This programme offers grants to NGOs for the execution of international development co-operation interventions. Information on how to apply is compiled on this webpage and can be downloaded here.

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

The Spanish Agency for International Co-operation (AECI) is an autonomous organisation assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation via the State Department for International Cooperation (SECI). As an organisation that controls Spanish development co-operation policy, the AECI is responsible for designing, executing and organising development co-operation projects and programmes, either directly, using its own resources, or in collaboration with other national and international bodies and non-government organisations (NGOs).

According to article 4 of its own statute, the AECI has the following aims:

• To contribute to economic growth and social, cultural, institutional and political progress in developing countries, especially those that have historical links with Spain;
• To promote cultural and scientific co-operation with developing countries;
• To ensure agreement on development policies in developed countries, especially within the European Union.

To achieve these aims, the AECI is authorised to carry out the following functions:

• To aid the SECI to define and execute development cooperation policy;
• To promote cultural co-operation and the promotion of Spanish culture in developing countries;
• To design, coordinate and execute development co-operation programmes and projects in the economic, social, cultural, educational, scientific and technical fields;
• To ensure and co-ordinate Spain’s institutional standing in international non-financial development organisations;
• To support and encourage public or private initiatives that contribute to achieving the aims of the agency;
• To conduct and promote awareness of studies relevant to progress in underdeveloped countries;
• To support and collaborate with other ministerial departments in the development of international co-operation programmes and projects.

 

The AECI had a budget of € 574 million in 2006, which represents an increase of 41% compared to 2005.

Grants to NGOs for the execution of international development co-operation interventions.

The maximum budget is € 20 million for a total of four years, not exceeding a maximum of € 5 million per year. (AEC/1303/2005 ORDER, dated 27 April 2005).

The grants AECI awards to development co-operation agreements cannot exceed 80% of their total cost. The remainder must be made up by the entity applying for the grant, its local collaborator, the recipient population or other public or private donors. For grants above € 800,000 per intervention, own funds representing between 2% and 4% of the grant received, applied strictly proportionately, will have to be paid. Evaluations for local contributions will be accepted as long as they provide sufficient guarantees and are intrinsically linked, exclusively or proportionately, to the intervention in question. These evaluations will be controlled like other contributions.

The general development objective, the geographical area, the areas of interest and the sector or sectors for intervention, the target population and the instruments of co-operation for the intervention have to be defined in compliance with the development objectives specified in the 2005–2008 Spanish Co-operation Master Plan and the Annual International Co-operation Plan for 2007. The general development objective can address intervention in one or various countries, as well as in various areas or sectors (AEC/1303/2005 ORDER, dated 27 April 2005). As an example, see the most recent grant award programme published following the ruling of 23 June 2003.

Spanish NGOs accredited by the AECI as ‘qualified development NGOs’ can apply for this type of grant, once they have followed the procedure.

The procedure (AEC/1303/2005 ORDER, dated 27 April 2005) specifies the methodology and evaluation criteria to be followed. It comprises a quantitative and qualitative evaluation, which are included in a single overall evaluation. If it sees fit, the AECI can discuss the evaluation criteria with the NGO Spain Co-ordinator (CONGDE) prior to publication of the grant programme. 
The quantitative evaluation will analyse the NGO’s track record in terms of human and economic resources and, in particular, the extent of co-operation achieved in the previous 10 years, its presence in regions and countries, its specialisation and intervention sectors, its permanent professional infrastructure, and the numbers of members and volunteers involved. 
The qualitative evaluation will analyse the organisational capacity and coherence of the NGO’s activity, as well as documentary evidence for all the specified areas supporting the objectivity of the evaluation. In particular, four major areas will be evaluated:

• The organisational base, constituted by the objectives of the organisation and the structure which supports them, which involves an analysis of the identity and basic principles of the organisation; structure and organisation of activities, (internal quality regulations, codes of conduct and their application in practice);
• The activity of the organisation, understood as its capacity to generate activities (planning and monitoring systems in place), and their relevance (coherence between the organisation’s vision and its activity, an explicit work methodology which respects its principles);
• Scope for development of the organisation, which involves the following aspects: competences and human resource capacity; economic resources and funding weak spots; clearly established administrative procedures, and technological systems and equipment;
• Relationship to areas of action: insertion into target groups (in the country of origin and within recipient groups who are to benefit from activities); mechanisms for dialogue established with collaborators and beneficiaries; recognition in their areas of action; ability to publicise their activity (publications, web pages, information systems) and membership of international organisations, networks and NGO co-ordination organisations.

Once a decision to award a grant has been announced, the next step is to sign the corresponding pre-agreement between the AECI and the NGO receiving the grant. This will include the general development objective, geographical area, areas of interest, the sector or sectors for intervention, target population, instruments for the intervention, grant size, work plan, methodology and time scale for formulating the intervention in detail, and any other document or reports that contribute to a fuller understanding of the activities to be developed, all of which will be included as part of the co-operation agreement and ratified by authorised signature.

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Guidelines are to be found on the AECI’s website. They are called ‘manual de justificacion de ayudas y subvenciones de la AECI’.

The maximum duration of agreements is four years, which can be extended up to two more years by mutual agreement on the part of the intervening parties, but payments cannot be extended longer than four years.

The annual announcement for this type of grant programme is published in March, and applications must be presented within a month after its publication in the Official State Bulletin.

A single application must be made using the model included in appendix I of the 28 February 2006 ruling, (BOE nº 62, published 14 March 2006) and listing all the development co-operation agreements for which the entity is making a grant application.

The application must be accompanied by an agreement proposal document (CO-1) for each of the agreements for which a grant application is made, using the model published in the BOE (as an example, the grant programme for 2006 was published in BOE nº. 62, published 14 March 2006). The CO-1 model will be available in the AECI information centre and on the AECI webpage (http//www.aeci.es). One paper version and three electronic versions of the agreement proposal documents must be submitted using the CO-1 model established for this purpose. The application must be presented together with:

• A declaration by the representative of the entity in question to the effect that there has been no change in its circumstances which could affect the awarding of a grant (this was regulated this year by the ruling of 3 June 2005);
• Documental proof of compliance with tax and social security obligations, as established in the rulings of the Treasury and Inland Revenue, dated 28 April 1986 and 25 November 1987. The documents must have been issued after the grant programme was published. Where the entity is not subject to or is exempt from the obligation to make tax declarations, or is not obliged to make social security payments, a declaration must be supplied by the representative of the entity to the effect that there is no obligation to do so, in addition to the corresponding administrative documents confirming that the entity is not listed in Inland Revenue and social security records;
• Proof of payment of IAE must be made by providing the last receipt paid or proof of registration if this has occurred in the current year and no receipt has yet been issued.

In a maximum period of four months after signing a pre-agreement, the entity awarded a grant must provide a detailed description of their intervention, using the document formulation model available at the AECI information centre and the AECI website.

Once it has been verified that the description satisfies the requirements of the 1303/ AECI ruling, dated 27 April 2005 and the current grant programme, and any necessary adjustments having been made, the definitive agreement between the AECI and the entity’s representative will be signed.

Spanish

The Fundación Luis Vives provides assistance to NGOs wishing to apply for funding.

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