Capacity Building in the field of youth

2017

FAQs for Beneficiaries

This document was created to provide quick answers to frequently asked questions regarding projects

granted under the action Capacity Building in the field of youth.

For the full version of the action guidelines please refer to pg. 170-186 of the Programme guide.

Contents 1. General ..................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1. Is there a designated Project Officer in EACEA for each project? ................................................ 3

1.2. How are meetings between the Agency and Beneficiaries organised? ....................................... 3

1.3. Does the coordinator have to sign a cooperation agreement with the partners? ...................... 4

1.4. What are the co-financing rules of CBY projects? ........................................................................ 4

2. Eligible costs ............................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 Are residents of the city/country where the activity takes place eligible and can they benefit

from organisational support? .............................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Are bank fees eligible? For instance: for bank transfers between participating organisations? .. 5

2.3. When are indirect costs not eligible? ........................................................................................... 5

2.4. Are indirect costs only for the applicant organisation? ............................................................... 5

2.5. Are staff costs eligible in the budget? .......................................................................................... 5

2.6. What is the procedure to confirm the in kind or monetary contribution of the partners

organization? ....................................................................................................................................... 5

2.7. Is a daily allowance accepted as eligible cost? ............................................................................. 5

2.8. Are fees for the facilitator in local dissemination events eligible (even if the facilitator is

not staff member of a partner organization)? .................................................................................... 5

2.9. For mobility activities: insurances are sometimes requested before obtaining a visa.

Are they considered as eligible costs? ................................................................................................. 5

2.10. What are the depreciation rules? ............................................................................................... 5

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3. Amendments ............................................................................................................................ 6

3.1. Is it possible to ask for an extension of the eligibility period? ..................................................... 6

3.2. What to do if one of the partners cannot participate anymore? ................................................. 6

3.3. Should we notify EACEA of changes of contact persons in partner organisations? ..................... 6

3.4. Should EACEA be informed about any change of activity places or dates? ................................. 6

3.5. Are budget transfers possible between real costs and unit costs? .............................................. 6

3.6. What is the % of transfer between the headings allowed without budget amendment?........... 6

3.7. Are indirect costs concerned by the budget transfer? ................................................................. 6

3.8. Are budget transfers between partners allowed? ....................................................................... 7

4. Budget .................................................................................................................................... ..7

4.1. Where are we supposed to budget costs for a webpage and/or for the creation of website

and/or web-design costs? ................................................................................................................... 7

4.2. In the budget table what does “Serial number” mean? ............................................................... 7

4.3. Where do we budget insurance and visa costs? .......................................................................... 7

4.4. What does organisational support include? ................................................................................. 7

4.5. Is it possible to consider travel days under ‘Organisational support’? ........................................ 7

4.7. Is the exchange rate calculated with the rate of the month when the expense was actually

made or with the rate of pre-financing month which applies to the whole project lifetime? ........... 7

4.8. What is allowed to do with saved budget and in case we need some budget for a costs not

planned in the initial budget?.............................................................................................................. 7

5. Travels ...................................................................................................................................... 8

5.1. Should travel costs of capacity building activities be justified by valid invoices (bus tickets,

boarding passes etc.)? ......................................................................................................................... 8

5.2. What is the procedure if the boarding pass is lost? ..................................................................... 8

5.3. Should travel days be indicated in the participants list? .............................................................. 8

5.4. What about travels by car? .......................................................................................................... 8

5.5. Is it allowed for participants of Mobility activities to travel from another country than sending

organisation or from the place of origin or from Activity 1 to Activity 2? .......................................... 8

5.6. When partners come from international networks, are they allowed to send participants from

branch organisations established in other countries or they strictly have to be residents of the

country where the network is registered? .......................................................................................... 8

5.7. Is it possible to cover travel costs exceeding the unit costs in case of saving money?................ 8

6. External providers/service ......................................................................................................... 8

6.1. What are the rules for hiring external persons? .......................................................................... 8

6.2. Are offers from different providers required, is it a minimum amount? ..................................... 9

6.3. Can payments in advance or later payments with external providers accepted? ....................... 9

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6.4. Are external providers eligible if they are different from the countries of participating

organisation ? ...................................................................................................................................... 9

6.5. What are the rules to hire an external service provider? What profile must they have? ........... 9

6.6. Are board and lodging costs eligible for external providers? Yes ................................................ 9

6.7. Where to declared costs linked to external experts/speaker? .................................................... 9

6.8. Are service contracts with private entities eligible? .................................................................... 9

7. Invoices and proof of payments ................................................................................................. 9

7.1. What is a proof of payment? ........................................................................................................ 9

7.2. Is the bank statement (as a proof of payment) necessary just for capacity costs? ..................... 9

7.3. Are copies of invoices requested with the final report? .............................................................. 9

7.4. Is it allowed to transfer the budget to the hosting partner so they can easily manage the

expenses connected to their activities? ............................................................................................ 10

7.5. Are partners requested to send invoices of real costs? ............................................................. 10

7.6. Are proofs of payment requested for transfers to participants? ............................................... 10

7.7. Are payments in cash accepted, how to prove the payment? ................................................... 10

7.8. Do guest names have to be on the hotel invoices? .................................................................... 10

7.9. Is any translation requested for invoices provided in non- EU languages? ............................... 10

7.10. Should any invoices related to “Indirect costs” be presented? ............................................... 10

7.11. In case money is transferred to partners to cover and manage activity costs, who should

provide bank statement? .................................................................................................................. 10

7.12. Are proofs of payments related to accomodation and food requested for Mobility activities?10

8. Interim/Mid-term report ......................................................................................................... 10

8.1. Should the copies of the invoice including list of invoice be submitted with the interim report?10

8.2. If we spend the 70 % before the mid-project, can we send the mid-term report before? ....... 10

8.3. What happens if we are late for the Mid-term report? ............................................................. 11

8.4. After submitting Progress report (spending 70% of budget) how long will it take to receive the

second payment? .............................................................................................................................. 11

9. Reports, participants list and annexes ...................................................................................... 11

9.1. For Capacity building activities, are participants list requested for every local dissemination

event? ................................................................................................................................................ 11

9.2. In the participants lists, should all participants be listed or only those who travel to the

event/activity? ................................................................................................................................... 11

9.3. Is there an official partner report template? ............................................................................. 11

9.4. I there any specific form for volunteers report? ........................................................................ 11

9.5. Is there a mobility tool available for this action? ....................................................................... 11

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10. VAT ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Is VAT considered as an eligible cost and what is the VAT exemption?............................................ 11

11. IT/TECHNICAL ........................................................................................................................ 12

11.1. I am having problems downloading the budget annex. ........................................................... 12

11.2. How do I open the budget to fill it in? ...................................................................................... 12

11.3. Are we able to create extra lines in the budgetary annex? ..................................................... 12

12. EMAIL CONTACT .................................................................................................................... 12

1. General

1.1. Is there a designated Project Officer in EACEA for each project?

Each selected project is assigned to a Project Officer

1.2. How are meetings between the Agency and Beneficiaries organised?

The Agency monitors your project to ensure that the stated objectives are achieved, that all basic rules are respected and to provide you support and guidance for a successful outcome. The Agency monitors projects in several ways:

Through desk monitoring

The Agency undertakes desk monitoring throughout the entire process. Project officers are available to provide information, answer queries and give guidance. You should use the email address EACEA-YOUTH@ec.europa.eu for any contact regarding your Capacity Building in the field of Youth project

Through the online-briefing

An online-briefing is organised at the beginning of your project as a guidance session to explain the practical steps necessary for the administrative management of the project. It is strongly recommended that you participate in this briefing

Through the monitoring visit to your organisation;

A monitoring visit can take place at any time during the lifetime of the project to verify the status of the project's implementation and the preparation of its outputs to obtain a clear picture of how the project is being managed. If the monitoring requires a visit to your premises, the Agency will confirm in advance and in writing the purpose of the visit, the issues to be addressed and, where appropriate, the list of documents that should be made available or submitted in advance.

Through EACEA participation in an event organised by your organisation

The Agency may attend a project event or a partnership meeting as an observer in order to become acquainted with the progress of the project.

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Through a meeting at EACEA

[Where physical presence is expected]

Representatives of the consortium shall participate in meetings organised by the Agency/European Commission. Consortium representatives may be asked to attend meetings/conferences relevant to specific topics related to the content of their project or for promotion purposes. They may also be invited to meet the staff who manages their project in the context of on-going monitoring. Depending on the type of meeting, project representatives may also be requested to make presentations on the progress of their projects or aspects of its content or management

[Where physical presence is not expected]

On-line coordinators’ meetings organised by the Agency (so called "kick-off meetings"): The project's representatives (usually the "contact person" for the daily management) have the opportunity to participate in such meetings at the beginning of the project. Kick-off meetings relate to the start of the activities and allow the project coordinator to get familiar with all administrative and financial aspects of the project implementation and the related challenges.

1.3. Does the coordinator have to sign a cooperation agreement with the partners?

It is recommended to sign a cooperation agreement between all organisations involved in the project. The cooperation agreement should define in particular the role of each participating organisation and all necessary arrangements agreed between the partners.

Note that the cooperation agreement is not mandatory since the Mandates legally signed between the coordinator and the partners (co-beneficiaries) are annexed to the Grant Agreement.

1.4. What are the co-financing rules of CBY projects?

The CBY EU grant is a combination of two parts: the first part is calculated on the basis of real costs and the second part is in the form of unit costs.

- 1st part real costs: up to 80% of the total eligible costs. According to the principle of co-financing,

the remaining 20% of the total eligible costs must be covered through the organisation's own funds

or from other sources of income (e.g. beneficiary's own resources, income generated by the action,

financial contributions from third parties). Contributions in kind are not eligible. The source of

income covering the remaining 20% of the total eligible costs must be declared in the budget and in

the mandates when applicable. The compliance with the principles of no-profit and co-financing

will be checked once the project is completed.

- 2nd part unit costs: 100 % The no-profit and co-funding principles are ensured by the Commission

for the Mobility activities as a whole in advance when it defines the rates or percentages of such

units. The respect of the no-profit and co-financing principles is generally assumed and therefore,

applicants do not have to provide information about sources of funding other than the EU grant,

nor do they have to justify the costs incurred by the activities.

2. Eligible costs

2.1 Are residents of the city/country where the activity takes place eligible and can they benefit

from organisational support?

All participants from eligible countries represented by the consortium are eligible, including if they are resident of the country where the activity takes place. Costs for 'Organisational support' may be requested.

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2.2 Are bank fees eligible? For instance: for bank transfers between participating

organisations?

Bank fees are not eligible

2.3. When are indirect costs not eligible?

Indirect costs are not eligible when for the period concerned, the beneficiary receives an operating grant from the budget of the European Union (for example in the framework of the call for proposals on Civil Society Cooperation under the Erasmus+ Programme).

2.4. Are indirect costs only for the applicant organisation?

Indirect costs should cover the beneficiary’s general administrative costs which can be chargeable to the project (e.g. staff costs, electricity and internet bills, etc.). The Indirect costs can include indirect costs from coordinator and the partners.

2.5. Are staff costs eligible in the budget?

In compliance with the funding rules (Erasmus+ Programme Guide, page 178), staff costs can only be

covered partially by the indirect costs (please note that staff costs can only be eligible for the staff involved

in the project).

2.6. What is the procedure to confirm the in kind or monetary contribution of the partners

organization?

Contributions in kind are NOT ELIGIBLE.

For monetary contributions, please refer to 1.4.

2.7. Is a daily allowance accepted as eligible cost?

Yes, Ddaily allowances are already covered by the followings items:

- for Capacity Building activities: Board and lodging (all declared costs must be covered by

receivable invoices/purchase evidence)

- for Mobility activities: Organisational support and Special needs support when necessary and

justified. For Special needs support only the accompanying persons are concerned and all

declared costs must be covered by receivable invoices/purchase evidence.

No other daily allowances are eligible.

2.8. Are fees for the facilitator in local dissemination events eligible (even if the facilitator is not

staff member of a partner organization)?

Fees for facilitators are eligible only when the persons are not staff members of the consortium (i.e.

partner and coordinating organisations). The total fees must be budgeted under the ‘external

speakers’ chapter’, no other costs for external speakers could be declared under any other budget

heading.

2.9. For mobility activities: insurances are sometimes requested before obtaining a visa.

Are they considered as eligible costs?

Visa related-costs are eligible and must be declared under 'Exceptional costs'.

2.10. What are the depreciation rules?

For values below 500 Euro you may budget the entire amount.

For values exceeding 500 Euro, the rules may vary depending on national legislation and the amount to be

budgeted should be calculated according to the duration of the project (maximum 2 years for CBY projects).

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Example: for a computer, the Belgian legislation allows depreciation on a three years basis. If the value is

1.500 Euro, the depreciation will correspond to 2/3rd of this amount for a project of two years (i.e. 1.000

Euro).

3. Amendments

3.1. Is it possible to ask for an extension of the eligibility period?

Note that the total eligibility period of your project can never exceed 24 months.

An Extension of the eligibility period may be requested at least one month before the end date of the initial

eligibility period.

3.2. What to do if one of the partners cannot participate anymore?

When a partner is obliged to withdraw from a project, he must be replaced by another partner from the

same country. The new partner must support the activities foreseen in the initial work programme. An

alternative could be that the concerned activities are supported by the coordinator or by another partner

of the consortium.

This kind of issue/change will be analysed by EACEA case by case and will generate an amendment to the

grant agreement.

3.3. Should we notify EACEA of changes of contact persons in partner organisations?

There is no need to inform the Agency about changes of contact persons in partner organisations. Change

of contact person for the coordinator must however be notified to EACEA.

3.4. Should EACEA be informed about any change of activity places or dates?

Changes of activity places or dates are considered as minor amendments, therefore EACEA must be

informed duly in advance in order to valid the change in time and/or to assess if there are any impacts on

the budget. Each change must be confirmed by your Project Officer. Please note that without any

notification, costs linked to changes could be rejected at the final report stage.

For mobility activities, a new indicative time table is requested.

3.5. Are budget transfers possible between real costs and unit costs?

No budget transfer is authorized between real costs and unit costs since they are two different categories

of costs (see 1.4). In addition, transfers are not allowed between real costs from CBY activities and Mobility

activities.

Budget transfers are authorized only between categories of real costs. In case of transfer higher than 10% -

see next point.

3.6. What is the % of transfer between the headings allowed without budget amendment?

An amendment request is necessary when the transfer exceeds 10% of the amount of the heading of

eligible direct costs for which the transfer is intended.

3.7. Are indirect costs concerned by the budget transfer?

Indirect costs are not concerned by budget transfers. The indirect costs correspond to a flat rate of 7% of

total eligible direct costs.

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3.8. Are budget transfers between partners allowed?

Budget transfers are permitted under budget headings – depending of transfer activities.

4. Budget

4.1. Where are we supposed to budget costs for a webpage and/or for the creation of website

and/or web-design costs?

These costs must be budgeted under heading 1. Information and communication and Technology (ICT)

costs

4.2. In the budget table what does “Serial number” mean?

By serial number we understand the subsequent number of invoice/ supporting document given when

filling-in the list of invoices in the budget.

4.3. Where do we budget insurance and visa costs?

For Capacity building activities (real costs): Insurance and visa costs related to activities should be listed in

the relevant section of the budget

For Mobility Activities:

- Youth workers and youth exchanges: Insurance is covered by the unit costs ‘Organisational

support’. Visa and visa-related costs could be declared in the budget item 'Exceptional costs' of the

corresponding type of activity. Note that insurance costs may be linked to a visa (see 3.9).

- Volunteering: Insurance is provided free of charge through the insurance provider CIGNA to all

volunteers participating in the Volunteering Activities. Visa and visa-related costs may be declared

in the budget item 'Exceptional costs' of the corresponding type of activity.

4.4. What does organisational support include?

Organisational support covers costs directly linked to the implementation of the mobility activities (Youth

Exchange, Volunteering Activities and Mobility of youth workers). It may cover costs for preparation

activities (except the linguistic preparation of the participants), rental of rooms/material, accommodation,

food and local transport, insurance (except for Volunteering Activities where insurance is provided free of

charge), equipment and materials, dissemination and exploitation of results and follow-up activities.

4.5. Is it possible to consider travel days under ‘Organisational support’?

Organisational support will cover only 1 day before the start date of the activity and 1 day following the end

date of the activity.

4.6. Is the exchange rate calculated with the rate of the month when the expense was actually

made or with the rate of pre-financing month which applies to the whole project lifetime?

The exchange rate is applicable on the month when the pre-financing is executed/paid.

4.7. What is allowed to do with saved budget and in case we need some budget for a costs not

planned in the initial budget?

Please always contact EACEA if you plan budget modification, this could be subject to an amendment.

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5. Travels

5.1. Should travel costs of capacity building activities be justified by valid invoices (bus tickets,

boarding passes etc.)?

Only a proof of travel indicating the place of departure/arrival and the travel dates (boarding passes etc…)

could be required by EACEA at final report level. Invoices are not necessary.

5.2. What is the procedure if the boarding pass is lost?

If a boarding pass or travel ticket is lost, a Declaration of Honour from the participant is required and a

proof from the travel agency and/or the travel company.

5.3. Should travel days be indicated in the participants list?

Participants are requested to indicate the date of arrival to the place of activity and the date of departure.

For Mobility activities (Youth Exchange and Mobility of Youth Workers), the duration of the activity (in

days) is also requested in another column.

5.4. What about travelsling by car?

Travels costs are based on the travel distance using the distance calculator, a declaration of participants is

requested and tickets as proof of travel. The Template of Declaration of honour is not available for travel by

car. Therefore you are free to provide your own declaration.

All participants travelling by car must be clearly indicated in the budget table – travel costs with the place of

origin to the venue of activity and indicating that they will travel by car.

0.22€/km is not applicable anymore as unit costs are applicable.

5.5. Is it allowed for participants of Mobility activities to travel from another country than

sending organisation or from the place of origin or from Activity 1 to Activity 2?

Only for exceptional reasons it will it be accepted, in any case the request must be sent beforehand to

EACEA for acceptance.

5.6. When partners come from international networks, are they allowed to send participants

from branch organisations established in other countries or they strictly have to be residents of

the country where the network is registered?

Participants must be residents of participating countries only.

5.7. Is it possible to cover travel costs exceeding the unit costs in case of saving money?

Travel costs must be calculated with the distance calculator only, saved money from other budget headings

does not cover additional travel costs.

6. External providers/service

6.1. What are the rules for hiring external persons?

You may only hire an external person to fulfil a very specific task in your project and in this case, you need

to fulfil the following conditions:

• the subcontracting should cover only the implementation of a limited part of the action;

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• the contractor selection process should be documented;

• a contract showing the nature of the tasks and the price agreed should be signed between the

contractor and your organisation;

• the contractor should issue a detailed invoice based on the actual costs incurred and not on the

basis of the amount foreseen in your application;

• you should pay the contractor and provide a proof of the payment at the stage of the final report.

6.2. Are offers from different providers required, is it a minimum amount?

YES it's a good practice, there is no minimum budget to request offers.

6.3. Can payments in advance or later payments with external providers accepted?

All payments must be executed within the eligibility period of your project otherwise it will be considered

as ineligible.

6.4. Are external providers eligible if they are different from the countries of the participating

organisation ?

External providers must be from partner countries in which the activity will take place, they cannot be

outside the countries of your participating organisation. Only for the web domain it could it be accepted.

6.5. What are the rules to hire an external service provider? What profile must they have?

The external provider should be independeant from the coordinator and its partners (no members of the

participating organisations, no staff !).

6.6. Are board and lodging costs eligible for external providers? Yes

6.7. Where to declared costs linked to external experts/speaker?

External speakers must present a valid invoice for all their costs which must be indicated under the heading

2.5 of the budget, costs related to external speakers must not be declared under travel costs and board and

loadging, EACEA will analyse the invoice at the final report stage.

6.8. Are service contracts with private entities eligible?

Service contracts are eligible but it should be duly motivated in your application to be considered as

eligible.

7. Invoices and proof of payments

7.1. What is a proof of payment?

By proof of payment we mean bank statement or cashier’s receipt.

7.2. Is the bank statement (as a proof of payment) necessary just for capacity costs?

Bank statements are only mandatory for real costs.

7.3. Are copies of invoices requested with the final report?

Copies of invoices should not be sent with the final report, a part of them will be requested y EACEA at the

stage of analysis.

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7.4. Is it allowed to transfer the budget to the hosting partner so they can easily manage the

expenses connected to their activities?

This is up to the coordinating organisation to decide or to allocate the budget to the partners or to

centralise all the payments.

7.5. Are partners requested to send invoices of real costs?

All invoices must be available upon EACEA request, they have to be conserved for 5 years and available for

auditors. It is Uup to the coordinating organisation to decide to centralise all the invoices or to request the

documents to partners if necessary.

7.6. Are proofs of payment requested for transfers to participants?

No, the transfers between partners are not subject to controls by the EACEA.

7.7. Are payments in cash accepted, how to prove the payment?

Payment in cash should be documented, you should have what we call a "Pity cash" and you should keep all

proof of cash withdrawals.

7.8. Do guest names have to be on the hotel invoices?

The name of participants/guests must be indicated on hotel invoices.

7.9. Is any translation requested for invoices provided in non- EU languages?

All invoices in official EU languages will be accepted, for others an informal translation (not certified) is

requested and must be sent with the final report.

7.10. Should any invoices related to “Indirect costs” be presented?

For Indirect costs, invoices will not be requested by EACEA but must be available for Auditors in case of

Audit.

7.11. In case money is transferred to partners to cover and manage activity costs, who should

provide bank statement?

Proofs of payment of costs related to the project must be provided by the organisation which paid for the

service.

7.12. Are proofs of payments related to accomodationaccommodation and food requested for

Mobility activities?

For Mobility activities, costs for accomodationaccommodation and food are covered by unit costs under

'Organisation support' therefore invoices are not requested.

8. Interim/Mid-term report

8.1. Should the copies of the invoice including list of invoice be submitted with the interim

report?

No, copies of invoices are not requested at the stage of the mid-term report.

8.2. If we spend the 70 % before the mid-project, can we send the mid-term report before?

The Iinterim/mid-term report is due at the mid term period of your eligibility period and after having spent

at least 70% of your prefinancing (ArticleI.4 of your agreement), in case of doubt please contact your

project officer.

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8.3. What happens if we are late for the Mid-term report?

If your are not able to submit your mid- term report in due time, you can submit it later but not near the

end date of the project.

8.4. After submitting the Interim/Progress/Mid-term report (spending 70% of budget) how

long will it take to receive the second payment?

After having received the report, EACEA has 60 days to analyse the costs and the report and pay the

instalment if no additional information is needed.

9. Reports, participants list and annexes

9.1. For Capacity building activities, are participants lists requested for every local

dissemination event?

A participants list is requested for each activity under CBY activities and Mobility activities, it must be filled

in by each participant.

9.2. In the participants lists, should all participants be listed or only those who travel to the

event/activity?

All participants must be indicated in the participants lists individually.

9.3. Is there an official partner report template?

EACEA does not request partner's reports, so it is up to you as coordinating organisation to decide to

request any report.

9.4. Is there any specific form for volunteers report?

Yes, volunteers must complete an online survey. The link will be available on the beneficiary space in the

section Reporting.

9.5. Is there a mobility tool available for this action?

No, the mobility tool is only available for projects managed by the National Agencies.

10. VAT

Is VAT considered as an eligible cost and what is the VAT exemption?

Value added tax will be considered as an eligible cost only if it is not recoverable under the applicable

national VAT legislation. The only exception relates to activities or transactions in which states, regional and

local government authorities and other public bodies engage as public authorities. In addition:

- deductible VAT not actually deducted (due to national conditions or to the carelessness of beneficiaries) is not eligible; - the VAT Directive does not apply to non EU countries. Organisations from Partner Countries can be exempted from taxes (including VAT), duties and charges, if an agreement has been signed between European Commission and Partner Country. No template from EACEA is available.

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11. IT/TECHNICAL

11.1. I am having problems downloading the budget annex.

To download the budget annex from the website please right click on the box containing "en", "fr" or "de"

and select "save target as" or "save link as" to download the document.

11.2. How do I open the budget to fill it in?

In the Excel sheet, you should first click on 'Enable Saving' and 'Enable content' on the upper menu (in

yellow). You should fill in only the first two sheets of the budgetary annex.

- Capacity Building activities - Mobility activities The rest of the budget will be filled in automatically.

11.3. Are we able to create extra lines in the budgetary annex?

No, instead you should regroup some of the costs, which have to be reported in a detailed way elsewhere.

12. EMAIL CONTACT

EACEA-YOUTH@ec.europa.eu