Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2012

Major legal changes related to development cooperation were instituted in 2012: a law updating the amended development cooperation law of 6 January 1966 was approved on 9 May 2012 and supplemented by seven new grand ducal regulations.

This legal revision has an impact on the relationship between the Ministry, and the NGOs and individuals involved in development cooperation. The period of accreditation for the NGOs was extended to two years and the procedures for requesting subsidised leave to work on a development project were altered. The collaboration between different NGOs, and between NGOs and non-profit development organisations, is now particularly encouraged. The new grand ducal regulation of 22 June 2012 defining the application criteria for framework agreements specifies that these agreements can be granted to a consortium of NGOs and unaccredited non-profits. It also outlines the requirements for securing a framework agreement (NGOs must have been accredited for at least five years without interruption prior to the application and should have carried out at least nine co-funded projects for which the State’s total contribution should be in excess of 370 000 euros), as well as the annual maximum contribution that the State can grant (3 000 000 euros; cannot be combined with a co-funded project).

The grand ducal regulation of 7 August 2012 defines the grant thresholds, the annual financial ceiling, as well as the terms of reference for co-funded projects, and clarifies the eligible forms of local support (whether financial or in the form of real-estate). NGOs are now required to submit to a limited financial audit review if the State’s contribution exceeds 100 000 euros and a full audit if the contribution surpasses 500 000 euros.

The new legal basis prompted a revision of the general terms and conditions governing the contractual relationships between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs, resulting in changes in the procedure for obtaining and renewing accreditation and for securing the reimbursement of administrative costs within the context of individual co-funded projects, framework agreements and subsidised awareness-raising projects. The new presentation guidelines for application and progress reports - applicable to both individual co-funded projects and framework agreements - require NGO applicants to clarify their strategic orientations by aligning them with cross-cutting issues such as gender and the environment. The budget formats for both types of funding mechanism have been streamlined, and the threshold and procedures of budget deviation have been clarified. Significantly the revision of the general terms and conditions and of the procedural format for applications and reporting is the result of the combined efforts of a Ministry-NGO working group, which was established precisely for this purpose and which met between April and July 2012. The new documents came into effect on 13 July 2012 when the ministry officially presented them to all the accredited NGOs. The updated version of the general terms and conditions and the presentation guidelines for applications and progress reports can be found online (http://cooperation.mae.lu/fr/Espace-restreint-ONG-agreees). The NGO platform Cercle de Coopération together with the Bureau d’Assistance Technique (Technical Assistance Office) provides additional advice and support.