THE UNITED NATIONS RECOVERY AND PEACEBUILDING PROGRAMME (UN RPP)

GRANT COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Monitoring of the Coverage of Court Decisions in Cases Related to the Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine

1. INTRODUCTION

This Announcement will provide information regarding the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme grant competition for non-governmental organisations operating in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and explain the procedure for submitting project proposals. The announcement sets out the criteria for participating in the competition, the process of submitting and selecting project proposals, as well as the criteria by which the projects in this competition will be evaluated.

The competition's field of focus is:

UN_RPP_3_2021_12_AJ: Monitoring of the coverage of court decisions in cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

2. INFORMATION ON THE UNITED NATIONS RECOVERY AND PEACEBUILDING PROGRAMME

The ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine has had a direct and extremely negative impact on social cohesion, community security and the rule of law. While accepting the urgent need to address the challenges of regeneration, economic recovery, and peacebuilding in the areas directly and indirectly affected by the armed conflict in late 2014, the Government of Ukraine requested that the international community provide technical assistance and financial support to prioritise the most crucial needs for recovery. At the end of 2014, the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union assessed the process of recovery and peacebuilding approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in mid-2015.

In the decade leading up to the armed conflict, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was represented and active in Eastern Ukraine. It was focused on community development, civil society development and environmental protection. The work to address the specific challenges to development arising from the conflict, as discussed above, is based on the previous work and established partnerships. It was initiated in 2015 through the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, which is a multilateral donor framework programme jointly implemented by four UN partner agencies in cooperation with the Government of Ukraine.

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the programme: the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the US Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan.

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is implemented to address and mitigate the causes and effects of the armed conflict. It is based on the results of the Assessment of Recovery and Peacebuilding and is consistent with the State-run Reconstruction and Peacebuilding Programme in the Eastern oblasts of Ukraine, as well as with two regional development strategies in effect until 2020. The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme provides for three main areas of activity: 1) supporting economic recovery in the communities affected by the armed conflict; 2) promoting decentralisation and health care reform; 3) strengthening community security and social cohesion. The Programme is rigorously consistent with the Framework Programme for Partnership between the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations. The Programme is closely associated with the Democratic Governance and Reform Programme which is implemented nationwide in all oblasts of Ukraine and complies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

As a territorial programme designed specifically for the areas affected by the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme is focused on the top-priority needs in the fields of stabilisation, peacebuilding, the economy and governance in Eastern Ukraine after the outbreak of the armed conflict. It takes into account the opportunities provided by the Minsk Protocol, dated September 2014, and the revival of its ceasefire provisions and is fully adapted to create a link between humanitarian and developmental needs.

The Programme's measures are grouped according to the following key components of the Programme, which reflect the priority needs of the region:

Component I: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure;

Component II: Local Governance and Decentralisation Reform;

Component III: Community Security and Social Cohesion.

Funding for the grant competition will be provided with the support of the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The financial management of the grant competition is entrusted to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

3. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE COMPETITION AND THE TERRITORY WITHIN WHICH THE COMPETITION IS TO BE HELD

3.1. Non-governmental or charitable organisations must meet the following requirements to submit project proposals for this competition:

• be officially registered with the status of a legal entity in the territory controlled by Ukraine;
• have the status of a non-profit or charitable organisation (non-profit codes 0032, 0034, 0036, 0038, 0039 or 0048);
• have over four years of experience in working with the subject of the competition;
• have proven experience in implementing and reporting on at least two projects related to the topic of the grant competition;
• have appropriate specialists and project staff for implementing the project (a project manager, a financial specialist/accountant, and other specialists as per the requirements of the project). If experts/organisations can only be hired subject to the project proposal receiving financial support, the application description should contain the main requirements for each of the experts required by the project (field-specific education, work experience, etc.);

·      have experience in advocacy at the national level.

3.2. The personnel involved in the project must meet the following requirements:

• The project team must consist at least of a Project Coordinator (responsible for the overall coordination of the project's implementation and the submission of relevant reports to the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme), an Accountant (responsible for accounting and financial reporting), and those directly involved in the project implementation;
• Over half of the project's team members must have law degrees (this requirement applies to persons (lawyers) responsible for the direct implementation of the project);
• At least one year of experience in the public sector (for the Project Manager);
• At least five years of experience in the field of law for lawyers;

·      At least two persons on the project team must have at least three years of experience in the field of litigation or defence in court;

• Knowledge of languages – fluent Ukrainian;
• The Accountant must have a higher education (related to accounting) and at least two years' experience in the field of accounting;
• Willingness to implement all rules and regulations on cooperation proposed by the international donor;

Personnel workload:

·      Project Manager — no more than 0.5 time;

·      Accountant – no more than 0.2 time;

·      Persons directly responsible for the implementation of the project – full time.

3.3. Territories encompassed by the competition, requirements for registration and the experience of the organisations:

The project, which will be implemented at the expense of this grant competition, must focus on the cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine that are considered by the courts located in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, taking into account the peculiarities of this project's implementation. However, in view of the project's purpose, the most high-profile cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, considered not only by courts in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, may also be taken into account. The grant recipient organisation will determine the profile level of such cases, and the inclusion of the monitoring of these cases in the project should be agreed upon in advance with the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme.

3.4. The criterion to determine whether an NGO can receive UNDP funding will be based on the CACHE Capacity Assessment Checklist.

Proposals from organisations that do not meet the above requirements will not be considered. Applications submitted from individuals, commercial organisations, government agencies or organisations, local governments, trade unions, political parties or religious organisations will not be considered.

Organisations that have a current grant agreement with the Community Security and Social Cohesion component of the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme can submit project applications for this competition, on the condition that the activities under the current agreement will be fully completed by 10 May 2021 (including the submission of financial and programme reports).

4. TASK DESCRIPTION AND EXPECTED COMPETITION RESULTS

This grant competition aims to select one non-governmental organisation to monitor publications in the media and the publications of the pre-trial investigation and the prosecuting authorities on the court decisions of local general and appellate courts (excluding the most high-profile court cases, see more details in paragraph 3.3. of this grant competition) and the Supreme Court in cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The purpose of the monitoring activity is to establish the impact of the content of such publications on the public's attitude towards the judicial branch of government. Project duration: up to 7 months. Start of project implementation is 10 May 2021.

The following scope of work is expected to be carried out by the grant recipient organisation (the following list of works is mandatory and minimal, within its application, the grant recipient organisation may propose other activities to be part of this project):

1.     The grant recipient organisation will conduct a comparative analysis of the court decisions and the content of media publications, i.e., pre-trial investigation and prosecution publications on cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine (at least ten court decisions in the fields of criminal, administrative and civil proceedings, at least 30 court decisions in total). An analytical document (report) on the extent to which the content of these publications corresponds to court decisions, the objectivity of the content on the court decision and the tendency of individual authors to place a positive or negative emphasis as to shape the public's attitude towards the judicial branch of government (media or public authorities) or shape it more generally. The report must include links to publications and court decisions.

2.     The grant recipient organisation (either independently or through a contracted organisation) will study the target audience of the media and internet resources of the pre-trial investigation and prosecution authorities. This study will focus on the impact of the publications of these resources and media reports about court decisions in cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine on the attitude of the target audience towards the judicial branch government. The analytical document (report) must reflect and analyse the study's findings. The study participants must be non-lawyers who have never worked in a court of law.

3.     The grant recipient organisation (either independently or through a contracted organisation) will conduct a focus group study in the following format:

3.1.          Prepare three relatively small publications (up to four paragraphs) with a positive message and three publications of similar content and size on the same court decision, but with a negative message. These will be on three cases (preferably by a first instance court) related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine (one case each from a criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction). The chosen court decisions and both publications should be pre-approved by the United Nations Peace Recovery and Development Programme.

3.2.          Hold nine focus groups (three focus groups for each jurisdiction), in which the (1) first group will get a publication with a positive message, the (2) second group will get a publication with a negative message and the (3) third (control) group will get the texts of the judgments. Afterwards, the moderator will determine the attitudes of each group's members towards the judicial branch of government based on what they have read. The participants in the focus group study must be non-lawyers who have never worked in a court of law.

3.3.          An analytical document (report) with the description of the findings will form the result of this study.

4.     The final document (report) with the results of the project activity will include:

4.1.          preliminary reports;

4.2.          findings on the effect of the publications in the media, the resources of the pre-trial investigation and prosecuting authorities on the public's attitude towards the judicial branch of government;

4.3.          a list of suggestions for the judges to improve the level of trust and attitudes towards the judicial branch of government through media resources;

4.4.          list of suggestions for the media representatives and pre-trial investigation and prosecution authorities to cover the content of court decisions objectively;

4.5.          presentation of findings on the national level with the involvement of stakeholders and distribution of the final report.

All reports should be approved by the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme prior to being published.

Quarantine warning: all public events must be held online. If the epidemiological situation permits, public events should take place in person but in compliance with all quarantine precautions and anti-epidemic measures.

Expected Project Results:

1)   Completed investigation into the impact of publications in the media, the publications of the pre-trial investigation and prosecuting authorities on the court decisions of local general and appellate courts and the Supreme Court in cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine and on the public's attitude towards the judicial branch of government;

2)   Specific recommendations will have been offered for improving the level of trust and attitudes toward the judicial branch of government and the objective coverage of court decisions;

3)   The findings of the project will have been distributed among the public, stakeholders and organisations.

5. REQUIREMENTS FOR CO-FINANCING AND PROJECT DURATION

Project duration: up to 7 months. Start of project implementation is 10 May 2021.

Project proposals for which co-financing will be offered (at no less than 10% of the total project budget) will be awarded additional points when considered according to the criteria for the evaluation of project proposals. Co-financing means the availability of a source of funding other than the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme. The organisation's own financial contribution shall be confirmed by the relevant accounting documents at the stage in which the financial statements for the project are submitted. Material assets available to the organisation (including office space and office equipment) are not considered as co-financing.

Organisations whose project proposals are supported by partner organisations (non-governmental organisations, state and local authorities) with relevant project support letters attached to the project application will have an additional advantage. Such a letter shall specify the support and specific role of the supporting organisation.

6. PROJECT PROPOSAL EXPENSES

6.1. Permitted Expenses

The following expenses are deemed acceptable:

-      those necessary to achieve the project's goals and objectives;

-      those consistent with the principle of efficiency and cost-effectiveness (the highest quality at the lowest price);

The funds provided during the competition may be used only as follows:

-      for the remuneration of the organisation's personnel and the experts involved;

-      to pay for goods and services necessary for implementing the project's activities;

-      to pay for communication and information services;

-      to pay for consulting services necessary to achieve the project's goals;

-      to pay for the rent of premises (for training, teamwork, etc.), services for events and other services provided within the framework of the project's activities;

-      to pay for printing, publishing and copying services;

-      to pay for consumables and stationery;

-      to pay for transportation and other costs related to the project's activities.

6.2. Obligatory Expenses:

-      Payment for the services of the project manager and financial specialist/accountant (or provision of such services as the organisation's own contributions or through financing from other sources).

6.3. Unacceptable expenses are those associated with:

-      preparing a project proposal for participation in the competition;

-      payment of debts;

-      recovery of expenses related to exchange rate fluctuations;

-      international business trips;

-      office rental and utility bills.

7. PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING PROJECT PROPOSALS AND OBTAINING ADVICE DURING THE PREPARATION OF PROJECT PROPOSALS

The application package consists of the following:

1) The online application form filled in through the link, which contains the basic information on how the project proposal is to be organised.

2) The full application form (completed in MS Word format), which describes the organisational plan and project implementation plan (*.docx/*.doc) (Annex 1).

3) The financial proposal (proposed budget in Excel format), compiled in US dollars and calculated according to the UN exchange rate as of April 2021 (28 UAH/1 USD) (https://treasury.un.org/operationalrates/OperationalRates.php) (Annex 2). Tranches will be paid in UAH according to UN exchange rate on the date of payment.

4) Scanned copies of the following documents (*.PDF or *.JPG):

• certificate of incorporation or extract;
• certificate from the tax inspectorate verifying the organisation is a registered non-profit organisation, including the non-profit code.

5) All documents confirming compliance with the technical criteria specified in sections 3.1 and 3.2 of this announcement;

6) Completed CACHE Capacity Assessment Checklist and supporting documents (Annex 3);

7) Project support letters (optional) that must cover:

-   an exact description of the support for the project;

-   the amount of co-financing for project activities and specific items of expenditure that will be financed (if co-financing is available).

Organisations submitting project proposals must fill in the online application form (item 1) and submit the full application package (items 2–7) mentioned above to the e-mail address grants.ua@undp.org with the subject line:

UN_RPP_3_2021_12_AJ: Monitoring of the coverage of court decisions in cases related to the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The full application package must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. on May 4^th, 2021. The application package (items 2–7) must be sent in one e-mail as an archive file (*.rar) not exceeding 30 Mb in size.

The project proposals received will be checked for compliance with the requirements of the competition and those that meet the requirements will be submitted for consideration by the Competition Commission.

Project proposals received after the deadline specified in the announcement will not be considered no matter the reason.

To receive answers to questions that may arise during the preparation of project proposals for this Competition, please send them in writing to grants.ua@undp.org with the subject line "UN_RPP_3_2021_12_AJ: Information Request". Answers will be provided within 1–2 business days. All requests must be sent not later than 48 hours before the closing date of this competition.

8. EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT PROPOSALS

8.1. Assessment of the project proposals will be performed in several stages.

Stage 1: The Competition Committee will consider the submitted project proposals. At this stage, the project proposals submitted will be assessed according to the assessment criteria, and the project proposals that score less than 70 points from the total number of points will be rejected. The proposals that require fine-tuning as per the recommendations of the Competition Committee will be returned for revision with a deadline for the submission of the updated proposal.

Stage 2: Final approval of the winning project proposals recommended by the Competition Committee as worthy of receiving support.

The Competition Committee will be composed of representatives of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme with positions and expertise in the relevant key areas. Nevertheless, during the selection of project proposals, the Competition Committee shall reserve the right to seek an independent expert opinion or the opinion of local authorities within the territory of which the project activities are envisaged to occur.

8.2. Project Assessment Criteria:

Please note!

• The materials submitted for the competition will not be returned and no feedback will be given.
• The results of the competition will be communicated to the participants via e-mail.
• The final decision on the project or application is not subject to review.
• The reasons for a project's rejection or acceptance to receive support will not be communicated.

9. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GRANT PROJECTS

9.1. Monitoring and Evaluation

The grant recipient is responsible for monitoring project implementation and the evaluation of the results thereof. The United Nations Development Programme will monitor the implementation of the grant project through the grant recipient's reports, meetings with project staff, their partners and beneficiaries and participation in the project's activities.

9.2. Reporting

The grant recipient will submit reports in the format specified by the United Nations Development Programme:

• interim reports including descriptions of the activities and results as per the agreed monitoring indicators and the financial component (to be clarified within the framework of the respective grant agreement);
• on-demand summary reports that may be required by the UNDP from time to time when information about the grant project is required between regular reports;
• a final report, which will include a description of the activities and results, as well as a financial report for the entire period of the grant agreement.

10. FINANCING

The grant-receiving organisation will receive an advance payment for the activities planned to be carried out under the grant agreement. The amount of the advance and further payments will be specified in the grant agreement. This amount will be determined individually, based on the total amount of the grant, the type of activity, etc. The subsequent tranches will be disbursed upon receipt and approval of the organisation's interim reports by the UNDP.

Please note! The final tranche of 10% will be provided to the grant recipient organisation post facto as soon as 100% of the project reporting has been completed, including confirmation of all financial transactions.

Annexes

Application form

Budget 

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