REVISED VERSION 28/05/2018
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Activities for the Council of Europe ETINED Advocacy Week
Reference 2018/ETINED
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Project |
Integrity in Education |
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Awarding entity |
Council of Europe |
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Education Policy Division |
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Action Department |
Education Department |
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Duration |
Projects shall be implemented by 19 October 2018. Reporting requirements shall be completed by 31 December 2018. |
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Estimated starting date |
25 June 2018 |
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Issuance date |
18 May 2018 |
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Deadline for applications |
11 June 2018 |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE PROJECT
6. Further to the general objective, preference will be given to:
7. The following types of action will not be considered:
4. Change, alteration and modification of the application file
VI. EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE
VII. NOTIFICATION OF THE DECISION AND SIGNATURE OF GRANT AGREEMENTS
Appendices:
- Appendix I - Application Form
- Appendix II - Provisional budget (Template)
- Appendix III - Template Grant Agreement (for information only)
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This call for proposals is launched in the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Platform on Ethics, Transparency and Integrity in Education (ETINED)”. It aims to co-fund national/local activities/events and webinars during the Advocacy week on the theme “Free from corruption”, organised within the ETINED project. The Advocacy week aims at raising awareness on corruption related issues in education and higher education.
Proposals shall aim to produce an added value to the Council of Europe efforts in this domain.
II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ETINED PLATFORM AND ADVOCACY WEEK
ETINED is a network of specialists appointed by the Ministries of Education. Its mandate stems from the 2013 Helsinki Education Ministerial Conference. It is based on the assumption that issues regarding quality education and corruption in education and beyond can only be effectively addressed if all relevant sections of society commit fully to fundamental positive ethical principles for public and professional life rather than rely only on top-down mechanistic regulatory measures. ETINED proposes therefore a principles-based approach to the fight against corruption in education.
Its mission specifically consists in:
- Contributing to the development of good governance, a culture of democracy and participation in education by promoting ethics, transparency and integrity at all levels (giving special attention to the fight against corruption and fraud in education and research);
- Developing policy opinions and instruments and more generally raising awareness of the issues of ethics, transparency and integrity in education;
- Sharing information and good practices among member States in the widest possible way;
- Supporting the establishment of national and regional pilot projects on ethics, transparency and integrity in education and developing expertise to support interested countries.
In this context, the ETINED Secretariat is organising an Advocacy Week, from 15 to 19 October 2018, on the theme “Free from corruption”. During this week, on-line webinars of maximum 2 hours each will be proposed to the public as well as other related activities. The ETINED Website will put on line the schedule of the webinars and other events and their hyperlinks, which can be organised from whichever location in Europe. ETINED intends also to fund other national/local anti-corruption initiatives organised during the week, aiming at raising awareness about issues related to anti-corruption, ethics, transparency and integrity in education.
More information about ETINED can be found on the dedicated website: www.coe.int/etined.
The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is up to 50 000 € (fifty thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 10 grants of a maximum amount of 5 000€ (five thousand Euros) each.
Subject to availability of funds and extension of the Project initial duration, the Council of Europe reserves the right not to award all available funds, and/or to redistribute the available funds in a different manner depending on the project proposals received and on the outcome of the call for proposals.
The grants will fund activities, events and on-line webinars designed to:
- raise awareness among students, teaching staff, parents, general public of challenges related to ethics, transparency and integrity in education;
- expose possible solutions to unethical behaviours in education, such as plagiarism, contract cheating, fraudulent credentials, corruption;
- present national/local/institutional initiatives designed to tackle such issues in schools and higher education institutions.
Each selected proposal should include:
1) The presentation of the initiative developed to counter education fraud among education stakeholders (pupils, students, teachers, managers…), awareness-raising events, information about national/local initiatives developed in the field and all other activities aiming the dissemination of ethical principles in education;
2) The production of flyers/a newspaper article/a power-point presentation;
3) The drafting of 2 news articles targeted at a non-specialist public;
4) Royalty free digital photos from the event that can be used for the ETINED website.
The implementation period of the projects should take place during the week of 15-19 October 2018 (see indicative timetable under VIII. below).
The ETINED secretariat might organise an on-line information event with the selected grantees in view of the preparation of the advocacy week and familiarisation with the work of the Council of Europe.
Reporting requirements shall be completed on 15 November 2018 at the latest.
Projects completed prior to the date of submission of the applications will be automatically excluded. As regard projects started prior to the date of submission of the applications, or prior to the date of signature of the grant agreement, only those costs incurred after the date of submission of the grant application could be eligible (provided the agreement concerned so provides).
Projects should target in particular the following key stakeholders:
- Higher education institutions and/or secondary schools;
- ETINED delegates, University lecturers, researchers, experts working in the field of ethics, transparency and integrity in education and the fight against corruption in education;
- NGOs and students associations active in the field covered by the ETINED Platform.
The above list is not exhaustive and projects may propose to target other relevant stakeholders, while keeping in mind the general objective of the Project.
Proposals shall be accompanied by a draft budget (See Template Budget, in Appendix II) amounting to a maximum of 5 000 (Five Thousand) Euros. The estimated budget must be consistent, accurate, clear, complete and cost-effective, in the light of the activities proposed.
Each Grantee shall also be required to contribute to the project either by way of its own resources or by contribution from third parties. Co-financing may take the form of financial or human resources, in-kind contributions or income generated by the action or project.
6. Further to the general objective, preference will be given to:
· Projects/actions targeting solutions to tackle education fraud in higher education (e.g. plagiarism, contract cheating, diploma mills…).
7. The following types of action will not be considered:
· Projects/actions providing financial support to third parties (re-granting schemes);
· Projects/actions concerning only or mainly individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
· Projects/actions supporting political parties.
The funds for each grant should in principle be distributed as follows:
· 80 % will be paid when the Grant Agreement between the two parties is signed;
· the balance will be paid based on actual expenditures incurred, and after the presentation and acceptance by the Council of Europe of the final narrative and financial reports for the Grant implementation.
· narrative reporting requires a full narrative report on the use made of the grant and a copy of the register of the persons present during each of the activities, including names and signatures of participants and relevant digital photos free to use for the ETINED website of the Council of Europe;
· financial reporting requires in particular a statement in the currency in which the Grant Agreement will be concluded (Euros or local currency), in English, stating the payments made for the implementation of the activities, certified by the responsible financial officer of the Grantee, accompanied by “appropriate original supporting documents” (see below). The Council of Europe reserves the right to ask for summary translations of invoices into English. If for legal reasons the original documents must be retained by the Grantee, certified copies must be submitted with the financial statement.
“Appropriate original supporting documents” refers to signed contracts, invoices and acceptances of work (for all transactions), payment authorisation for all transactions should also be provided in case the Grantee uses such practice, and reliable evidence of payment (authorised payment order and bank statement).
As regards round tables / conferences, presenting “appropriate original supporting documents” requires presentation of a programme indicating the title, dates, venue, and agenda of the event; the names of persons facilitating the event, a signed list of participants, the contracts with the owner of venue of the event (e.g. hotel) for the rent of premises, food and beverages of participants, invoices from the owner of the venue of the event for the above services, and a report on the results of the event (see narrative reporting above).
As regards consultancy services, presenting “appropriate original supporting documents” requires presentation of evidence of the outputs produced, contracts with experts and consultants containing a specific description of services to be carried out, invoices produced after the works have been performed and delivered (the specialities of the consultants shall correspond to the nature of activities for which they are contracted).
As regards travel fees / lodging of experts and participants, presenting “appropriate original supporting documents” requires presentation, where relevant, of contracts with a travel agency for travel fees and lodging, invoices of the travel agency indicating destinations, dates, ticket costs, and names of the travelling persons, a programme of the event indicating the names of the experts and signed lists of participants.
The above description is not comprehensive. Any doubt regarding the interpretation of the notion of “appropriate original supporting documents” should lead the Grantee to consult the Council of Europe.
Each application shall contain:
· the completed and signed Application Form (See Appendix I);
· a provisional budget (using the template reproduced in Appendix II);
· the other supporting documents:
- Evidence of work in the field of anti-corruption, ethics, transparency and integrity in education - Activity reports/publications/leaflets/websites; etc.
- Registration certificate or relevant document;
- Legal and financial status of the Organisation certificate.
Applications that are incomplete will not be considered.
General information can be found on the website of the Council of Europe:
- ETINED Website: www.coe.int/etined
- Council of Europe Education website: https://www.coe.int/en/web/education
Other questions regarding this specific call for proposals must be sent at the latest one week before the deadline for the submission of proposals, in English, and shall be exclusively sent to the following address: education [email protected], with the following reference in subject: Q & A on the call proposal for Dissemination activities of the Council of Europe ETINED Advocacy Week.
Deadline for submission
The application form, completed and signed, together with the supporting documents, must be submitted in electronic form (Word and/or PDF) to the following e-mail address: [email protected]. Emails should contain the following reference in subject: Call Proposal for Activities for the Council of Europe ETINED Advocacy Week.
Applications must be received before 11 June 2018 (at 23:00, EET, GMT +2). Applications received after the above mentioned date will not be considered.
3. Change, alteration and modification of the application file
Any change in the format, or any alteration or modification of the original application file, will cause the immediate rejection of the application concerned.
VI. EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE
The projects presented will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee composed of at least three members, including staff members of the Council of Europe.
The procedure shall be based on the underlying principles of grant award procedures, which are transparency, non-retroactivity, non-cumulative awards, not-for-profit, co-financing and non-discrimination, in accordance with Rule 1374 of 16 December 2015 on the grant award procedures of the Council of Europe.
The applicants, and their projects, shall fulfil all of the following criteria:
Applicants shall be excluded from the grant award procedure where they:
a. have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering;
b. are in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or are subject to a procedure of the same kind;
c. have received a judgement with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or constitutes a serious professional misconduct;
d. do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of the country where they are established.
By signing the Application Form, applicants shall declare on their honour that they are not in any of the above-mentioned situations (See Appendix I, Item 12).
The Council of Europe reserves the right to ask applicants at a later stage to supply the following supporting documents:
- for the items set out in paragraphs a), b) and c), an extract from the record of convictions or failing that an equivalent document issued by the competent judicial or administrative authority of the country where the applicant is established, indicating that these requirements are met;
- for the items set out in paragraph d), a certificate issued by the competent authority of the country of establishment.
In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:
· be legally constituted in one of the member States of the Council of Europe;
· be entitled to carry out in its country activities described in its project proposal;
· have sufficient financial capacity (stable and sufficient sources of funding) to maintain its activity throughout the period for which the grant is awarded and to participate by way of its own resources (including human resources or in-kind contributions);
· have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;
· have a bank account.
Multiple applications are not allowed and shall lead to the exclusion of all applications concerned.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
· the relevance and added value of the project with regard to the objective of the call (30%)
· the extent to which the action meets the requirements of the call (30%);
· the quality, accuracy, clarity, completeness and cost-effectiveness of the application and the estimated budget (20%);
· the relevance of the experience of the applying organisation(s) and staff (20%).
VII. NOTIFICATION OF THE DECISION AND SIGNATURE OF GRANT AGREEMENTS
On completion of the selection process, all applicants will be notified in writing of the final decision concerning their respective applications as well as on the next steps to be undertaken.
The selected Grantees will be invited to sign a Grant Agreement (See Appendix III, for information only), formalising their legal commitments. Potential applicants are strongly advised to read the draft contract, in particular its requirements in terms of payment and reporting.
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Phases |
Indicative timing |
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Publication of the call |
25 May 2018 |
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Deadline for submitting applications |
11 June 2018 |
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Information to applicants on the results of the award procedure |
15 June 2018 |
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Signature of the grant agreements |
21 June 2018 |
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Implementation period |
25 June – 19 October 2018 |
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