EU HUMANITARIAN PARTNERSHIP

To become a partner under the EU Humanitarian Partnership 2021, NGOs are invited to commission an external auditor to perform an ex-ante assessment following the Terms of Reference published in summer 2019.

For more information, please visit this link.

NGOs can apply for different types of Certificates depending on whether they intend to work with DG ECHO as a niche organization, standard partner or potential Programmatic Partner. Certificate models are available on DG ECHO Partners’ website.

The applicant will have to be audited anew for the areas where it did not receive the necessary number of points to become a potential Programmatic Partner. Based on the additional assessment, the auditors will need to provide an updated conclusion and recommend the organization for the potential Programmatic Partnership Certificate.

Consortia are encouraged to apply. However, please note that consortia of NGO partners working under direct management (Model Grant Agreement) can apply for Programmatic Partnership only if all consortium members hold a valid Programmatic Partnership Certificate.

The Humanitarian Aid Regulation requires that partners be established in the EU/EEA. Furthermore, the ex-ante assessment ensures that the applicant effectively performs the essential tasks required for the implementation of the action and demonstrates active involvement throughout the process.

The beneficiaries’ general operational and financial capacity is evaluated in the ex-ante assessment procedure, the successful conclusion of which is a prerequisite to request HUMA funding and conclude a Grant Agreement. 

The threshold is calculated for partners with a weak or insufficient solvency ratio. This calculation is performed annually based on the latest audited financial accounts. Specifically, the financial threshold is determined as a percentage of 20% of the organization's operating income. This figure represents the level of risk exposure that DG ECHO is willing to accept with respect to each partner.

The consequence of this threshold is that it affects the amount of pre-financing DG ECHO can provide to a partner. The "open amount" refers to the total outstanding pre-financing paid to partners across all ongoing contracts. This amount increases whenever DG ECHO issues a new pre-financing payment and decreases when partners submit a request for further pre-financing or when they submit the final report for a project. However, submitting an interim report does not impact the open amount, as it is not linked to any immediate payment adjustment.

If the partner’s open amount exceeds or is about to exceed the threshold at the time of signing a new contract, DG ECHO may take certain actions to mitigate the risk. DG ECHO may choose to either postpone the signature of the new contract or reduce the initial pre-financing amount from 80% to 50% of the contract value. The remaining 30% would then be disbursed upon the partner's submission of an additional pre-financing report.

The periodic assessment will be made based on the following elements: (i) Certified financial statements in order for the Commission to assess the financial capacity of the partner; (ii) A statement from the organization stating that there have not been substantial changes in the administrative procedures and capacities since the Certificate was awarded, which could put into questions the award decision; (iii) A statement from the organization stating that it remains in full compliance with the humanitarian principles; (iv) An inventory of the actions taken to address the ‘critical’ recommendations issued since 01/01/2021 resulting from field and HQ audits launched by DG ECHO; and (v) Declaration on Honour signed by the LEAR stating that the organization is not in an exclusion situation.

The partner receives a notification at the beginning of December as an invitation to reply to questions (e.g., regarding substantial changes and compliance with humanitarian principles) and to upload the signed Declaration on Honour through a form in APPEL. The partner will have 1 month to fill in and submit the form.