Direct Assistance 

Direct Assistance can be used as a flexible financing tool to respond to immediate, specific requests connected with VPA and non-VPA national strategy and needs, such as provision of training and technical assistance. Direct Assistance is available to governments and private sector organizations, and are accepted by the Programme on a rolling basis, for support up to EUR 50,000. Requests exceeding EUR 50 000 will be considered on a case-by-case basis and presented to the Steering Committee for a “no-objection”.

The Direct Assistance mechanism largely follows the same process in both VPA countries and countries not engaged in VPA:

1. Project identification: direct assistance requests are developed through a collaborative dialogue between FAO, the relevant government agency, the European Union representatives and the beneficiary organization. The Programme will be responsible for final approval and oversight of Direct Assistance requests.
2. Submission of Direct Assistance proposals:  after the identification phase, interested proponents submit a short proposal to the Programme Management Unit (PMU).

Here you can find the latest guidelines for direct assistance requests and the budget form.