Grupo Chorlaví

1. These Regulations of the Mink'a de Chorlaví Fund, hereafter the Fund, lay down the rules and procedures to carry out the Fund’s Project Competition and for the undertaking of projects subject to co-financing by the Fund. The official version of this document appears in Grupo Chorlaví’s web site (www.GrupoChorlavi.org), hereafter the Group, including the changes the Group’s Council may introduce from time to time.

II. OBJECTIVE

2. The Mink’a de Chorlaví Fund is a mechanism for an annual call for projects with the objective of financing systemization or investigation projects related to the innovative transformation of institutions and/or production in Latin American rural societies, within the framework of a social learning cycle. A social learning cycle is understood to be a set of activities involving systematization, critical reflection, dialogue, communication and documentation, among other activities that, through a systematic, analytical and integral process, is aimed at providing the answers to the questions formulated on a specific and relevant issue.

III. ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS

3. All bids must necessarily include a Coordinating Organization and can also include one or more Co-executing Organizations. The Coordinating Organization (i) represents before the Fund, the group of organizations that will design and implement the project (ii) signs the Agreement if awarded the bid, and consequently, is legally responsible for its execution, (iii) receives matching resources contributed by the Fund manages and accounts for them, and (iv) submits reports.

4. Any public or private organization existing as a legal entity in any Latin America or Caribbean Country can participate by submitting projects to the Fund’s Calls for Projects. The Coordinating Organizations for each project cannot be for profit entities. However, these organizations can participate as Co-executing Organizations.

5. The same organization, participating as Coordinating Organization, can only be awarded one project per Call. If the same Coordinating Organization submits two or more projects to the same Call, only one of them can be chosen to receive support from the Fund. The same organization can participate as Co-Executing Organization in as many projects as it deems convenient. The same organization can be the Coordinating Organization of one project and Co-Executing Organization of one or more additional projects.

IV. OBLIGATIONS PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS ANSWERING THE CALL

6. Organizations that participate in projects submitted to the Fund’s Call for Projects, either as project coordinators or co-executors, are bound as participants to comply with these Regulations, in the Call and in future Agreements that will be signed for carrying out the project. Above all, these organizations commit to carrying out the projects in accordance with the bid submitted for the Call and to participate actively in the activities concerning comparative analysis and communication of results that will be carried out as part of the social learning project cycle.

V. RECEPTION OF QUERIES

7. Once the Regulations and the Call for Projects have been published and within 20 days before the deadline for submitting of bids, interested parties can send their queries and request for clarifications on specific aspects of the Regulation or the Call. Queries must be sent to the address indicated on the Group’s Website and at the end of these Regulations. The queries and their answers will be published on the Group’s Website.

8. Queries requesting the Fund’s opinion on a particular bid’s eligibility, contents or quality will not be answered.

VI. BID FORM

(a) Title Page. including(i) title of the project; (ii) full name, acronym and country of the project’s Coordinating Organization; (iii) complete name of person in charge of the bid in the Coordinating Organization, as well as his/her address, telephone, fax and e-mail address; (iv) if applicable, the full name, acronym and country of each projects Co-Executing Organization.

(b) Executive Summary. The summary must include a summary of: (i) justification of project (Why is it important to carry out this project?); (ii) its direct and indirect beneficiaries (Who is interested in the project?); (iii) objectives and expected outputs (What results are expected from the project?); and (iv) methodology (How will these results be achieved?). Likewise, the total cost of the project and the total matching funds requested from the Fund in US dollars will be indicated in a brief paragraph, as well as the total period of time, in months, planned for implementing the project. Finally, the last paragraph of the executive summary must include the names of the Coordinating and Co-Executing Organizations, their country of official record and whether or not they are non-profit private organizations.

(c) Background and Justification. Four questions that must be answered in this part of the proposal: (i) Why and for whom is this project important?; (ii) What is the background to this project? (studies or existing development projects, political or social events that motivate or make research urgent, etc.); (iii) How does this project complement or add value to other ongoing projects and initiatives?; (iv) How is the project clearly and directly related to the Topic of the Fund’s Call for Projects?

(d) General and specific objectives. The general objective refers to the broader development purpose to which the project will contribute. Specific objectives must be planned in the most concrete and possible way and must be. In order for the project to be declared elegible and evaluated, the general objectives and specific objectives must be clearly and directly related to the “Project Guiding Questions” shown in the 2006 Call.

(e) Project methodology. This section of the document-project must answer the following question: How are the general and specific objectives of the project going to be achieved? The methodology must be presented in various sections, each dealing with one of the specific objectives. For each specific objective, the bid must clearly describe: (i) methods to be used (for example “in order to attain the specific objective of analysing the productive resources controlled by women, the Participative Rural Analysis will be used...”); (ii) the main activities to be carried out or the tools that will be used (e.g., an activity can be: “A workshop will be held with a group of 10 community women and physicians to identify the main causes of child malnutrition in the area...” The tool applied can be: "An opinion survey among all extensionists that work in the area"); (iii) who will carry out each of the activities? (for example, evaluating the results of Traditional Tillage Method Trials carried out by Peasant Monitors together with NGO technicians”); and (iv) Results and final or partial outcomes obtained during each activity or set of activities (for example, "Community Resources Maps will be obtained according to gender and age of village community members ”). It is useful to include the following type of methodology summary table:

(f) Schedule. A table or diagram indicating the beginning and ending months of the main activities, and the month when the main outcomes will be available. The project (including the final reports) must be ready not later than 12 months after the signing of the agreement.

(g) Budget. The budget must be prepared in dollars of the United States of America. The following is the required budget form:

(i) Personnel includes salaries and wages, fees and the corresponding taxes, social security, etc.

(ii) Operation Expenses include direct costs of all goods and services required to carry out the project activities, except investments.

(iii) Investments include costs of all movable and real estate property to be purchased to meet the project’s direct needs. It includes purchase of vehicles or computer or audiovisual equipment. The Fund will NOT provide funds for financial investments.

(iv) Administrative Expenses include costs of direct or indirect support services required by the project (office, accounting, secretarial backup, electric power, documentation or library services, etc.)

(v) Contingencies may run to a maximum 5% of Operations. The project coordinator can earmark these monies to Personnel or Operations without Fund authorization. Their use or allocation must be explained ex post in the project’s financial report.

(vi) “Other Contributions” includes expenses financed by participating institutions in the project and/or those that will be financed by other sources.

(vii) The total contribution requested from the Fund must be equal to or under US$ 15,000 for projects to be implemented in one country, or US$ 20,000 for projects to be implemented in two or more countries.

(h) Annexes. The project will include two annexes: (i) Annex on Institutional Experience of the participating organizations, describing the experience of participating institutions or entities since January 2000. (ii) Annex of Resumes of Main Personnel that will participate in the project (no more than three pages long).

10. Project proposals may be submitted in Spanish, Portuguese, English or French.

11. The total length of the proposals including cover page and all annexes must not exceed 15,000 words (approximately 30 pages). The Group reserves the right not accept or process proposals exceeding this limit.

VII. RECEPTION AND DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS

12. Candidates must send their proposals and all attached documents required in these regulations to the address mentioned on the final part of these Regulations within the deadline indicated in the following section. Acceptance after the deadline or incomplete proposals will provide sufficient grounds to disqualify the bid. No technical, physical, legal or administrative impediment affecting the candidate will be accepted as grounds to avoid disqualification of the bid, even if due to force majeure and against the candidate’s will.

13. The deadline for submission of bid and all attached documents is Friday, September 29, 2006, at 13:00 PM, Santiago, Chile time.

14. Proposals must include the following documents in order to be received and admitted to the Call:

(a) Document-Project and annexes: If sent by air mail or courier, a printed copy and a computer file, in 3 1/2" floppy disk or CD ROM, of main document and annexes. If sent by e-mail, one or more attachments to the computer file the comprising main document and annexes.

(b) Letter of Undertaking of Coordinating Organization: The letter of undertaking must indicate: (i) That the organization identified with its full name, commits itself to sign the respective agreement and to implement the project if awarded the funds; (ii) that the organization commits itself to contribute to the project’s financing as established in the projects budget; (iii) that the organization knows and accepts the terms of the Regulations and the Mink'a de Chorlaví Fund Call for Projects; (iv) the organizations legal status and official country of record, clearly expressing that said organization is a non-profit private organization. This letter of undertaking must be signed by an authorized representative to make commitments on behalf of the organization. Original copies of the letter of undertaking must be included if the proposal is sent by air mail or courier. If sent by e-mail, the letters can be sent by fax together with a cover letter clearly indicating the corresponding bid.

15. The bids and their annexes must be submitted in electronic word format, version 2000, for PC. Do not include tables, images or graphics increasing the size of the file above 500 to 700 kilobytes.

VIII. EVALUATION OF BIDS ACCORDING TO ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

16. Proposals received within the deadline mentioned in the previous chapter will be evaluated by personnel hired by the Fund to ensure they comply with the following eligibility criteria:

(a) Complete documentation according to the Regulations. All proposals must include all documents requested, i.e.: (i) main document in the form indicated in these Regulations; (ii) attachments to the main document; (iii) letter of undertaking by the project’s Coordinating Organization.

(d) Type of Coordinating Organization. The organization acting as project coordinator must be legally registered in a Latin American or Caribbean country and not act as a for-profit private company.

(e) Project on Call topic. Background, objectives, expected outputs and methodology of the project indicate that bid complies with the terms of the Call for Projects.

(f) Project matches the Group’s interest. Projects must be initiatives to systematize experiences (political, public or private investments, programs, projects, etc.) dealing with the topic of the Call for Projects. The following proposals will not be eligible: academic research or development action projects lacking experience systematisation.

17. Proposals shall be automatically disqualified as their main component if they fail to meet a single eligibility criterion.

IX. MERIT-BASED EVALUATION OF/ BIDS

18. All eligible proposals shall be read and evaluated by at least two anonymous reviewers.

19. The merit of each bid shall be established according to the following criteria:

(a) The general clarity and quality of the proposal. This factor shall be measured taking the following aspects into account: (i) the project must be well justified. The problem or issue addressed must be clearly and directly dealt with in the section “Background and Justification” of the proposal; (ii) the project’s direct and potential beneficiaries should be clearly and directly identified in the section “Background and Justification” of the proposal. In other words, what social sectors and/or agents and/or decision-makers have interest in the project and why; (iii) the purpose of the project must be clearly stated, that is, specific objectives, products and results must be clear, concrete and verifiable; (iv) the project’s methodology should be clear and intended to achieving specific systematisation-related objectives. It must include a sequential process and a critical reflection based on one or more development experiences, address a question or pre-identified concern, involving local actors and aimed at generating lessons learned to help improve the action itself as well as to contribute to expand knowledge; (v) the project should have internal coherence. There must be a direct and logical relationship between the problem addressed by the project, the general objective, the specific objectives, the methodology, outputs and results, schedule and budget. A top score of 17 points will be awarded under this criterion.

(b) The innovative nature of systematized experience(s) and its (their) potential important lessons. The Fund emphasizes applied research and research-action projects systematizing concrete development experiences introducing innovative strategies, approaches, concepts, methods, types of organization and other aspects of public interest. Simultaneously, proposals systematizing experiences of major interest for Latin America will be favored. They must have the potential of showing conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of use for a significant number of agents involved in other development experiences. A top score of 18 points will be awarded under this criterion.

(c) The treatment of the issue of equity between the various sectors of the population involved in the experience which shall be systematized through the project, including rural men and women. Consequently, the Group prioritizes those proposals which contain an explicit and straightforward treatment of the issue of equity, i.e. (i) they refer to concrete initiatives that have had an impact on the effects and results of the international migration within the territory of origin taking into account issues of equity amongst rural populations, and/or (ii) that in the analysis of the effects and results of the international migration, consideration is given to the way in which these are distributed between the various sectors of the rural population (for example, by focusing on the equity of gender or ethnicity). The maximum points awarded for this criterion is 16.

(d) The experience of the team executing the project regarding the development of systematization, applied research and research-action projects. This criterion includes the institutional experience as well as the experience of the individuals that play a key role in the project. The Coordinating Organization and the individuals involved the project must have experience in projects related to international migration and its effect on the territory of origin. The maximum points awarded for this criterion is 16.

(e) Focus of Attention. The Group prefers to support projects executed in or directly benefiting territories with a high incidence of rural poverty and high incidence of natural resource deterioration processes. Likewise, a higher score will be assigned to projects implemented together with or directly benefiting traditionally excluded social sectors, such as women, extreme poverty strata, native or Afro-American communities, young people. A top score of 10 points will be awarded under this criterion.

(f) Relationship between complementarity and “added value” of the proposed project with respect to other ongoing activities and projects carried out by participating organizations. In order to apply this criterion, the project must clearly represent an additional and different action, yet complementary, to ongoing ones and not just an increase in the amount or intensity or coverage of activities underway or already foreseen. A top score of 10 points wil be awarded under this criterion.

(g) Collaboration and cooperation in diversity. The Group is interested in promoting cooperation and dialog among various organizations. This diversity occurs when organizations come from different countries (or different regions in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina); when they focus on different topics (for example, micro-credit and the preservation of natural resources); or because they represent different types of organizations (NGO collaborating with universities). A top score of 10 points will be awarded under this criterion.

(h) Contribution of candidates to the project’s co-financing. The Group only complements the project’s financing. The higher the total budget percentage of the project coming from other guaranteed sources, the higher the score will be assigned to this criterion. To apply this criterion, only the contribution of participants to financing the project’s direct costs will be taken into account (i.e. contributions to general costs, administration costs or overhead are excluded). A top score of 3 points will be awarded under this criterion.

20. It is the candidates’ responsibility to make sure their proposals include relevant and sufficient information to allow reviewers to apply these criteria. Reviewers will review and give their opinions on each proposal based on the information it includes. If the information is insufficient or ambiguous, revisors will assume non-compliance of criteria.

21. Scores awarded to each bid by each of the two assessors and their reasons for doing so will be recorded in writing. The score of each bid in each merit criterion shall be the simple average of the scores awarded by each assessor. In case of significant differences (more than 20%) between two assessors in the score of the same project, a third independent opinion will be sought, if and when at least one of the original assessors has awarded a total score of 55 points or more to the bid. The third evaluation will be considered in the final selection process.

X. PROJECT AWARD BY SELECTION CRITERIA

22. Proposals chosen by the Group Committee to receive co-financing resources will be those achieving a high and even score, i.e.:

(a) They have obtained a score equivalent to at least 55% of the score achieved by the best qualified project under this criterion according to the merit criteria described in paragraphs 19(a), 196(b), 19(c), 19(d) and19(e).

(b) They have obtained a total score equal to or greater than 55% of the score obtained by the bid with the highest total score.

23. Within this project group, the Fund’s resources will be allocated in strict order of merit until all available Fund resources for the Call for Projects are exhausted.

24. The Committee may omit the criterion of priority according to total score to achieve better balance among the different geographical regions of Latin America and the Caribbean[1] and to favour the inclusion of Rural Organizations and Social Organizations. The Committee may consider that attribution as long as the difference in the total score of the two or more projects under discussion in the selection stage is less than or equal to 20 points.

XI: INFORMATION ON THE RESULTS OF THE CALL FOR PROJECTS

25. After the evaluation and awarding process, the Group will publish the main documents of all results duly received within the call deadlines on its Website. The winning projects of the call will be determined projects. Thirty days as of public announcement of the Call for Projects, representatives of Coordinating Organizations can request the Fund evaluation copies of their respective project brief evaluations. It is expressly stated that the Group will not provide explanations or additional information other than the arguments consigned by the reviewers in written in said project briefs.

XII. AGREEMENTS

26. An agreement will be signed for the implementation of the project between RIMISP and the coordinating organization, which will be entirely responsible for the performance of the agreement. .

27. RIMISP will transfer the funds in dollars of the United States of America to the banking account of the contracting organization, at the exchange rate of the working day previous to the date the transfer is made. RIMISP will transfer 40% of the total donation in a maximum period of time of seven working days after signing the agreement. An additional 30% will be transferred after reception and acceptance of Progress Report. The final 30% will be transferred after reception and acceptance of Final Financial and Technical Reports.

28. Inherent risks due to fluctuations in exchange rates between the Euro and the Canadian Dollar (currency established for donations of IDRC and ICCO that allow creation of the Fund), the US Dollar, (currency used by the Fund and in which RIMISP will transfer the funds to the Coordinating Organizations of each project), and the different local currency used by participants of each project will be entirely the responsibility of participating institutions in each project. Neither RIMISP, the Fund, IDRC or ICCO, will assume or finance losses originated from exchange rate fluctuations.

XIII. REPORTS

29. During the seventh month after the signing of the Agreement, the Coordinating Organization will submit a brief narrative report (10 pages at most) to RIMISP, accounting for the first six months of the project in terms of: (i) the main adjustments to the proposal due to the inclusion of the common questions presented in the coordinators’ workshop, (ii) definition and justification of the systematization focus, (iii) definition of explicit hypotheses and/or work, (iv) progress in reconstruction of the process (if it has gotten to this level), (v) activities programmed and carried out, (vi) activities programmed and not carried out or delayed, (vii) main problems that may have arisen and how they were solved, (viii) the main actions planned for the next six months, and (ix) a brief reflection on the progress of the project.

30. Upon project conclusion and no later than December 31, 2007, the Coordinating Organization will submit a Financial Report to RIMISP, signed by the Legal Representative and the Official in Charge of Finances or Accounting. The Financial Report shall be submitted using a standard form determined by RIMISP, which will be made known before subscription of the Agreement..

31. Upon conclusion of project and no later than December 31, 2007, the Coordinating Organization will submit a Final Technical Report to RIMISP. This report will be published in a specialized magazine, therefore the format used shall be in one or more magazine article styles. Format instructions for writing these Articles will be published on the Group’s Website, no later than four months before submission of reports. Final articles can be rejected if they do not comply with this format.

XIV. ACTIVITIES SUBSEQUENT TO IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECTS

32. After reception of final technical reports (articles), a process to analytically compare the results of different projects will be organized, obtain and compile results, conclusions and general recommendations that can be applicable to a wider universe than the one analyzed separately in each project. Coordinating and Co-executing Organizations of projects backed by the Fund commit themselves and are bound to participate in comparative analysis activities. Likewise, they must contribute with the necessary personnel time within sensible range.

33. Upon conclusion of comparative analysis, the Group will design and carry out a strategic communication process concerning the results of each Call. The purpose is for all decision-makers who have a particular interest on the issue of each Call to have access to results. Coordinating and Co-executing Organizations commit themselves and are bound to allow the Group the free use of partial and final reports, of the articles and of any other intermediate or final product generated by their projects.

XV. FUNCTIONS AND COMPETENCE DURING THE CALL

34. The Group Committee shall be in charge of managing and supervising the entire process established in this Regulation. In particular, it will approve any modification to this Regulation, selectively revise all reports made by the anonymous reviewers to guarantee their competence and objectiveness and apply awarding criteria in order to decide which products will be co-financed by the Fund.

35. All decisions adopted by the Group Committee at any time during the general reception process, revision, pre-selection, evaluation, selection or engagement of research projects or during revision and acceptance of Financial and partial and final Technical reports will be final and will not be subject to appeal or additional revision. The Committee is not bound to justify its decisions.

XVI. GENERAL RULES

36. All program documentation and official notices will be published at http://www.GrupoChorlavi.org. Participants and interested parties are encouraged to visit this Website from time to time to be updated on the progress of the program and on future decisions that could modify what is established in this document. Modifications published on the Website will be effective as of their e-publication.

37. Any situation not properly covered in this Call shall be resolved by the Group Committee.

38. During project implementation or after the final technical and financial reports have been received, RIMISP personnel and Group Committee members, or their representatives, will visit institutions in charge of projects to analyze their progress with them.

39. Articles submitted to the Group in compliance with requirements on final technical reports shall be edited, published, printed and distributed by the Group or third parties engaged for said edition, publication or distribution. It will also be published on the Internet. Distribution is not for profit. The Group legally and formally acknowledges the individual and institutional copyright of said documents according to international conventional standards. The Group reserves itself the right to publish said documents during a 12-month period from their reception and acceptance. After this period of time, authors are free to publish said texts.

XVII. ADDRESS

40. All communications addressed to the Fund, including proposals (document-project, document-project annexes and letters of undertaking), must be sent to:

Fondo Mink'a de Chorlaví
c/o RIMISP
Casilla 228 - Correo 22 - Santiago, Chile
Tel. +(56-2) 236 45 57 - Fax +(56-2) 236 45 58
concursochorlavi@rimisp.org

All the information sent by the Fund to interested parties, candidates or public in general will be published at http://www.GrupoChorlavi.org.

[1] For this purpose, the following are considered as regions: (i) Mexico and Central America (including Panama), (ii) the Caribbean, Belize, Surinam and Guyana, (iii) Andean Region (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), (iv) the Southern section (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay).

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