Salaries of staff within the scope of EU funded grant projects are budgeted under the “1. Human Resources” budget heading. Please note that salary payments to staff in the project should be made in accordance with the labor law in Turkey. In this regard, the entire cost of a staff member consists of;
- Net salary,
- Revenue and withholding taxes
- Social Security Premium (including both employee + employer shares)
When the entire cost of a staff member will be covered by the project budget, each personnel cost under the "1. Human Resources" should be considered as the "total cost" and should include all expenditures in relation with personnel.
Payroll prepared for a staff contains;
- Net salary,
- Revenue and Withholding taxes
- Social Security Premium (including both employee + employer shares)
Please also note that the total cost for project staff should be itemized in 3 different lines (as mentioned above) for each month in the detailed expenditure list -DBE- (excel table)
While the most common form of FSTP is sub-granting, FSTP can take the form of many different types of support, including monetary awards, individual financial support, scholarships, covering for operating costs, etc. FSTP may also take the form of “unconditional cash transfers” where no specific activities are supported. “Unconditional” means that FSTP is given without any specific goal other than helping the final recipients, e.g., to support human right defenders, scholarships to facilitate mobility, allowances to refugees, etc.
Besides, the most common forms of subgrants can be considered as “core-funding” and “project funding”. Core-funding is financial support that covers the basic, “core” organisational and administrative costs of a CSO. But, project funding is financial support focused on the implementation of a series of activities, aimed at bringing about clearly specified objectives within a defined period of time and with a defined budget. (Enhanced Outreach to Civil Society Organizations: A Collection of Good Practices of Financial Support to Third Parties in the Neighbourhood and Enlargement Countries, TACSO)
As a principle, we, as STGM, provide neither fee based project development/project proposal writing services nor referring CSOs to paid services/persons and organizations. Moreover, CSOs are kindly recommended to improve their organizational capacities in regards to project preparation and prepare their projects themselves. Regarding project development and writing, you may check out STGM resources on our website.
- Charter/constitute of the association and other internal legislation, if any,
- In case of keeping books on the basis of the operation account method business account; official minute book, membership registration book, document registry book, general journal and operating ledger,
- In case of keeping books on the basis of balance sheet; official minute book, membership registration book, document registry book, journal and ledger,
- Receipts, donation in kind receipts, expenditure documents, in-kind aid delivery notices, authorization certificates,
- Inbounds and outbounds, declarations, notifications, membership documents, documents in relation to estate and assets,
- Documents, related to the fund, if exists,
- Books, ledgers and documents in relation to the economic enterprise,
- Safe, stock and bank account statement as of the date of commencement of the audit, bank account statements for the period to be audited, regarding the debt and credit status and similar documents.
STGM carries out activities such as organizing trainings, conducting researches, campaigns, advocacy and lobbying activities for the strengthening participation and democracy in civil society, and building organizational capacities of CSOs.
In this context, STGM does not run any scholarship programme.
However, you can visit the following pages for domestic and international scholarships. These pages belong to some public institutions as well as international organizations and private scholarship programmes that provide scholarship. Please also note that domestic and international scholarship opportunities are not limited to the list below.
- General Directorate of Credit and Hostels Institutions
- Higher Education Council
- General Directorate of Foundations
- Ministry of National Education of Turkey
- TÜBİTAK
- British Council
- Jean Monnet Programı
- Fulbright Programı
- Türkiye Scholarships
- Scholarship
When proposing FSTP mechanism as a component of an EU supported intervention/projects, it’s advised to reflect on;
|
FSTP Integration |
How the FSTP component integrates within the whole intervention/project. |
|
Information on Beneficiaries |
How to gather information on potential beneficiaries and ensure a participatory approach in designing the intervention/project. |
| Capacity and Resources | The management capacity and respıurces of the implementer organization. |
| Timeframe | The necessary time for a successful implementation of the FSTP mechanism. |
| Call(s) abd Selection Process | The design of the FSTP component calls and selection procedures. |
| Coaching and Mentoring | Coaching and mentoring: capacity development may need to be provided to FSTP beneficiaries on issues such as project development, budget preparation, monitoring and reporting. |
|
Monitoring and Reporting |
Monitoring and reporting – how to monitor and report on the impact of FSTP beneficiaries. |
| FSTP Management Budget | The budget required for managing the FSTP. A significant percentage of the budget (up to 30-40%) may be required for monitoring, supervising and reporting on FSTP. |
| Knowledge Transfer | Knowledge transfer: If applicants are not local organisations, it would be prudent to include a local co-applicant and foresee a strategy to transfer knowledge to build the local partner’s capacity in managing FSTP.* |
You can find a sample contract here (in Turkish) for services of independent consultants or experts. You are able to revise it in accordance with your requirements.
Key advocacy tools include;
- Lobbying,
- Organizing, creating networks,
- Education and awareness raising,
- Monitoring and shadow reporting,
- Press/Media studies,
- Mobilization.
As STGM, we organize offline and online capacity building trainings for various needs of CSOs. Our trainings are based on open call method. You will be able to receive information on applications, content and other details of our trainings through our announcements. For detailed information on available trainings, please follow up our announcements on STGM website and e-bulletin.
You can contact [email protected] for your further questions about our trainings.
The exchange rate regime to be exercised in financial reports for the FSTP component is the regime that will be used for the entire project. Article 7 of the "Special Conditions" of the contracts of sub-grant implementer organizations, signed with the contract authority (EU Delegation to Turkey) specifies which exchange rate to be exercised in the entire project.
Likewise, it is recommended that the exchange rate regime of payments in TL or other currencies (except EUR), made by sub-grant beneficiaries should be stated in the contracts to be made between the sub-grant implementer organization and the sub-grant beneficiaries.
Yes, you are able to reach a sample timesheet from here.
- Identification of the problem that need to be solved through advocacy activities (Problem Analysis),
- Problem analysis in regards to context, structure and culture (Triangle Analysis),
- Developing solutions to the problem analyzed,
- Established the advocacy strategy based on the solutions developed
Collaboration or establishing partnerships with other civil actors assist CSOs to achieve their goals, increase their influence and further strengthen their capacities by a mutual learning process.
Cooperation and partnership can be developed with civil actors such as networks/platforms at the regional, national and international level in the similar thematic area. Moreover, collaborative works can also be established with an organization which works in the same field.
For more information, please check out to the following resources;
- Partnership Resource Centre. University of Erasmus, Rotterdam School of Management, Netherlands
- A Practical Guide to Partnership: How to Make It Work. Floriana Nappini. Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN), 2016.
- Review of EU Networks for Civil Society Organizations. TACSO, 2011. The book provides brief information about more than two hundred networks and platforms in the EU member states.
- Networking and Relationship Building for CSOs Course Toolkit. Prepared by Indrani Sigamany. INTRAC, 2007
You may refer to the section titled "How to Benefit from STGM" located on our website.
When designing call and selection procedures of FSTP mechanism as a component of an EU supported intervention/projects, it’s advised to reflect on;
| Targeted beneficiaries | The type of beneficiaries to be targeted through FSTP (which should always be in line with the initial Guidelines for Applicants, the Description of the Action (DoA) agreed with the EU or any other relevant framework agreed with other donors). |
| Procedure to be used | Consider the objective of the FSTP, the targeted beneficiaries and the procedure to be used (open call, closed call, direct awards or a mix of approaches). Sub-grant implementing organizations should have a strong justification for their proposed approach and its compliance with the FSTP guiding principles. |
| Application forms and required documentation | The application forms and required documentation, taking into account FSTP beneficiaries’ capacities and any donor/contracting authority requirements that may need to be passed on to their beneficiaries. |
| Сommunication approach | The communication approach to be used, which will reflect the chosen type of procedure. Different approaches will be required for an open call aiming to reach out to as many organisations as possible versus a restricted call dedicated to supporting organisations in sensitive political contexts or the members of a network. |
| Language of the calls | The language of the calls. Language barriers can reduce the outreach of FSTP/sub-grant calls and making calls and application documents/procedures available in local languages may increase the outreach to local organisations. |
| Channels to submit proposals | Channels to submit proposals: Online submissions are generally easier to manage. In more restrictive and difficult environments they can be supplemented by offline submissions (including by phone). |
| Calls may constitute capacity development tools | Calls may constitute capacity development tools: As a minimum, feedback to non-selected applicants can help those organisations or individuals improve their future proposals. |
| Selection processes and criteria | Selection processes and criteria constitute a starting point for building trust in communities |
It’s recommended to use a plain language in a policy document and following information should be provided;
- What the problem is
- Why the problem matters
- What the solution is
- What type of significant change is required in law, regulation, and government practices
In other words, a policy document consists of 4 main parts;
- The part where the problem is stated
- The part where the importance of the problem is explained-emphasized
- The part where the proposal for solution is presented
- The part where the solution is linked to the legislation
While preparing a policy document, a proper screening, analysis and in-depth research should be conducted for the problem and solution. Moreover, references should be cited so that it’s clear that the effort have been made. And the most important point is the use of headings that can briefly summarize the issue and describe the problem at once.
It is recommended to use a document which covers main information regarding participants, including their signatures. You can find a sample template here.
- To defend communities from adverse changes,
- To achieve widespread, long-term and sustainable changes for the benefit of communities, especially for the benefit of the disadvantaged groups,
- To ensure the responsibilities of governments and decision makers at the level of local, regional, national and international to citizens are met and rights are fully respected
- To strengthen democracy by encouraging the engagement of citizens and civil society organizations in the policy-making process
As good at working together, partnerships and collaborations can succeed and they develop meaningful relationships that create effective results. Partnerships are formed by some essentials such as collaborative mindsets, principled attitudes and relevant knowledge. In order to develop solutions and add value, some features should also be adopted such as bridging different contexts, language, working cultures to build a fit for joint.
Moreover, it should be taken into consideration that collaborations amongst CSOs often occur in an uncertain environment such as a fragile context in an unpredictable political or economic atmosphere. So, they require a high degree of flexibility, adaptability and resilience.
Therefore, development of effective partnerships and collaborations comprise of following steps;
- Work on shared ambitions,
- Respect each other’s interests,
- Pay attention to personal relationships and group dynamics,
- Organize/set up the partnership in a professional way,
- Focus on a meaningful/effective process,
- Support mutual learning,
- Sustain partnership outcomes.
For more information, please check out PrC Insight Series: Partnership Skills
Works and activities of STGM are announced on its website, social media channels and e-newsletter. Please remember to check our website and social media channels on a regular basis. You may also join our e-newsletter by just typing your e-mail address. You can find the registration part at the bottom of each page on our website.