Background	Project Duration
Grant Size	Deadline
Own Contribution	Application Forms
Funding Priorities	Application & Procedures
Grantmaking Criteria	Languages
Guidelines	Tips

Luxembourg's development cooperation increased significantly throughout the 1990s and continues to do so. In 2000, Luxembourg joined the group of countries which devote at least 0.7% of their GNI to Official development assistance (ODA). In 2009, Luxembourg spent 1.01% of its GNI on development cooperation. Luxembourg’s assistance channelled through NGOs amounted to € 46.79 million in 2008, which was 16.26% of ODA at the time.
This funding instrument co-funds multi-annual framework agreements submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Luxembourg NGOs.

The annual maximum amount is defined during the negotiations with the ministry. This amount must not exceed the total costs of co-financed activities in one of the years preceding the application.

The ministry contributes 80% of total project costs. The rest has to be covered by NGOs themselves.

The projects only have to respond to the general goal of poverty eradication. No other thematic priorities are set. Luxembourg tries to induce NGOs to work in target countries – by funding a higher percentage of project costs – to optimise its development assistance. However, in no way is this an obligation.

The framework agreement is targeted at NGOs whose projects have been co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before. These NGOs have to possess a certain experience in development co-operation, which can be proven by its relationship with the ministry in the years preceding the framework agreement.

This means that the NGO must be authorised in the first place: authorisation is open to every non-profit NGO or foundation set up in accordance with the law on NGOs and foundations of April 21st 1928. NGOs have to request authorisation by showing their capacity, competencies and experience in the field of development co-operation. Most importantly, they have to prove that they are experienced in implementing programmes and projects benefiting the people of developing countries.

NGOs from countries other than Luxembourg, thus, are excluded from the government’s framework agreement scheme. However, NGOs from the South are encouraged to approach authorised NGOs and form partnerships with them.

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General conditions regulating the relations between the ministry and NGOs are available from the ministry.

Between two (in practice, three) and five years.

Framework agreements are generally negotiated so their beginning and end dates coincide with the calendar year. Requests for the negotiation of a new agreement or for the renewal of an existing one need in principle to be addressed to the Ministry six months before activities are set to begin.

Application forms are available from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the guidelines.

If the applicant is an NGO authorised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it should submit its proposal for a framework agreement directly to the ministry. The ministry evaluates proposals on the basis on how they fit the general objective of poverty eradication. The proposal is accepted or rejected within two to three months. NGOs which are not accredited yet need to be accredited first and apply for funding under the individual project co-financing scheme.

Luxemburgish, German or French.

NGOs can contact the technical assistance office of the ‘Cercle des ONG’ NGO platform  before submitting a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to get advice on how to design it. In addition, this office offers training on project cycle management and the use of the logical framework approach, as well as more specific thematic training.¹

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¹ Contact information can be found in the NGO Platform Contact Information section of this Guide.