Cyprus non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have until March 9 to submit their interest to participate in the EEA-Norway funded assistance programme amounting to EUR 1.5 mln.
Pantelis Dimitriou, Managing Director of First Elements Euroconsultants, the consultancy firm that won the mandate from the Cyprus Planning Bureau after a public international tender process to manage the programme on their behalf, told the Financial Mirror in an interview that all the Cyprus registered NGOs, numbering close to 3500 are eligible to submit proposals.
“The level of funding ranges from a minimum of EUR 15.000 to maximum EUR 70.000 with the funding rate up to 90%,” said Dimitriou.
The programme
The EEA-Norway programme is a result of the MoU initiated with Cyprus on September 16, 2005 on the implementation of the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2004-2009 between the EEA Financial Mechanism, the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Cyprus, which was signed on May 19, 2005.
A total of EUR 4.8 mln have been allocated to Cyprus for the period 2004-2009, involving five individual projects and an NGO fund amounting to EUR 1.5 mln.
The individual projects refer to a forestry department project in the Akamas, a department of archaeology project, University of Cyprus research, the restoration of a Salamiou historical building into a modern environmental education centre and a bi-communal project for teachers studying history.
The NGO fund
The NGO Fund will make EUR 1.5 mln funding available for empowerment of young people in the civil society and projects that have a bi-communal character. More information on funding opportunities can be found at www.eeangofund.org.cy .
Dimitriou said the majority of Cyprus NGOs unfortunately do not have the capacity and know-how to tap assistance programmes, whether Cyprus government or EU funded, as most are volunteer based lacking organisational experience, and in most cases lacking full time professional staff due to insufficient funding.
To press his point, Dimitriou said many of the 3500 NGOs are not even properly registered to be eligible to apply or participate in various funding schemes.
“This is the first time that we have a fund open to all NGOs to submit applications on a variety of funding requests, such as training, awareness or renovation and building of their facilities,” said Dimitriou.
First Elements Euroconsultants Ltd, the appointed NGO Fund Intermediary is one of the major Cypriot consultancy players in government consulting in Structural and EU funds projects. The firm is active in EU funding and government consulting since 2000 while it has entered the Greek ASE listed Euroconsultants SA group in 2006 after an assisted management buy-out.
