INDIRECT MANAGEMENT DELEGATION AGREEMENT

For the purposes of implementing Union-funded humanitarian aid Actions, ECHO awards specific grants to the Humanitarian Organizations partners, UN Agencies and International Organizations.

Where ECHO decides to award a specific grant to a UN Agency or an International Organization, it shall propose to sign an Indirect Management Delegation Agreement (IMDA).

When signing an IMDA, the Commission accepts that the partner become its delegate. This means that it is placed in the position of the Commission when performing most implementation tasks for the Action. In particular, when signing the Agreement the partner agrees to carry out the Action acting on its own responsibility. 

The IMDA allows the UN Agencies to work with other entities, such as Implementing Partners and sub-delegatees, in order to achieve EU objectives.

It is important to underline that the UN Agency cannot perform tasks involving political choices. In practice, this means that the UN Agency cannot go beyond what is identified as the objectives and results of the Action without the approval of ECHO.

The IMDA is composed by the following parts, which form integral part of the Agreement:

• The Special Conditions: the 6 articles of the Special Conditions describe the main elements of the Action. (See below to find out what is foreseen by each article)

• The General Conditions applicable to Indirect Management Delegation Agreements: as stated in the Article 1.1 of the IMDA, they set general administrative, financial and managerial conditions governing the implementation and completion of each specific ECHO-funded Action. They are an integral part of the Delegation Agreement, even if they are not materially attached to it.

• The Single Form: it is the template that the International Organizations fills out and submit when presenting a proposal to ECHO. The IMDA will be drafted according to the information provided in the approved Single Form.

• The Management Declaration: it is a formal declaration that the UN Agency has to provide (if applicable), based on the template (available below) made available by the Commission.

Each Agreement concluded between ECHO and the concerned UN Agency has a reference number (indicated in the heading of the Agreement).

The special conditions of the IMDA have to be duly signed by both parties. The language of the Agreement is English or French. Depending on the language of the Single Form, the language of the IMDA in turn determines the language to be used for reporting.

The 6 Articles of the Special Conditions describe the main elements of the action as follow:

• Art 1 Subject matter of the Agreement

• Art 2 Entry into force of the Agreement and the implementation period of the Action

• Art 3 Entry into force of the Agreement and the implementation period of the Action

• Art 4 Submission of reports and final payment request

• Art 5 Payment arrangements

• Art 6 Specific conditions applying to the Action