, - nonexclusive organisations, i.e. organisations which do not condition their support or actions on ideological, political and religious adherence. The eligible entities may be awarded grants on condition of preparing projects consistent with the objectives of the project and providing co-financing at the level of at least 20% of planned budget of the operation. Any of the mentioned entities can work in partnership with e.g. academic institutions of nonprofit nature or local governments if previously they prove that in that way the result of the supported activity is better or wider distributed or the quality of actions is higher. 3.5 Lessons learned: Under the Interim Evaluation Report No R/PL/PAD/03/029 certain recommendations proposed for the PL Access 2000, PL Promotion of European Integration with NGOs, PL Civil society development, were formulated, which are relevant for the current project. According to the Report: the assistance supports NGOs and through this the acquis and integration process. Even though the programmes are relatively small scale they have higher visibility than many other, larger, programmes. The programmes provide the opportunity at each phase to achieve their objectives; advertising and launching the schemes, project implementation and publicising the results. The recommendations mentioned below have been taken into consideration while designing the current project: Further efforts should be made to encourage greater media coverage of the results of the grant schemes. Further promotion of NGOs and EU contribution. The grant scheme planed within this project will enable the NGOs/NPOs to undertake number of initiatives in the field of environment and health protection, which will contribute to the wider knowledge of the NGOs /NPOs activity and strengthen the civil society. 4. Institutional Framework Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 4

5 The end beneficiaries of the project will include non-government organisations, working on a non-profit, non-partisan and non-political basis as well as social partners. The project will be supervised by the Office of the Committee for European Integration. The grant section experienced in grant-giving activity within the CFCU will be responsible for the process of the implementation of the project. The project will be implemented through grants contracts. The information on the project will be clearly and broadly advertised to assure that all eligible and interested entities could prepare their applications on time. The potential beneficiaries will also be offered advising and consultation to assure that the conditions and rules of the grant facility are understood and may be fulfilled. The decisions on awarding grants will be made by the selection committee, appointed by the PAO. 5. Detailed Budget (MEUR) M Transition Facility support Co-financing Total cost (TF plus cofinancing) Invest- Institu- Total National Other total cofinancing of ment tion Transition Public Sources Support Building Facility Funds (*) (**) the project (=I+IB) Grants 4,0 4,0 0,8¹ 0,8¹ 4,8 Technical Assistance 0,185 0,185 0,015 0,015 0,20 Total 4,185 4,185 0,015 ¹approximate figure of co-financing that will be provided by grant beneficiaries. 0,8¹ 0,815 5,0 (*) contributions form National, Regional, Local, Municipal authorities, FIs loans to public entities, funds from public enterprises (**) private funds, FIs loans to private entities In the case of Joint Co-financing, where the final overall cost is lower than foreseen in the project fiche, the National Public and Transition Facility Co-financing are reduced proportionally so as to maintain the agreed rate of co-financing. In the case of Parallel Cofinancing, where the final cost is lower than foreseen in the project fiche, it must be shown that the overall objectives of the project have been fully achieved. The TA contract will be joint co-financed. The initiatives for which grants will be awarded will be co-financed by beneficiaries for minimum 20% of the amount of the budget. This involves parallel co-financing. The ability for co-financing will be one of the conditions of awarding grants. 6. Implementation Arrangements 6.1 Implementing Agency PAO: Tadeusz Kozek, under Secretary of State, Office of the Committee for European Integration, Al.Ujazdowskie 9, Warsaw, phone (+48 22) , fax (48 22) Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 5

6 CFCU will be responsible for contracting the final benficiaries, operating the grant subjects. CFCU, Warsaw, Poland, 4a Górnośląska st. Phone (+48 22) , fax (+48 22) , Twinning N.A. 6.3 Non-standard aspects N.A. 6.4 Contracts It is estimated that about 150 projects will be financed (min euro up to euro), under the grant scheme for the total amount of 4,0 M. In addition one TA contract will be concluded for implementation assistance (0,200M - gross value). The project will be implemented using the procedure of an open local grant competition for eligible entities in Poland. The grant contracts will be signed with all recommended beneficiaries. For the grant scheme GGAPP rules will be followed. Due care will be given to the selection process of the beneficiary projects, which has to be done at technical level through a evaluation committee composed of members appointed by the PAO. The TA will be used for contracting out to an external company services related to preselection process such as printing of application, advertising, printing reports collection of applications and assessment as well as evaluation of initiatives financed under the project. According to GGAPP procedures the evaluation committee may delegate the pre-selection process to outside assessors: where the proposals received are particularly numerous or highly technical, it may not always be possible for the evaluation committee to examine each one in detail, if necessary, all or part of this detailed examination may be carried out by assessors so that the evaluation committee may conduct its deliberations on the basis of their assessments. The evaluation committee will be composed of representatives of the government administration and NGOs.. The PAO will retain his contractual and financial responsibilities for the implementation of the grant scheme. In particular, the PAO will approve formally the call for proposals, application forms, evaluation criteria, as well as the selection process and results. The PAO will sign grant contracts with the beneficiaries and ensure adequate monitoring and financial control under his authority and responsibility. 7. Implementation Schedule 7.1 Start of tendering/call for proposals Grant documentation including detailed priorities, an application form, informational materials and selection criteria of the project will be prepared in IQ/IIQ Start of project activity The call for proposals procedure will be launched in the III/IVQ The deadline for submitting applications for grants is expected to be in I/IIQ The decisions on awarding grants will be made in IIIQ The contracts will be signed in IIIQ Project Completion The last payment will be made in IIQ 2008 and the project will be closed in IIIQ Sustainability The Office of the Committee for European Integration will assure suitable number of staff to implement the project. 9. Conditionality and sequencing Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 6

7 High quality of the initiatives to be funded under the Project. Most important milestones: Signing Financing Memorandum Preparation of detailed priorities, application forms and informational materials and promotion of the project, Evaluation of submitted projects and the final selection, Signing grant contracts and starting of NGOs/NPOs projects implementation, Monitoring and evaluation of awarded grants, Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs 7

8 Annex 1 LOGFRAME PLANNING MATRIX FOR Programme name and number Project Raising social awareness and strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities of NGOs Overall objective Objectively Verifiable Indicators Sources of Verification Contracting period expires IVQ 2007 Total budget Euro Disbursement period expires IVQ 2008 Transition Facility Budget Euro To promote participation of citizens in public life with special focus on the areas of the acquis connected with environment and health protection. To strengthen the activities of the NGOs/NPOs in selected chapters of the acquis. Improved the acquis implementation record Monitoring Reports of EC for the Council and the European Parliament monitoring the further progress as to the adoption, implementation and enforcement of the acquis by Poland Project purpose (Immediate Objectives) Objectively Verifiable Indicators Sources of Verification Assumptions To increase the role of civil society in assisting implementation of environmental and health policies To encourage individuals and groups to actively participate in public life, in particular in the field of the environment and health, To strengthen the advocacy and monitoring functions of the NGOs/NPOs - increased number of initiatives undertaken for the benefit of disadvantaged groups by the end of the project Statistical data of public institutions Report from research on the condition of third sector in Poland carried out regularly by Klon/Jawor Association Co-operation between public and/or private sector and organisations implementing projects Risks: lack of partnership between governmental institutions and citizens initiatives Results Objectively Verifiable Indicators Sources of Verification Assumptions - Approx. 150 projects supported NGOs/NPOs interim and final and carried out successfully by the reports; end of the project NGOs/NPOs Annual Reports; - The quality and number of Non-governmental portal; monitoring reports of awarded TF interim Evaluation Reports; NGOs/NPOs and other bodies TF Monitoring reports. prepared by the end of the project; Report from research on the - Regional or local coalitions built condition of third sector in Poland by the end of the project carried out regularly by - Increased percentage of Klon/Jawor Association individuals aware of environmental CBOS reports on ecological and health issues by the end of the awareness project Statistical data of public - Increase number of citations institutions within the framework of the proposed fields by the end of the project Social awareness in the areas linked with implementation of environmental and health policies improved; Increased active participation of individuals and groups in implementation and monitoring the environment and health legislation Skills and activities of the NGOs/NPOs in the process of advocacy and monitoring functions enhanced NGOs are able to submit relevant project and provide cofinancing

9 Activities Means Sources of Verification Assumptions Grants 1. Raising social awareness in the areas linked with environment and health protection and improving the level of active participation of individuals and groups in the public life. Within this subject eligible activities will include: - promotion of the way of living in terms of health protection, - promotion of health, prophylaxis and health education, - obeying the health and safety at work regulations, - co-ordination of social security, - development of model projects aimed at implementation of environmental acquis,(in particular water and air pollution, management of waste and chemicals, biotechnology, nature protection, industrial pollution and risk management, noise, and radiation protection), - promotion of environment protection driven attitudes of individuals and groups, - ecological education - promotion of renewable energy resources, - promotion of co-operation between health and environment sectors (ex. preventing health from environmental risks, identifying new threats and assessing the health impact, etc.), - provision of better access to information for citizens(information on the implementation of the acquis, improving the information chain to understand the links between sources of pollution and health effects, etc.), - activation of local communities and building coalitions for complex social problems. 2. Strengthening of advocacy and monitoring activities Within the subject eligible activities will include: - upgrading professional skills of organisations acting in the fields being the subject of the project, - monitoring of the legislation process and of respecting the law (also on the local level), including implementation of the social consultations idea, - better access to information on progress of implementation of regulations concerning health and environment, - monitoring in the field of health and environment protection, - supporting common initiatives of NGOs/NPOs and local administration that aim at reorienting the functioning of administration on citizens needs. total budget for grants: 4,0 MEUR, minimum grant EUR 5 000, maximum EUR ; 20 % co-financing (by the beneficiary) mandatory; TA (0,2 MEUR) contract for preselection process and evaluation High quality and number of projects in specified fields; Relevant capacity of selected NGOs and other bodies; Funding made available to Implementing Agency in a timely and efficient manner

10 Preconditions

11 Annex 2-3: Implementation, contracting and disbursement schedules Date of Drafting Planning Period November2004 IQ 2006 IIIQ 2008 Budget Allocation Cost Estimate 4,185 MEUR PLANNED I 06 II 06 III 06 IV 06 I 07 II '07 III 07 IV 07 I 08 II 08 III 08/IV 08 I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX (1) (2) (3) Implementation schedule D D D/C D/C D/C C C Contracting schedule 0,185 4,00 4,185 Disbursement schedule 0,185 2,685 4,185 4,185 Legenda: D = design of sub-projects C = tendering and contracting I = contract implementation and payment

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