FAQs

Who is eligible for Clima East support?

Clima East Policy Project support is designed primarily for those involved in national policy-making activities addressing climate change in the Partner Countries, including the staff of executive bodies such as ministries and agencies, or technical units dealing with the generation and management of technical data used in policy-making and implementation (e.g. Green House Gas Inventory), but also legislative bodies (e.g. parliaments). Other stakeholders, such as the private sector, civil society organisations and academia, are also able to request support, but the request must have a clear and practical link to national policy-making. 

How do I access Clima East support?

There are many ways to access support from Clima East.  For short queries on aspects of EU climate policy or on UNFCCC processes, or short technical questions in any of the technical areascovered by the project, please use our Help Desk.  For eligible organisations requiring more substantial expert support (up to 50 days of tecnical assistance), applications can be made to the Clima East Expert Facility. But for any queries on these or other ways to get involved, our team are available to talk through your needs and provide advice.

Can Clima East provide funding to beneficiary and stakeholder organisations?

Clima East cannot provide funding to stakeholders, but can provide a range of tecnhical assistance for free to your organisation, through the Help Desk, Expert Facilityand other activities. Costs associated with providing expertise, such as travel and living costs of the experts, will also be covered by Clima East and  costs of consultation or dissemination activities of the results supported, for example through undertaking translation, or providing workshops or webinars, can also be covered by Clima East, under some circumstances.

Clima East Expert Facility

The application guide and presentation are available on the Expert Facility section of the website.

Eligibility

(click to enlarge)

1. Can a local or regional government (municipalities, regional authorities, etc.) apply?

Yes, local and regional governments can apply. However, please note that Clima East primarily supports national policy support, and applications from local or regional governments, should target issues which have relevance at national level.

2. Would the following project examples be eligible for CEEF?

• if a Ministry wants to assess their strategy for climate change financing (to improve engagement), for instance, would a review of fundable opportunities be eligible under the facility?
• if they want to engage with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), would activities support to develop and refine their strategy be eligible?
• if they want to improve capacity to benefit from the GCF, would a needs assessment (institutional, capacity) be eligible?
• if they want to improve capacity to benefit from the GCF or other climate funding, would a tailored training course on proposal development be eligible?

In principle, the Expert Facility may be able to provide support with engaging with any climate financing mechanism and applications relating to any of the options listed above may be eligible (if you are confident that your country is eligible to get financing from this particular source according to the fixed rules and conditions under international legislation). Please note however that Clima East cannot assist with writing specific applications for funding from other bodies or funds.

3. Is an EU organisation (NGO, University etc.) eligible to apply to implement an Expert Facility assignment in an Eastern Partnership country? 

EU organisations are not eligible to apply to the EF that is designed to stimulate activities of organizations from Eastern Partnership countries. NGOs and Universities from partner states of Clima East project are eligible to apply.

Applications and experts

1. Do the applications have to come from government organisations? If civil society organisations or enterprises were the beneficiary, would the application still need to be submitted by the government?  

Both government and non-government organisations can apply directly.  The essential requirement is that all applications should demonstrate a direct and practical link to national policy, that is, that the connection of the applicants with the national policy making and implementation framework is sufficient for Expert Facility outputs and outcomes to have an effect and impact at that level. Each Expert Facility application will be subject to a ‘no-objection’ approval by the Clima East National Focal Point.  

NB: Beneficiary’s employees cannot be experts paid by CEEF.

2. For these options above, more than one country may be interested in a similar support – does this by definition need to be “joint actions”? These probably would not have any collaborative element, and coordination of applications would be next to impossible at this stage. Could they be combined by Clima East after the applications are submitted?

If more than, one country is interested in a similar support then partnership applications are encouraged under Track 2. However, this option is not a must. Any possible modification of the application is a subject of consultations with the applicant.  Clima East may identify possible links and synergies between two or more applications and may suggest to the respective applicants that these are combined to increase the efficiency or results of the work.

3. Is it a restriction that only one expert can work on any CEEF assignment? i.e. is it just one named expert who is expected to do all the work?

There are no such restrictions. The number of experts (international and national) is formulated in an application preliminary and finally determined in the Terms of Reference.  In principle, the overall maximum of 50 days input should not be exceeded (whether by one individual or shared between a number of experts).  

Application Process

1. Can Clima East support stakeholders to complete the application form? If so, is the application ensured to be selected?

The Clima East team can provide guidance on developing the application and completing the form.  However this will not guarantee the application will be approved and funded, as the applications are independently assessed by evaluators and by the European Commission and final discretion of funding decisions is held by the European Commission.  Please note that Clima East cannot provide any financial support to stakeholders to complete the application form.

2. What happens after I sent my organisation’s application to Clima East?

 (click to enlarge)