GRANT AWARD PROCEDURE

Further Support to the Penitentiary reform in Azerbaijan – 2 (SPERA 2)

[Ref. GRANT SPERA]

Project	European Union - Council of Europe joint Project “Further Support to the Penitentiary Reform in Azerbaijan 2” (SPERA 2)
Organisation	Council of Europe
Organisation	Office of the Director General of Programmes (ODGP) Council of Europe Office in Baku
Funding	Project funded by the EU and implemented by the Council of Europe
Duration	Project shall be implemented by 31 January 2021. Reporting requirements shall be completed by 15 January 2021
Estimated starting date	30 March 2020
Issuance date	10 February 2020
Deadline for applications	1 March 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I Introduction

II Background information on the project

III Budget available

IV Requirements

V How to apply?

VI Evaluation and selection procedure

VII Notification of the decision and signature of the grant agreements

VIII Indicative timetable

Appendices:

Appendix I - Application Form

Appendix II - Provisional budget (Template)

Appendix III - Template Grant Agreement (for information only)

I. INTRODUCTION

This call for proposals is launched in the framework of the European Union - Council of Europe Joint Project “Further Support to the Penitentiary Reform in Azerbaijan - 2” (JP SPERA – 2). It aims at providing support for secure, effective and more humane management of prisons in line with the Council of Europe standards and best practices. The grant procedure is organised in line with Rule No. 1374 on the Council of Europe’s grant procedure.

This 24-month project is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the main project partners, namely the Penitentiary Service and the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan and other national stakeholders interested in penitentiary reform.

With JP SPERA – 2, the Council of Europe will assist the Azerbaijani authorities in the process of enhancing human rights protection of sentenced persons in Azerbaijan in line with the Council of Europe standards, in particular those of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

The JP SPERA-2 focuses on three areas:

1. effective prison management,

2. the provision of healthcare in prisons and

3. the reintegration of prisoners in line with European standards and best practices. This component involves the participation of civil society actors.

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT

The penitentiary system in Azerbaijan inherits operational practices, largely focusing on security aspects with limited attention on prisoners’ preparation for release and reintegration into the society. Management practices are also affected by poor prison facilities and shortage of front-line staff, in direct contact with prisoners. The health care staff in Azerbaijan enjoys a fairly good level of operational independence. However, there is a need to improve particularly disease prevention and health promotion and also a multidisciplinary approach to strengthen co-operation with prison staff.

In September 2016 the European Union and the Council of Europe Joint Project “Further support to the penitentiary reform in Azerbaijan” commenced with the aim to assist the national authorities in reforming the country’s penitentiary system in line with European standards, with focus on promoting improved healthcare (including mental healthcare) services for inmates and human rights compliant practices in management of prisons. Within the 20-month project local partners - the Main Medical Department and the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice benefited from a noteworthy support in improving the provision of health care services and prison management. The provision of healthcare services for inmates, including mental healthcare services, and prison management in three pilot prisons were assessed and recommendations were submitted to the national beneficiaries on further reform measures. With the technical consultancy provided by the project, the local partners developed action plans, drafted internal regulations, and introduced a Personal Officer (PO) scheme in three pilot prisons aiming at the creation of a more secure and humane prison environment. Professional capacity of the medical and non-medical penitentiary staff has been improved through training activities, workshops, study visits, off-site and on-site consultancy.

Following request of the Delegation of the European Union in Baku, half of the project budget will be allocated to NGOs through granting.

The proposed new project will build on the groundwork established within the Joint Project, and will further assist the reform efforts in the penitentiary field.

Project proposals shall aim to produce an added value to the Council of Europe efforts in this domain.

III. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is 310 000 Euros (three hundred and ten thousand Euros). The Council of Europe intends to award 4 (four) grants, of up to 77 500 Euros.

Applicants may submit proposals for one, several or all grants. Multiple proposals for one grant are not allowed.

IV. REQUIREMENTS

1. General objective

- The grants will fund project designed to develop and implement reintegration programmes in order to support released prisoners by providing:

- Grant 1: Vocational training to enhance ex-offenders’ professional development;

- Grant 2: Business mentoring to support ex-offenders establishing their businesses and for those who have already established businesses, mentoring/support for the development of their business idea, complemented by small funds allocated for the set-up of business by ex-offenders;

- Grant 3: Legal aid in order to address legal issues upon release;

- Grant 4: Psychological and psycho-social support that will provide social reinforcement and help enforce behavioural change.

In addition, the selected NGOs will be requested to advocate the involvement of ex-offenders in the local job market and raise awareness among local entrepreneurs, as well as among the general public, to encourage them to support the rehabilitation and reintegration process of ex-offenders through employment.

2. Means of action

All results will be achieved by targeting the penitentiary system and respective partner institutions through working on policy, legal framework, advocacy, and capacity-building levels, as well as through provision of vocational activities, psychosocial and legal assistance to prisoners by local civil society organisations. In addition, cross sector inter-institutional co-ordination will be in place to make sure all justice chain actors are aware of, understand and correctly implement the changes in the system.

3. Implementation period

The implementation period of the Projects will be defined in the Grant Agreement (see indicative timetable under VIII. below).

Projects completed prior to the date of submission of the applications will be automatically excluded. As regards 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 will be eligible.

The implementation period of the Projects shall not extend beyond 15 January 2021

Reporting requirements shall be completed by 15 January 2021 at the latest.

4. Target stakeholders

The Penitentiary Service and the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan, who will be brought in contact with new ideas and new working methodologies, the inmates, who will be given the opportunity to take part in activities organised providers not linked to the penitentiary system, and, finally, NGO(s) themselves who will see their capacities strengthened through the implementation of the projects proposed by them. .

5. Budgetary requirements

Project proposals shall be accompanied by a draft budget (See Template Budget, in Appendix II) amounting to a maximum reflecting a Grant of no more than EUR 77,500 The estimated budget must be consistent, accurate, clear, complete and cost-effective, in the light of the activities proposed.

The 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:

· actions targeting a large number of prisons;

· NGOs having the most extensive expertise in working with prisoners, with a particular focus on vocational training, business mentoring, legal aid and psychological and psycho-social support.

7. The following types of action will not be considered:

· actions providing financial support to third parties except if explicitly foreseen by the grant;

· actions concerning only or mainly individual scholarships for studies or training courses;

· actions supporting political parties;

· procurement of equipment.

8. Payment conditions:

The funds for each grant should in principle be distributed as follows:

· 70 % will be paid when the Grant Agreement between the two parties is signed;

· the balance will be paid based on actual expenditures incurred after the presentation and acceptance by the Council of Europe of the final narrative and financial reports for the Grant implementation.

9. Reporting requirements:

· 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; the form for narrative report will be a part of the agreement and will be elaborated based on the selected proposal;

· 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 for each day of the event, the contracts with the owner of the 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.

HOW TO APPLY?

1. Documents to be submitted:

Each application shall contain:

· the completed and signed Application Form (See Appendix I);

· a provisional budget (using the template reproduced in Appendix II);

· bank statement confirming the existence of the bank account in the name of the applicant.

· other supporting documents

o Certificate(s) of state registration;

o Certificate(s) proving non-profit status;

o Statutes of the organisation(s), or equivalent;

o Bank statement confirming the existence of the bank account in the name of the applicant;

o A list of the project the NGO(s) implemented in the area in question and recommendation letters from other donors ascertaining at least 5-year experience in the areas described in the grant proposal and sufficient financial, operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in the proposal.

The Council of Europe reserves the right to reject applications that are incomplete.

2. Questions

General information can be found on the website of the Council of Europe: www.coe.int/criminal-law-coop

Other questions regarding this specific call for proposals must be sent at least one week before the deadline for the submission of proposals, in English and shall be exclusively sent to the following address: [email protected], with the following reference in subject: Questions – Grant award procedure – Prisons – Azerbaijan (SPERA). The replies will be published on the Council of Europe’s website two working days before the expiration of the time-limit for the submission of proposals.

3. 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: Grant award procedure – Prisons – Azerbaijan (SPERA).

Applications must be received before 1 March 2020 (at midnight, Strasbourg time). Applications received after the above mentioned date will not be considered.

4. 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.

V. 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:

1. Exclusion 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.

e. are or if their Presidents or Board members, in the case of non-governmental organisations, are included in the lists of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures applied by the European Union (available at www.sanctionsmap.eu).

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 10).

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.

- for the items set out in paragraph e);

· for natural persons, a scanned copy of a valid photographic proof of identity (e.g. passport)

2. Eligibility criteria:

In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must:

· have at least 5-year experience in the civil society sector in Azerbaijan, with previous experience in the areas described in the grant proposal;

· be legally constituted as a non-governmental organisation in Azerbaijan;

· be entitled to carry out in Azerbaijan activities described in its project proposal;

· have sufficient operational and professional capacity, including staff, to carry out activities described in its project proposal;

· have sufficient financial or human capacity to contribute by way of its own resources;

· have a bank account.

3. Award criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

· the relevance and added value of the project with regard to the objective of the call (20%)

· the quality, accuracy, clarity, completeness and cost-effectiveness of the application and the estimated budget (40%);

· the relevant experience of the applying organisation(s) and its staff, including in particular experience working with prisoners and experience working with particular group or prisoners-subject of this activity (40%).

The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with eligible applicants.

VI. 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, including information on the enquiries and complaint procedure.

The selected Grantee 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.

VII. INDICATIVE TIMETABLE

Phases	Indicative timing
Publication of the call	10 February 2020
Deadline for submitting applications	1 March 2020
Information to applicants on the results of the award procedure	16 March 2020
Signature of the grant agreements	30 March 2020
Implementation period	up to 15 January 2021

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