Healthy Ireland CMHF Small Grants Scheme 2020
Guidelines
Please read the following guidelines carefully before completing the application form.
1. Introduction
Healthy Ireland is a government led initiative aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of everyone living in Ireland. Now in its 3rd year, the ‘Healthy Ireland Fund’ aims to provide funding to support local organisations in delivering actions which will improve health and wellbeing in line with Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013 – 2025.
The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Healthy County Plan 2019-2022 aims to support the implementation of Healthy Ireland locally in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
The Community Mental Health Fund Small Grant Scheme provides funding to Local Community Groups, Voluntary Groups and Sporting Organisations to deliver actions which are in line with the Mental Health Theme of Healthy Ireland Round 3.
Healthy Ireland is funded by the Department of Health and administered by POBAL and the Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) and the Children and Young Persons Services Committee (CYPSC) in each Local Authority area.
A total of €30,000 is available. The Scheme offers small grants for projects with a minimum spend of €2000 and up to a maximum of €5000. The grant period will run until 30th June 2021
Closing date for applications is:
10pm, Wednesday 30th September 2020
2. Who is eligible to apply?
· Any not-for-profit Community, Voluntary, Sporting group working in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown administrative area can apply.
Please note commercial organisations, individuals, statutory organisations and schools are not eligible for funding.
3. Eligible projects
3a. What projects are eligible?
Eligible actions must fall under the Healthy Ireland Fund Theme 2 Mental Health and be aligned with relevant national and local strategy/policy documents, published by government See below:
The following provides a non-exhaustive list of indicative actions that could receive funding under the programme
· Wellbeing activities
· Creative arts programmes / Play programmes
· Family Support projects
· Educational initiatives
· Actions supporting the implementation of ‘Connecting for Life’
· Infant and children’s mental health initiatives
· Mental Health training through partnerships/collaboration
· Initiatives to improve living well with a chronic condition
· Social Prescribing
Target groups
The following are the priority target groups identified under Healthy Ireland Round 3:
· Disadvantaged communities / -men and women / -families, including one parent families
· Children and young people
· People with disabilities, including people mental health issues
· Unemployed young people and adults
· Traveller and Roma communities
· New communities, asylum seekers and refugees
· LGBTI communities
· Homeless people
· Older people
· People with chronic health conditions
3b. What is not eligible for funding?
The following types of actions / costs will not be supported:
· Actions not aligned to Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025, relevant thematic policies and local strategies.
· Actions which duplicate the creation of materials or services that already exist on a wider systemic or national level.
· Actions that provide a competitive advantage to private enterprises e.g. purchasing equipment in privately owned facilities.
· The delivery of services in a setting that is not inclusive of the target community or charges a fee to participants. However, a voluntary contribution is acceptable.
· Actions which are not in line with Department of Education and Skills Circular 0043/2018, for example: the delivery of once-off/short term basis student talks in relation to any aspect of SPHE, PE or health and wellbeing (including mental/ emotional health).
· The development of new health and wellbeing programmes or resources for schools. A range of resources already exist, and new ones are currently in development by the Department of Education and Skills and the HSE.
· Any day-to-day expenses (i.e. current or operating costs)
· Legal fees
· Project management fees
· Capital / Building Projects
· Feasibility studies
· Private or commercial operations
· Entertainment costs
· Existing rental costs
· Retrospective costs i.e. expenditure incurred before the date the grant is approved
· Equipment costs with a high budget allocated to equipment
4. Requirements of the Programme
The following conditions apply to all projects.
4.1 Constitution Documents
4.1.1 Organisations must have a Constitution / Rules or in the case of Companies Memorandum &
Articles of Association.
4.1.2 All organisations must register with the Public Participation Network in order to draw down
funding.
4.2 Insurance
Organisations need to ensure adequate and necessary insurance to operate and deliver the project, to operate its business and to cover all liabilities arising in relation to the project.
4.3 Data Protection
Organisations need to have a robust data protection policy and procedures in place to ensure they are fully complaint with the data protection legislation.
4.4 Child Protection
4.4.1 Organizations must comply with
National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012-2016, where it is mandatory for people working with children or vulnerable adults to be vetted by the Garda Síochána National Vetting Bureau. Workers include staff, volunteers and those on student placement working for a relevant organisation through which they have access to children and or vulnerable adults.
4.4.2 Organisation providing services to and/or involving children, shall comply with
The Children First Act 2015 which contains key child protection measures which includes but is not limited to the Child Safeguarding Statement.
4.5 Project Timeline
All projects must be delivered, and expenditure incurred between Date of grant offer and 30th June 2021.
5. Selection Criteria
Applications will be evaluated by the DLR Healthy Ireland Steering Committee to ensure eligibility along the following assessment criteria:
· Meets goals of HI framework, (HIF) Mental Health Theme – in particular any objectives not yet already funded
· Target Groups
· Focus on Area of Disadvantage and/or Disadvantaged Communities
· Wider Community Benefit
· Partnership / Collaboration
6. Corporate Governance
6a. Monitoring:
Grantees will be required to comply with the highest standard of transparency and accountability as documented in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 13/2014 – Management
of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds http://circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/per/2014/13.pdf
The overall principle is that there should be transparency and accountability in the management of public funds, in line with economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The circular outlines, for example, that grant recipients should not dispose of publicly funded assets without prior approval.
6b. The Code of Governance for Community and Voluntary organisations
The Department is encouraging funded bodies to adopt the Governance Code, a Code of Practice for Good Governance of Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations, which will assist in achieving excellence in all areas of your work. The Governance Code asks organisations to agree to operate to key principles in order to run their organisation more effectively in areas such as leadership, transparency and accountability and behaving with integrity. Further information on the Code is available at
www.governancecode.ie
7. Approval Procedures
All applications for funding under this programme received by the LCDC will be reviewed and assessed to ensure consistency with the selection criteria as set out in 5.
In deciding the final allocations of funding to projects, the LCDC may take account of several factors including geographical balance and the desirability to fund a variety of different projects and the relative disadvantage of the area.
The decision of the LCDC is final and no appeals will be considered.
Following the decision each approved project, subject to the completion of legal formalities and other requirements, will receive an offer in principle of grant-aid. This will be subject to compliance with the relevant conditions and subject to the satisfactory acceptance by the applicant of that offer.
Notification as to the outcome of applications will be sent to applicants no later than the end of October 2020.
The right is reserved to reassign the funds offered to another approved project if all requirements are not met within a reasonable period.
The Department and/or POBAL and/or the Local Authority reserve the right to carry out an audit of expenditure or conduct inspections from time to time.
Please Note:
Requests for assistance usually exceed the funds available and it is important therefore that the process of evaluation is rigorous. The purpose of this process is to ensure that the best projects, taking all factors into account, emerge and receive support. It is Departmental policy to ensure that every application is treated fairly and impartially.
Offers of funding may be for a lesser amount than that sought by the applicant. Applicants should be aware that the Programme may be oversubscribed. Therefore, in such circumstances, all applications fulfilling the conditions may not be successful or may be for a lesser amount.
8. General
The information provided in this document is intended to give applicants an understanding of the process by which applications for funding are assessed and approved and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.
Freedom of Information Act 2014
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, details contained in applications and supporting documents may, on request, be released to third parties. If there is information contained in your application which is sensitive or confidential in nature, please identify it and provide an explanation as to why it should not be disclosed. If a request to release sensitive information under the legislation is received, you will be consulted before a decision is made whether to release the information. However, in the absence of the identification of information as sensitive, it could be disclosed without any consultation with you.
Site Visits
The Department and/or Pobal, Local Authority or LCDC may carry out unannounced site visits to verify compliance with Programme terms and conditions.
Further information may be requested
The LCDC reserves the right to request further information from you in order to assess your application if so required.
Usage of information
The information provided on the form will be utilised for the purposes of evaluating and administering the grant process, and to facilitate audits and any site visits. When evaluating the applications received, the LCDC may seek advice and consult with other agencies and may disclose information on projects under consideration to those experts and agencies.
Other
Applicants may use match funding for projects/activities although that is not a requirement of this grant.
9. How to apply
The online application form is detailed and is designed to ensure that it has the necessary information to evaluate each proposal accurately and fairly. Please ensure that you complete all sections of the online application form in full and provide any additional documents requested.
Only projects that meet the criteria outlined above will be considered eligible.
PLEASE NOTE THAT INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS OR LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
No extension to the closing date will be granted.
Submission of false or misleading information at any stage is treated very seriously. Any organisation that does not comply with the terms and conditions of the Programme may be subject to inspection, have their grant withdrawn, be required to repay all or part of a grant and/or be barred from making applications in the future.
For any queries please email: HealthyDLR@sspship.ie