Chapter 05: Programme Implementation Agreement

The Fund Operator Manual is provided for information purposes only and does not form part of the legal framework governing the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2021-2028.

The roles and responsibilities of the FMO and the Fund Operator are set out in the Programme Implementation Agreement between the FMO and the Fund Operator.

Following the selection of the Fund Operator, and prior to the signature of a Programme Implementation Agreement with the FMO, the selected bidder and the FMO will work together on the Programme’s content.  

The selected Fund Operator, in close cooperation with the FMO, will finalise all the details of the programme based on the programme description provided in the Bid, and the comments made by the FMO and the FMC. These comments will be taken into account in the preparation of the Programme Implementation Agreement, which will be reflected in the draft Programme Implementation Agreement shared with the selected Fund Operator.  

Between the selection of the Fund Operator and signature, the detailed plans and the budget may be fine-tuned based on the draft Programme Implementation Agreement shared by FMO with the selected Fund Operator. However, the constraints set out in the Terms of Reference must still be respected, in particular with regard to the budget lines for the bilateral fund, regional civil society initiatives and management fee. 

The programme specific provision of the Programme (e.g. budget, results framework, operational rules of the programme, etc) will be set in the Annexes to the Programme Implementation Agreement (Annex I and Annex II).

Question: What is the duration of the programme?

Answer: The operational period of the programme is set until 28 February 2032. The final date of eligibility of project expenditure is 30 April 2031. The final date of eligibility of expenditures under the fund for bilateral relations and regional civil society initiatives shall be not later than 31 December 2031.

The Programme start date is linked to the last signature of the Programme Implementation Agreement. The end of the operational period is set to 28 February 2032, which is the deadline for the submission of the Final Programme Report. The final date of eligibility of project costs shall be no later than 30 April 2031. 

Question: The whole programme should be closed by February 2032. Can you please specify concrete dates when all projects/grants should be closed (all fiscal documents will be eligible only before this concrete date)? 

Answer: With reference to projects, the first and final date of eligibility should be specified by the Fund Operator in the project contract. Costs within projects may be eligible from the date on which the grant is awarded or at a later date set in the project contract. The project contract shall set the final date of eligibility of costs which shall be no later than 30 April 2031. Costs incurred after that date are not eligible. Exceptionally, costs in respect of which an invoice has been issued in the final month of eligibility are also deemed to be incurred within the dates of eligibility if the costs are paid by the end of the next month after the final date of eligibility. As an example, if a project ends on 15 April and the invoice is issued after 15 March, the invoice may be paid up to and including 30 May. Please note that the activities/goods/services linked to the costs always need to be performed/delivered by the final date of eligibility (in this case 15 April).

5.2 Results framework as an annex to the PIA

Contextualising the result framework in the bid

The Bidder contextualises the Civil Society Fund results framework as part of their bid.

Once selected, the Fund Operator works with the FMO to develop their programme results framework by defining output and outcome indicators, their unit of measurement, baseline value, target value, and data sources. The programme results framework is part of the Programme Implementation Agreement. 

The indicators, including their unit of measurement and data sources, will be agreed with the FMO before the launch of calls and pre-defined projects. The targets will be set once the projects have been contracted, as a sum of the targets of ‘contributing projects’ in GrACE. Progress against the programme results framework will be measured with the use of indicators during the implementation phase.

The Fund Operator also identifies and assesses the risks to achieving the expected programme outcomes and outputs, by developing a risk assessment and mitigation analysis as part of their bid. Within six months of the signing of the Programme Implementation Agreement, the Fund Operator submits to FMO a risk assessment based on a template provided by the FMO.

The bid for the role of Fund Operator in the Civil Society Fund will include a detailed programme description. The information in the bid will directly feed into the Programme Implementation Agreement annexes.

From a results-based management perspective, the two key requirements of the bid are for the bidder to contextualise the Civil Society Fund results framework and to undertake a preliminary risk analysis, under section ‘6.3 Programme modalities and design’ of the bid form.

As indicated above, all bidders must use the Civil Society Fund results framework as their programme results framework. The bidders are asked to contextualise the Civil Society Fund results framework in their bid form, under sub-section 6.3.2 of the bid form. In line with the proposed balance between the outcomes and outputs and a justification for this balance provided in section 6.2.1 of the bid form, the bidder should outline, for each of the set outcomes:

• The main issues and challenges that will be addressed under this outcome, per output. These should be specific to the country. The bidder should also identify who the target group(s) are for these issues. This entails identifying which stakeholders pose the biggest challenge to, and which stakeholders pose the biggest opportunity for, achieving each of the outcomes and outputs in the country. For example, this can include an analysis of the types of civic engagement needed in the general population, and which groups are traditionally excluded from civic engagement and may need more targeted outreach and support.
• The concrete results the programme expects to achieve under this outcome, and for which target group(s), per output. Expected results are the actual changes expected under this outcome. They should reflect the main issues and challenges to be addressed.
• The activities and deliverables the bidder intends to support to address the issues identified under each outcome. The bidder should describe how they will work with the target group(s). The bidder should clarify how the chosen modalities connected to each outcome will help support these activities and deliverables and work with the identified target group(s).
• The main risks to achieving the expected results under each outcome.

Once the Fund Operator has been selected in each country, this information will be used to populate the full programme results framework with indicators (which constitutes an annex to the Programme Implementation Agreement), and the risk assessment which the Fund Operator is due to submit to the FMO within six months of the signing of the Programme Implementation Agreement (based on a template provided by the FMO).

Finalising the results framework for Annex I

Once selected the Fund Operator will, in close cooperation with the FMO, finalise all the details of the programme. A key requirement will be for the Fund Operator to finalise the programme results framework with all details (see the Table below) in collaboration with the FMO. The full programme results framework is an annex of the Programme Implementation Agreement.

Results framework template for Programme Implementation Agreement Annex

The results framework is not intended to capture all expected results from all projects to be contracted by the programme. Rather, it should capture the most important expected results. There should be a logical link between the outputs and outcomes, as described in the results chain. Indicators will help to quantifiably measure the extent to which outcomes and outputs have been achieved at the end of the programme.

Finalising the programme results framework involves defining output and outcome indicators, their unit of measurement, data sources, baseline value, and target value. The indicators, including their unit of measurement and data sources, will need to be agreed with the FMO before the launch of calls and pre-defined projects.  

During implementation, the programme results framework with the agreed indicators becomes a monitoring and reporting tool. The Fund Operator will be responsible for collecting and analysing data to report on the indicators and with narrative against the programme results framework.  

For more information on the indicators, see Annex B: Results framework indicators.    

5.3 Programme budget

The central principle for the programme is that the funds are re-granted to civil society. 

The re-granting amount refers to the part of programme allocation which is not the management fee, bilateral fund or fund for regional civil society initiatives. It covers funding for projects and is linked to the result framework, as the funds are meant to contribute to the achievement of intended results. The budget table follows the result framework for the re-granting amount, and includes the bilateral and regional funds and the management fee.

Programme budget table

The country (programme) specific allocations for the management fee, the bilateral fund and the fund for regional civil society initiatives have been provided in the Terms of Reference.

The allocations follow the formulae below which are all based on the size of the total programme allocation.

Formulas for amounts in the programme budget 

5.4 Management fee

The management covers the costs of the FO related to the preparation, implementation and management of the Programme.

Question: What is to be covered by the management fee? 

Answer: The management fee covers all responsibilities of the Fund Operator as described in Article 2.1 and 1.11.3 of the draft Programme Implementation Agreement.

Costs related to the preparation of the programme are eligible for the appointed Fund Operator and covered under the management fee. Payments will be made 14 days after the signing of the Programme Implementation Agreement, as specified in the Programme Implementation Agreement article 2.2.1 a): Unless otherwise agreed and specified in Annex I to this Agreement, an advance payment of 10% of the management fee fourteen days after the last signature of this Agreement.

The FMO will retain 8% of the management fee. The retained amount will not be paid until the Final Programme Report has been approved by the FMO. The FMO may reduce the retained amount under certain conditions.

Question: Will the payments be made to only the consortium lead and it is their responsibility to split it between consortium members or will FMO make payments proportionally by itself? Will the first option involve VAT here in beneficiary state? 

Answer: The management fee will be paid by the FMO to the consortium lead. The consortium lead will in turn make payments to the consortium partner(s) based on the partnership agreement between the entities. VAT exemption can be given by the ministry of finance in Belgium on an invoice by invoice basis. FMO requests this and sends it to the Fund Operator. The FMO does not grant the VAT exemption, hence for each time a Fund Operator submits an Interim Financial Report to the FMO, the invoice(s) therein will be sent to the Ministry of Finance, asking them for a VAT exemption for each invoice. Once the VAT exemption is granted, the FMO will pay the consortium lead accordingly and it is for the lead partner to further distribute the management fee to the partner(s).