WIKI – For Projects Starting after October 2022

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This WIKI is designed for all recipients of EUKI grants and should help you with the implementation of your EUKI project. You can consult it at all project phases for advice regarding the most important questions arising during the project implementation.

It is organised according to the different project phases and the related topics and documents important in that phase. If you have questions not answered in this WIKI, you can always contact your EUKI contact persons.

Please be aware that recently the contract and its annexes were fundamentally revised. Therefore, it is important that you choose the correct version of the respective document on the GIZ website. The critical differentiation you have to look for is whether your contract was signed before or after October 1st 2022.

One of the most important differences is the way of submitting documents. For contracts signed after October 1st 2022, the submission of requests for pre-financing instalments and financial statements is digitalised as explained in the respective guidelines. Besides new deadlines, also the wording changed to e.g. request for disbursement and financial report.

Go to Wiki for Projects starting before October 2022

Project Start

General information

Before and during the project start the preperations to be made can be slightly overwhelming. Therefore, going through the requirements step by step can be helpful.

The financial guidelines for Grant Agreements and Zuschussverträge should be read very carefully before the project starts.

At the beginning of your project, you will be asked to fill out your:

In order to clarify the roles and responsibilities within your project, the implementer has to conclude a so-called partnership agreement with each implementing partner.

Moreover, it is highly important to study the contract received from GIZ very carefully. Each sub paragraph contains relevant information which can be crucial to your project´s success. We recommend to inform your project partners on all critical requirements which impact them and to ask the EUKI secretariat regarding articles which remained unclear to you.

General information

It is important to clearly distingish the grant agreement from the partnership agreement. The grant agreement is concluded between GIZ and the recipient which is why the recipient bears the responsibility for the technical and financial implementation of the project.

The partnership agreements however, are conluded between the recipient and each third-party recipient.

The necessity of a partnership agreement is based on the variety of obligations between the recipient and each third-party recipient within the EUKI project.

Since GIZ is not part of the partnership agreement, there is no standardised template to set up the respective document. This gives you the flexibility to include the specifics of your cooperation.

Critical aspects to be clarified are e.g. the forwarding of funds, the reporting requirements of the third-party reciepients and questions on the technical implementation among many others.

Please notice that prior to any forwarding of funds, the implementer is required to conduct approriate due diligence to assess the integrity and suitability of each third-party recipient. Please document this due diligence procedure. Guideline on how to do this have been sent to you at the beginning of your project.

General information

In the Schedule of Funding Requirements, you can specify at which time of the project you require which amount of the grant.

It is subdivided into periods of three months.

The required amount for each period is divided into the different budget categories. The required amounts are linked to the Requests for Disbursement.

„How to“

The template for the Schedule will be sent to you at the beginning of the project! At EUKI we don’t use the standard template of GIZ!

Please make sure that the Check at the far right of your Schedule never displays red numbers and that “correct” is displayed! (See graphic below)

The filled in template must be checked by your contact person for financial matters at EUKI and after our approval we forward it to the Financial Department of GIZ. This should happen at the latest when submitting the first Request for Disbursement.

It is important that during the project implementation, in case of any changes to your requirements, you inform your EUKI contact person for financial matters first, in this case please send an updated Excel file.

If, during the funding period, the figures submitted as part of the schedule of funding requirements change, you must submit a revised schedule of funding requirements. For past periods, the incurred costs, which are now known, are to be entered; for future periods, planned costs are to be entered in the revised schedule of funding requirements. To enter either planned costs for future periods or incurred costs for past periods in revised schedules of funding requirements, please select the appropriate term from the drop-down menu.

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Template for Schedule of Funding Requirements

General information

Disbursements must be requested separately for each individual disbursement period. Requests for Disbursement are the prerequisite for any disbursements to you. They state how much of the grant you need for the next period.

The requests always have to be in line with your current Schedule of Funding Requirements.

„How to“

Each disbursement constitutes an advance payment and shall be requested by using the Request for Disbursement template.

The completed forms are to be sent in digital format in one pdf file to the GIZ email address invoice∂giz.de only, without any attachments, including the following subject line with the agreement number upfront:

Reference: 81xxxxxx / Request for Disbursement for period: xx/xx/xx – xx/xx/xx.

Please include your contact persons for financial matters in the CC.

The graphic below informs you about the due dates for Requests for Disbursement, Financial Overviews and Financial Reports. A disbursement must be requested promptly at the beginning of the respective disbursement period, provided that the corresponding funding requirement exists. If the available remaining funds exceed the estimated requirement for the disbursement period about to start, the disbursement should not be requested until the next disbursement period.

A ‘Financial overview’ – to be completed for each disbursement period – is included in the request for disbursement form. For a detailed description and an example on how to fill in this Overview please check article 2.4 of the GIZ Guidelines for Grant-Recipients.

If a financial report due under the Agreement is outstanding on the current calendar date, no further funds can be disbursed until the financial report has been received.

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Due dates for Requests for Disbursement, Financial Overviews and Financial Reports.

General information

At the beginning of your project, you have to hand in a confirmation by your bank stating that the bank account indicated in the Requests for Disbursement is held by your organisation.

This is also a prerequisite for any disbursements to you.

All funds made available under your Grant Agreement must be accounted for separately from any funds provided by other donors. For this reason, you need to hold either a special bank account or a sub-account to receive funds for the project.

„How to“

This confirmation can take the form of a digital bank confirmation deemed verifiable for audit purposes. The confirmation should preferably be in English or German.

We recommend to use the template provided here.

Instead of completing the template, your bank may prefer to submit an individual letter. In this case, please ensure that the letter contains all the information requested in the template.

The completed form has to be sent in digital format in one pdf file to your contact person for financial matters at EUKI. We then forward it to the Financial Department of GIZ. This should happen at the latest when submitting the first Request for Disbursement.

A new confirmation is required each time the bank account number changes.

Project Implementation

Congratulations for succesfully navigating through the project start. You are now a member of the EUKI community!

Our video on the financial implementation will give you a good overview.

General information

During the Project Implementation you have several recurring liabilities.

You have to regularly hand in:

Additionally, there might be upcoming challenges regarding the Implementation of your project.

For technical questions you can always contact your technical contact person at EUKI.

For all financial questions or questions regarding certain aspects of your contract you can always contact your contact person for financial matters at EUKI.

Additionally, you can always consult the Financial Guidelines for Grant Agreements and for Zuschussverträge or look directly into your contract.

General information

By submitting financial reports, the implementer provides proof on how the funds provided were used. Therefore, submitting financial reports are the prerequisiste for further requests for disbursement.

Financial reports are compiled for two disbursement periods and have to be submitted 2 months after the latter of the two respective disbursement periods ended.

Besides sending the financial report to GIZ via email at invoice∂giz.de please send an email to your financial contact person at EUKI to inform him/her on the submission.

Please note that once you‘ve submitted the financial report it can no longer be amended or supplemented. Corrections can be made in later financial reports as explained in the documents below.

It is important to be aware that incorrect financial reporting can result in significant reductions of eligible costs and a request of repayment to GIZ.

„How to“

You can find the template on our website, called Annex 3d-f (here).

Furtermore, we produced a video tutorial explaining how to fill out the financial statement which you can find here: How to Prepare a Financial Statement – EUKI

Moreover, it is required to follow the regulation within the financial guidelines on the GIZ website (here). To get directly to the paragraph for financial reports please look for Article 3.

Further advice, especially regarding the supporting documents can be found here

General information

The awarding procedure as stated in Article 6 of your Grant Agreement is essential for a successful financial implementation of your project.

When awarding contracts for supplies and services for the EUKI project, the GIZ awarding process has to be followed and documented very carefully.

„How to“

The procurement guidelines (Annex 4a) on our website show you the value thresholds and the respective documentation.

The award documentation (Annex 4b) has to be filled out in order to document that the procurement process is in accordance with the Grant Agreement. It is possible to use a comparable form containing at least the same amount of information.

As for the general implementation it is the responsibility of the implementer to check and approve the award procedure of all implementing partners.

General information

Implementers are required to report to EUKI on the progress of project implementation every six months. Unless stated otherwise in the agreement, narrative reports are to be prepared for every six months from the beginning of the project. The specific reporting dates are set forth in clause 4.5 of the Grant Agreement for German recipients and non-german recipients. The reports are to be submitted two months after the respective reporting period has ended (e.g., Reporting period ends 30.06., then the report is due 31.08.).

The reports are to be limited to information directly related to the project implemented by the recipient. The reports should highlight key points of the project and where appropriate show solutions to problems. Key project findings such as studies and other supporting documents for the reporting period are to be added as supplementary documents and listed under the annex.

For each report, the latest template must be downloaded from the EUKI website. The recipient is obliged to submit the narrative report electronically via e-mail to the GIZ contact person.

The report including annexes must be sent to the respective project managers as an original copy and in electronic form.

At the end of the project, a final narrative report has to be submitted. Please find more information on this here.

Information on success stories prepared for the narrative report can be found here: Guidelines: EUKI Success Stories.

General information

Communicating your project comes with few obligations and multiple opportunities.

All project activities and publications must comply with the EUKI corporate design guidelines. You can download the English logo package here. Please make sure to use the logos appropriately and according to the guidelines.

Moreover, you can use EUKI as a multiplier and communicate your project activities through our channels. We encourage you to communicate your milestones, achievements, and event invitations on the EUKI website. Once your project starts, the EUKI communications team will provide you with log-in data and guidelines on how to upload your contributions.

Whenever you share posts about your EUKI project on social media, please make sure to tag EUKI on Twitter (@EUKI_Climate), LinkedIn (European Climate initiative (EUKI)) and Facebook (@EUKIClimate).

Finally, please send your project publications such as toolkits, papers or guidebooks to Oliver Hölcke (oliver-andre.hoelcke∂giz.de) and Anselm Bareis (anselm.bareis∂giz.de) and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any ideas or questions on communicating your EUKI project.

General information

As contractually agreed, GIZ has the right to conduct an external audit of the EUKI funded project. External audits can take place during or/and after the project.

“How to”

In case your project will be audited, the EUKI secretariat will contact you and inform you on the date, the auditor, the reporting period to be audited, etc.

Furthermore, you will receive an email explaining which documents have to be prepared.

On-Site Visits

Among those projects which have been selected for an external audit, some are provided with a so called On-Site vist carried out by EUKI staff to give you additional support before the audit takes place. The goal of an On-Site visit is to facilitate the financial project implementation and to prepare the implementer for the actual audit with an audit simulation.

After the auditor has audited the project, a final meeting between the implementer, the auditor and an EUKI representative will take place. In this meeting the preliminary audit results are disucussed.

When the audit report is finalised, it will be sent to our financial department in order to incorporate the findings in the checking process. The amount of eligible costs will then be reduced accordingly.

It may be helpful to already know about audit findings which appeared to be rather common as e.g.: Missing and inadequate documentation, incorrect awarding procedure, ineligeble staff costs, reported expenditure not based on acutal costs, costs not budgeted or exceeding the budget.

It is important to be aware that incorrect financial reporting can result in significant reductions of eligible costs and a request of repayment to GIZ.

Fortunately, you can keep potential audit findings at a minimum by following the instructions provided, as e.g., on our Wiki page.

General information

During the implementation of your project there might come up several challenges, problems or opportunities not planned for at the beginning of your project.

In your Financial Reports you can only report costs for items budgeted in your financial plan at the beginning of your project.

If you find that there may be differences between budgeted and actual costs in the future, or that you need funds for items that are not budgeted, please contact EUKI immediately such that we can discuss your options together.

For small shifts of funds between the different budget categories, the so-called 20% rule (see Article 1.4 of your contract) can be used. It is possible to spend up to 20% more than the amount specified for each budget line, with the exception of administration costs and forwarding of funds if these items are contractually agreed. Any overspending must be compensated by corresponding lower spending in one or more of the other budget line/s.

For bigger budget changes or for example a potential prolongation of the project, a contract amendment is necessary. Such contract amendments are only approved in exceptional cases when EUKI considers the proposed changes as essential for the successful completion of the project.

„How to“

In case of a potential contract amendment we require:

  • An updated budget with all changes compared to the original budget highlighted in yellow (in case there are changes to the budget).
  • An updated project proposal with all changes compared to the original project proposal highlighted in yellow (in case there are changes to the project proposal).
  • A letter in pdf-format requesting the contract amendment adressed to GIZ including all major changes.

Project Finalisation

General information

When the end of your project is coming closer there are a few things to bear in mind.

In the end phase of the project, it is important to think about the equipment that was inventoried during the project and owned by GIZ. Therefore, the process of handing over the equipment has to follow certain steps.

After the submission of your final financial report our internal accountant will compare the amount of eligible costs claimed with the amount of funds you received from GIZ.

Please be aware that the finalisation of the EUKI project also includes the submission of the final narrative report.

Costs incurred outside the project period are not eligible and can not be claimed in the last financial statement.

General information

You have to create an inventory of all items financed using the GIZ grant which cost more than EUR 800 to procure or produce.

Such items are according to the contract the property of GIZ, but since we consider it more sensible that the items remain in possession of the projects a handing over of ownership of these items at the end of the project is necessary.

„How to“

To create the inventory list please use this form. An up-to-date, continuously maintained inventory list must be submitted with each Financial Report.

The transfer of ownership must be documented using the template in Annex 3g.1, which must be signed by both parties and submitted with the current inventory list at the latest with the final financial statement.

General information

The final financial report has to be submitted no later than two months after the project ended.

Please be aware that the submission of the last financial report marks an important point of the financial project implementation since you now stated and claimed all costs incurred within the project period.

In case you had to inventory items during the project you are required to submit the inventory list and the so-called Record of surrender of equipment and materials (Annex 3g1 and 3g2) at the latest with the final financial report.

In case your project is subject to an external audit initiated by GIZ, the check of the last financial report will take place only when the final audit report reached our internal accountant. That way potential findings are taken into account. The amount of eligible costs would then be reduced accordingly.

General information

Unless stated otherwise in the agreement, a final narrative report is to be prepared for the entire project duration. The report is to be submitted two months after the project has ended. The latest template must be downloaded from the EUKI website. The recipient is obliged to submit the final narrative report electronically via e-mail to the GIZ contact person.

The final report is to provide information on the extent to which the targeted project objectives have been achieved. It should contain summarising and concluding recommendations for the countries of implementation and the donor(s). The final report encompasses the current report period and a review of the entire implementation period. Key project findings such as studies and other supporting documents are to be added as supplementary documents and listed under the annex.

Retained amount

Regarding the last payment there is a difference between german and non-german recipients. Non-german recipients will still have the so-called retention amount which is paid after the last financial statement is submitted (two months after the end of the project) and checked. German recipients do not have a retention amount.

After the end of the funding period, unused funds must be repaid to GIZ without delay and without being requested to do so, quoting Agreement number 81xxxxxx as the payment reference, to the account specified in our financial guidelines. GIZ reserves the right to reclaim further non-eligible amounts following review of the final financial report.

Reclaim

If: amount of eligible cost > amount of payments by GIZ -> In order to balance costs and payments GIZ will transfer the difference to you.

If: amount of eligible cost < amount of payments by GIZ -> In order to balance costs and payments GIZ requests the difference by sending a letter of reclaim / reduce the payment for the retention amount.