Description

The overall objective of the Aid programme, of which the PMU contract is a part, is to prepare the Turkish Cypriot community for the implementation of the acquis by contributing in particular to: (i) the social and economic development including restructuring, in particular concerning rural development, human resources development and regional development; and (ii) the reconciliation, confidence building measures, and support to civil society.

The purpose is to establish a Programme Management Unit (PMU) to undertake the following tasks:

1. contribute to the preparation of grant schemes, including drafting guidelines;
2. support the launching and evaluation phase of grant schemes (including assessment and evaluation of grant applications) and preparing grant contracts;
3. undertake capacity building activities (including trainings) for potential applicants, grant beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders;
4. support the monitoring and implementation of the awarded grant projects, also including ex-post monitoring of closed grant projects;
5. take-over the existing MIS (Monitoring Information System), improve and update it, and make it available to the Contracting Authority and other relevant actors;
6. ensure that all stakeholders have adequate access to information, regarding the implementation of this project and the related grant schemes. Ensuring visibility of grant project results;
7. prepare studies, needs assessments, reports and other ad hoc assistance aiming to support the Contracting Authority in programming and decision-making exercises, upon request.

Results to be achieved through this project:

• Establishment of a PMU with adequate facilities in place to support programme implementation.
• Grant schemes are ready to be launched in a timely fashion by the Contracting Authority.
• Grant project proposals are assessed, evaluated and recommendations are made to the Contracting Authority for award of grants.
• Timely support is provided in the contracting phase.
• Grant beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders have increased capacities and are gradually able to prepare and implement projects independently, or with minimum assistance.
• Capacity building activities should cover (but will not be restricted to) project cycle management (PCM), needs assessment and project preparation, secondary procurement, financial management, monitoring, reporting and the organisation of visibility events.
• Grant projects are monitored throughout their implementation and the Contracting Authority Project Managers, the EUCC and the relevant Sectorial Committees are informed about the outcome, including through regular updates of the MIS.
• Monitoring by the PMU ensures the robustness of the "certified correct" when assessing payment requests by grant beneficiaries.
• Ex-post monitoring feeds into the preparation of new calls for proposals.
• The MIS is taken over, improved and updated.
• Information related to proposals and grant projects is uploaded onto the MIS and made available to the Contracting Authority and other relevant actors.
• A strategy is prepared and implemented to ensure maximum participation by the relevant stakeholders to the calls for proposals, as well as visibility concerning the grant schemes and their outcomes.
• Website(s) is/are operational and regularly updated.
• Requested studies, reports and other ad hoc assistance are available and used by the Contracting Authority in programming and decision making processes.