SWIF - Social Welfare Initiative Fund

The idea to establish a specialised fund came into existence in 1994 along with initial information on the possible utilisation of Structural Funds following the accession of the Czech Republic into the EU. During 1996 the "Instructions for applicants for contribution from SWIF" were developed. These instructions SWIF define as:

A specialised fund supporting initiatives of non-governmental organisations (civic associations, charities, etc.) which focus on the promotion of social care and training of social workers and managers and which follow the Government‘s social policy, working in co-operation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. Activities of the fund run under the Phare programme of the European Union.

The intention of SWIF was to make a contribution to decentralisation of social services by bringing together non-governmental organisations and local authorities, and to endorse opportunities for the expansion of new forms and methods in this area. (The fund had to be focused regionally, therefore the district was chosen as an administrative unit for the first pilot rounds.)

Resources of the fund were designed to finance selected projects focusing particularly on:

improvement of quality in the sphere of social services replacing those provided by the Government,

experimental introduction of new forms of social services and assistance supplementing those provided by the Government,

improvement of professional standards of social workers and management of non-governmental organisations.

On the basis of a recommendation from the relevant district/city/local council, an exception was made and financial support provided for an activity other than those listed above, provided that it is associated or comparable with them.

When applying for financial support for their projects, non-governmental organisations had to present an application, project draft, budget and time schedule for implementation of the project aiming to provide the above mentioned services and activities. Applications could be submitted by all non-governmental organisations, i.e. civic associations, foundations, foundation funds, charities, religious organisations and other non-governmental organisations, provided that they are officially recognised, have the necessary legal capacity and were established with the purpose of providing social services. Non-governmental organisations which do not engage in the provision of social services could also apply for a contribution however, if their project was associated with a social service or activity.

All realised projects fulfilled the above mentioned requirements. In the 1st round two districts were selected - Tábor and Olomouc - in which 20 projects were implemented. In the following 2nd round the number of districts was increased to six - Tábor, Olomouc, Brno-city, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ostrava-city - and 60 projects were implemented. The total budget of the projects in the 1st and 2nd rounds was 1,264,165 ECU.

Using the experience of the projects from the 1st and 2nd rounds and their follow up evaluation, the project team elaborated upon the "Monitoring and Assessment Methodology for Further Development of the SWIF Fund and its Grant Policy". This methodology was used for the projects in the 3rd round. The 3rd round was launched in ten districts: Jeseník, Karviná, Kutná Hora, Liberec, Písek, Plzeň-city, Praha 11, Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Vsetín and Žďár nad Sázavou. The Instructions for applicants for contribution from SWIF were updated and a new system of organisation for the whole round based on responsibility of individual project managers for individual districts was developed. Part of the preparation was the realisation of practical workshops for the applicants for contribution which was organised in the individual districts. The objective of workshops was to improve skills of NGO’s staff in the field of project elaboration and thus increase the ratio of good projects. Submitted projects proved that the quality had increased significantly from earlier rounds. This also made the work of the Evaluation Committee more purposeful. 46 projects were selected in the 3rd round. These projects were compared with the donation activities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and approved by the Steering Committee of Phare Social Protection Programmes. The total budget of the projects in the 3rd round was 475,000 EUR.

SWIF co-operated with selected experts from the social field. These experts were guarantors of the professionalism of SWIF activities. Experts participated on the project supervision, project evaluation and other activities in which they use their extensive practical experiences.