Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
ERDF-TA stands for technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission for European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF) and Just Transition Fund (JTF). ERDF-TA finances actions that facilitate the implementation of economic, social, and territorial cohesion in the European Union. The scope of the ERDF-TA is defined in Article 35 of the Common Provisions Regulation.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The objective is to enhance administrative capacity of Ukrainian and Moldovan public sector authorities and civil society organisations from Ukraine and Moldova in the border area, through their active participation in a specific cross-border cooperation mechanism mirroring the selection and implementation of projects of limited financial volume under Article 25 of the Interreg Regulation (hereinafter ‘Interreg’).
The action aims at funding:
- the establishment and functioning of an operational steering committee composed of relevant Ukrainian and Moldovan public sector authorities and civil society organisations;
- the delivery of tasks linked to the support of development of cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and Moldova;
- the financial support to third parties for the delivery of projects.
Detailed Call Description
The territorial scope of the action aims to cover the cross-border region between Moldova and Ukraine. This “cross border area” will include the whole country of Moldova and the following oblasts of Ukraine: Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyy, Vinnytsya, Odessa, and where justified, the following oblasts: Cherkassy, Kirovohrad, Mykolayiv.
Third parties from other oblasts of Ukraine may participate in sub-grants provided that their contribution benefits the cross-border area as defined above.
The eligible themes related to the objectives of this call are those defined in the cohesion policy regulatory framework, namely the policy objectives listed in Article 5 CPR and the Interreg specific objectives in Article 14 Interreg Regulation.
Financial support to third parties shall be provided to the largest possible extent: the majority of projects should receive funding up to €10.000 while a smaller number of projects, when justified by their nature and objectives, may be granted up to €50.000. The number of projects in each group cannot be defined in advance, as it will be dependent on the project applications received.
The activities are mainly twofold:
- establish a mechanism involving local and regional authorities, municipalities or civil society organisations from Ukraine and Moldova on an equal basis with the aim of selecting joint cross-border projects,
- implement, monitor and promote the implementation of joint cross-border projects of limited financial volume.
The successful grant beneficiary will be expected to deliver the following activities:
- Activities related to the establishment of an organisational structure under the responsibility of the grant beneficiary that will implement the preparation, delivery, promotion and monitoring of cross-border cooperation projects between Ukraine and Moldova.
- Activities related to the establishment of a steering committee (mirroring the composition of monitoring committee in Interreg cooperation programmes as provided for in Article 29 Interreg).
- Communication activities linked to the publication of information on the possibility to receive support for joint projects in line with the decision of the steering committee.
- Activities related to the development of a detailed manual for applicants in the national languages that will include inter alia the scope of eligible activities, the procedure of project selection, the selection criteria, conditions for project implementation, monitoring and visibility.
- Activities related to continuous technical support to applicants during preparation of their cross-border project proposals with a view to developing joint Ukrainian and Moldovan projects having a cross-border impact benefitting the cross-border area as set out in section 2.
- Activities related to the preparation of the work of the steering committee, in particular the preparation of documents linked to the sub-granting (the drafting of the call for proposals with conditions for selection and funding; the publication of the call and the promotion/visibility of the call); the preparation for the assessment/evaluation of the submitted project proposals and check of their compliance with the predefined selection criteria, and the creation of a ranking list of projects that will be supported by the available budget; the conclusion of contracts with successful project partners and provision of the pre-determined financial support (payments) to third entities and arrangements to provide continuous support during implementation of projects, including meeting deadlines and delivering contractual outputs. This includes also the establishment of proper financial management procedures to ensure financial flows towards the selected project partners, control and audit of the use of EU funds.
- Activities related to the monitoring of implementation of the selected projects for sub-grants, the adequate audit trail and the final reporting on the implementation of this action.
- Production of analysis and publications for the dissemination of the results of the action, namely fostering its multiplication effect.
Expected impact:
With this action, the local and regional authorities, municipalities, civil society organisations and other stakeholders will increase their capacities and knowledge in preparing and delivering cross-border cooperation projects. The stakeholders will gain experience with the EU cohesion policy approach towards regional development, and they will themselves implement a series of joint cross-border projects to improve the social, territorial and economic cohesion of the cross-border area between Ukraine and Moldova.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rate fixed in the Grant Agreement (100% for the costs for providing financial support to third parties and 100% for all other cost categories).
Project budget (requested grant amount) is expected to reach maximum of €2.000.000.
The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.
Thematic Categories
- Public Administration
- Social Affairs & Human Rights
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Central Government
- International Organisations
- Legal Entities
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
- non-EU countries:
- Ukraine
- Republic of Moldova
- not be authorities in charge of the implementation of cohesion policy within the meaning of Article 71 of the CPR Regulation 2021/1060.
Eligible activities:
Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds wholly (or at least in part) to the topic description for which they are submitted.
Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 above.
The following activities are not considered as eligible for funding under this call:
- activities that are excluded from the scope of the ERDF according to Article 7 of the ERDF Regulation
- activities that do not comply with the do no significant harm principle.
Projects should take into account the results of projects supported by other EU funding programmes.
Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment, social, security, industrial and trade policy, etc). Projects must also respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination, etc).
Financial support to third parties is allowed for grants under the following conditions:
- the calls must be open, published widely and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality
- the calls must remain open for at least two months
- the outcome of the call must be published on the participants’ websites, including a description of the selected projects, award dates, project durations, and final recipient legal names and countries
- the calls must have a clear European dimension.
Financial support to third parties is to be provided to projects which have a cross-border nature and benefit the cross border area as per section 2. Specific thematic delimitation will be further decided on by the steering committee to be set up in the context of this action.
Financial support to third parties should not exceed €50.000 per project and should be provided in different tranches, including pre-financing to allow sufficient liquidity to partners. The majority of financial support to third parties will be up to €10.000 and a smaller number projects, when justified by their nature and objectives, may be granted up to €50.000.
Geographic location (target countries): Proposals must relate to activities taking place in the eligible countries for the benefit of the border regions between Moldova and Ukraine.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
EU Contact Point
For help related to this call, please contact: REGIO-CONTRACTS@ec.europa.eu