PRIORITY SECTORS
Competition was aiming to select entity which shall act as the Intermediary responsible for the management and implementation of the Block Grant within 2 priority areas:
a) Priority 1: Promotion of the role of the civic society as an important participant in enhancement of the social and economic cohesion of the country;
b) Priority 2: Promotion and/or enhancement of partnerships between regions, institutions and social partners of Poland and Switzerland.
ALLOCATION
Total allocation of the Block Grant amounts to 20,5 Mio Swiss francs (approx. CHF 18,5 Mio will be spent on the priority 1: out of which CHF 15 725 000 is the contribution of the Swiss side and CHF 2 775 000 is the co-financing on the Polish side; and approx. CHF 2 Mio will be spent on priority 2: out of which CHF 1 700 000 is the contribution of the Swiss side and CHF 300 000 is the co-financing on the Polish side).
OPERATOR OF THE BLOCK GRANT
On July 10th, 2009 the Swiss side finalized selection process of the Intermediary of the Block Grant for Non-Governmental Organisations and Polish - Swiss Regional Partnership Projects. According to the donor's decision, a private company ECORYS Polska Ltd. acting together with the Association of the Polish Communes Euroregion “Baltic” has been appointed the Intermediary. On January 4th, 2010 the Swiss side approved the Final Project Proposal submitted by the above entities under this Block Grant.
AGREEMENTS ON THE BLOCK GRANT
On December 8, 2010 the Ministry of Regional Development and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs have concluded the Grant block agreements concerning the:
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Nongovernmantal Organisations Fund,
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Partnership Fund.
On this basis, on December 13, 2010, agreements were concluded between the Ministry of Regional Development and Ecorys Poland Ltd., serving as the Block Grant Operator.
LAUNCH OF THE BLOCK GRANT
A launch of the block grant took place in Ist quarter of 2011. On 31 March an open call within Fund for Non-grvernmental Organizations was launched. The first edition of the call for proposals started on 31 March and will be concluded till 31st May 2011.
DOCUMENTS
Documents on application procedures and project implementation within the Block Grant are available at the Operator website www.swissgrant.pl
Telephone: + 48 22 339 45 45.
The grant amount disbursed under this Fund was 996 277 Swiss francs. The total amount of expenditure taking into account the amount of the grant and own contribution was 1 228 551 Swiss francs.
Aim
The aim of the Project Preparation Facility (PPF) is a financial support for preparation of the Final Project Proposals, based on the Projects Outlines previously approved by the Swiss side. When submitting Project Outline, the Executing Agency (ie. the applicant) may also apply for funds from the Project Preparation Facility to finance the preparation of documentation for the Final Project Proposal.
Allocation (final): CHF 996 277.
Applicantion
The co-financing were granted to units applying for support under different thematic areas of Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme. Organisational units eligible for support were public or private sector or nongovernmental organisations, established or registered in the Republic of Poland according to the Polish law. The types of potential Executing Agencies were in detail stipulated for each thematic area in the description of a given area.
Amount of Co-financing
Costs of planned tasks under the PPF were to be economically justified, necessary and directly
connected with the preparation of the Final Project Proposal and proportionate to its amount; the minimum amount of co-financing was CHF 10 000.
Level of Co-financing
The level of co-financing could not exceed 85% of total eligible costs of the project under the PPF. Except for financial resources granted under the PPF, a minimum contribution of 15% of the Executing Agency was required.
Duration of the Project
The duration of the project under the PPF could not exceed 6 months, from the moment of signing the Project Preparation Agreement until the end of its implementation.
Submitting Applications
The filling in of the generator for a Project Outline in part V. Project Preparation Facility by the applicant was a basis to apply for resources under the PPF. The final decision on the granting of co-financing was made by the Swiss side. A positive appraisal of the Project Outline by the Swiss side was necessary to obtain the co-financing under the Project Preparation Facility.
Documents
Guidelines for the Project Preparation Facility
Agreement on the Grant for the Project Preparation Facility
Technical Assistance Fund means the fund created for the purpose of financing the tasks performed by the Polish authorities to implement the financial assistance.
Range
Measures Technical Assistance Fund is intended to help among other things programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Operator
Operator of the Technical Assistance Fund is the National Coordination Unit, namely the Ministry of Economic Development.