HOW TO BECOME A PARTNER 2028-2034

NGOs must submit an application to become a DG ECHO partner. In order to apply for the EU Humanitarian Partnership 2028-2034, the candidate NGO must provide DG ECHO with an assurance, given by an independent external auditor, that the NGO fulfils the “Eligibility, financial capacity, exclusion and minimum requirements” and the “Operational capacity and additional suitability requirements” set by DG ECHO based on the Humanitarian Aid Regulation, the Financial Regulation and international best practices.

To this end, DG ECHO sets out, in the Call Document, the Terms of Reference (ToR), under which the candidate NGO agrees to engage an external auditor to produce an Independent Assessment Report and an Assessment Questionnaire concerning the fulfilment of the conditions for an EU humanitarian partnership certificate.

Applications for the EU Humanitarian Partnership 2028-2034 will need to be submitted online via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. The system for submissions of applications will be available as of autumn 2026. 

All participants will need to create an EU Login user account and later register their organisation in the Participant Register before the call deadline. Once the registration is finalised, they will receive a 9-digit participant identification code (PIC).

The application is to be submitted via the Topic page in the Calls for proposals section, in three different parts:

1. Application Form (Part A) includes administrative information about the organisation
2. Application Form (Part B) covers the technical description of the application
3. Mandatory annexes
   1. Independent assessment report, by an independent qualified external auditor
   2. Declaration of honour (DoH)

Once the application is submitted, a confirmation e-mail with date and time of the application will be issued.

For individual questions on the Portal Submission System, please contact the IT Helpdesk. In case of non-IT questions related to the application procedure, please write to ECHO-APPEL@ec.europa.eu.

Applications will be subject to a formal evaluation procedure. They will be checked for formal requirements (admissibility and eligibility) and then evaluated against the award criteria. Both eligibility check and evaluation will be based on the findings in the assessment report submitted as part of the application (and other available information, if any). If needed, DG ECHO may request additional information.

All applicants will be informed about the evaluation result. Successful applications will be awarded the certificate and will be included in the public list of EU Humanitarian Partners; the other ones will be rejected.