1. Funding

1. Funding

Funding Information

Cosc was established to co-ordinate the state’s response to the issues of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Cosc does not provide funding for the running of services for victims. Service providers can access funding for capital, staffing and running costs from a number of sources, including the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Cosc provides funding for the following activities;

• Awareness Raising Activities 
• Perpetrator Intervention Programmes 

On this page you will also find information about other sources of funding 

Awareness Raising Activities

Cosc has a clear objective to raise awareness about the nature and extent of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and the services available for those experiencing these forms of violence; and to identify and change the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to these forms of violence.

Cosc currently funds a range of awareness raising activity. Some of this activity is being developed directly by Cosc in partnership with many organisations at national level, and other activity is happening at local level, funded through a grant scheme.

In 2009 Cosc awarded €251,000 in grant funding to 56 groups. Funding was made available to advertise services locally, to produce information materials such as leaflets and posters and for activities designed to raise awareness of issues surrounding sexual and domestic violence. Cosc has now completed its grant funding scheme for 2009. 

Cosc strives to support the improvement of awareness raising through the implementation of a clear communications strategy and through transparent and fair funding procedures. All successful grant recipients are subject to audit by Cosc and may also be audited by the Department of Justice and Law Reform’s Internal Audit Unit.

The closing date for the 2010 Cosc Grant Scheme for Awareness Raising of domestic, sexual and gender based violence was 30th April 2010.  Cosc are currently assessing the applications received and decisions will be notified to applicants during June 2010.

Organisations that receive funding under this scheme are required to comply with requirements regarding the use of the Cosc logo, please click here: Cosc Brand Guidelines 2010  for our Brand Guidelines.  Successful applicants are also required to acknowledge NDP funding, and to comply with the guidelines regarding the use of the NDP logo which can be found here: NDP Guidelines. and to complete evaluations of the work that was funded, using techniques outlined in the Guidance Manual 2010 . 

 

Auditing of grants under the Cosc Grant Scheme

Cosc recognises the burden of financial management and 'form-filling' but  we are obliged to ensure that taxpayers money is well spent. We try to ensure that our systems meet our obligations while not overburdening already stretched organisations.

In any event, we have to have a method of ensuring that the grant aid is being spent appropriately. The first part of this process is the information that applicants include on the application form, using the Grant Guidance Manual to help them. It's very important that this is done properly, using the Manual as a guide. Some activities are eligible for grant aid and some are not, and this is set out in the Manual. A properly completed form also helps the grant assessment team to fully and quickly ascertain the correct level of grant that each applicant should be paid.

The second part of the process is the audit process. Each year a certain number of grant applications will be selected for full audit on the basis of amount granted, geographical location, previous audit performance and random selection. The groups selected will be asked to send in all invoices and proofs of payments associated with expenditure of money received. The audit of successful grant applicants who received grant aid in 2008 took place during the Spring of 2009. The majority of the organisations audited had spent the money granted appropriately or had a plan to spend any funds remaining at the time of audit. Grant recipients who were not fully audited were required to account for the money they received by completing a written form. The audit of successful grant applicants who received grant aid in 2009 is currently underway.

It is worth remembering that

• grant aid must be spent on the activities outlined in the application form
• grant aid for a specific year must be used and accounted for before further grant aid will be paid out

We keep all these processes under review to make sure that we are striking the right balance between accountability and burden. Our aim is a fair transparent system which works for everyone and gets information on services to the victim as efficiently as possible.

Perpetrator Intervention Programmes

One of Cosc’s key tasks is to ensure that there is a system of appropriate interventions to change the attitudes and behaviour of perpetrators of domestic violence in conjunction with measures to support the victims of their violence while this change is made. At present there are some 17 intervention programmes which deal with clients referred in a variety of ways, including self-referral and by court mandate. These programmes, which receive funding from Cosc, are run by three different organisations throughout the country.

In August 2008, a leading expert on domestic violence perpetrator intervention programmes was contracted to map the current programmes and consider them in the light of best international practice as well as the geographic areas which they cover. The experts report has been recieved and has fed into the development of proposals for further evidence-based policy in this area.

A Perpetrator intervention programme committee, comprising representatives from Cosc and intervention programmes has been established and will meet quarterly during 2010 to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Other Funding

While Cosc’s funding is confined to awareness-raising and perpetrator intervention programmes, it is possible to obtain funding from various other national and supra-national organisations.

Other funding opportunities may be available for organisations from the European Commission under the Daphne III programme.

Daphne III

The general objective of Daphne III is to contribute to the protection of children, young people and women against all forms of violence and to attain a high level of health protection, well-being and social cohesion. These general objectives will contribute to the development of Community policies, in particular those related to public health, human rights and gender equality, as well as actions aimed at protection of children's rights, and the fight against trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation.

The programme's specific objective is to contribute to the prevention of, and the fight against, all forms of violence occurring in the public or the private domain against children, young people and women, including sexual exploitation and trafficking in human beings, by taking preventive measures and by providing support and protection for victims and groups at risk.

The programme will achieve its objectives by means of transnational actions (grant funding), the Commission's own-initiated actions (contracts) or operating grants to NGOs, which aims will be to:

• assisting and encouraging NGOs and other organisations active in this field;
• developing and implementing targeted awareness-raising actions;
• disseminating results obtained under Daphne;
• actions contributing to positive treatment of people at risk;
• setting up and supporting multidisciplinary networks;
• expansion of the knowledge base and exchange, identification and dissemination of information and good practice;
  designing and testing awareness-raising and educational materials;
• studying phenomena related to violence and its impact;
• developing and implementing support programmes for victims and people at risk and intervention programmes for perpetrators.

Daphne III has recently accounced Calls for Proposals for action grants 2009/2010. The deadline for applications was 30th April 2010. Please check the European Union website (EUROPA) Daphne page for further information.  http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/daphne3/funding_daphne3_en.htm

Projects require a minimum partnership of 2 organisations from different EU member states and must have a duration of 12 or 24 months.The programme is open to participation by NGOs, local public authorities and institutions (mainly universities and research institutes) from the 27 EU Member States, the EFTA/EEA countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), the candidate countries and the Western Balkan states. They must be legally constituted public or private organisations and institutions and non profit making.

Grants awarded under the call will range from € 75.000 to € 300.000 for 12-month projects and from € 150.000 to € 600.000 for 24-month projects, which may constitute a maximum of 80% of overall eligible project cost.The projects should start in the first half of 2011.

The call for proposals priorities for 2009/10 are:

• Street and peer violence – Identification of best practices, recommendations, education
  and campaigns involving young people on the issues of street violence, youth violence and
  related lifestyle issues such as drug and alcohol abuse and weapon-carrying.
• Media violence – Targeted educational programmes and activities designed to increase
  children, young people and/or women's understanding of the potentially negative impacts
  of new technologies and to educate them on risks and solutions with the aim to ensure their
  well being and safety.
• Corporal punishment of children – Awareness-raising and educational materials
  addressing the issue of corporal punishment of children in their homes and/or in
  institutional or quasi-institutional settings throughout Europe.
• Capacity building of law enforcement agents and legal practitioners related to
  intimate partner violence – Training and exchange of experiences with the view of
  building the capacity of practitioners in the law enforcement, judicial and para-legal fields
  to assist women victims of intimate partner violence when in contact with the police or
  judicial system.
• Field work at grass-roots level with involvement of children, young people and/or
  women, in particular programmes that aim to empower them to protect themselves and
  their peers against violence. Such programmes might specifically include training,
  counselling, formal and informal support group mechanisms and innovative ideas for
  developing a protective environment for children, young people and women.

The Daphne Toolkit is also available on the Daphne pages of EUROPA.  The Daphne Toolkit is both an archive of projects supported by the Daphne Programme and an active resource for those planning new projects in this field.  Organisations interested in applying for Daphne funding are strongly encouraged to visit the Daphne Toolkit to learn from past experiences. The tool kit can be viewed here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/daphnetoolkit/html/welcome/dpt_welcome_en.html