In order to reflect the new Financial Regulation, that entered into force on 30 September 2024 (FR recast, 2024/2509), DG ECHO’s Humanitarian Aid Contractual Templates have now all been updated. This update concerns the templates for both the Humanitarian Aid Model Grant Agreement (MGA) and the Humanitarian Aid Contribution Agreement (HACA).

Based on this, as of January 2026, the only contractual templates to be used with all DG ECHO Partners are the MGA_2025 and HACA_2025. This cut-off date for using pre-existing contractual templates also excludes, in principle, the possibility under the 2026 HIPs to conclude top-ups to ongoing projects under the previous contractual models (i.e. from 2021).

A webinar presenting the new template of the annual report of SEAH allegations and of the findings results of the 2024 reporting exercise was held on 27th november. 

Please access the recording here. 

A new document 'Tips on how to reflect mainstreaming of disability inclusion in DG ECHO proposals' has been published. The document aims to guide partners to better mainstream disability inclusion into their proposals. The 2-pager identifies the key sections of the Single Form where disability inclusion mainstreaming should be addressed and provides tips on how to correctly feature disability considerations when filling it. The document is available on the Reference Documents page of the Website under the Single Form 2021 Section. 

We would like to inform our certified NGO partners that on the 1st of December 2025 the administrative part of the 2025 periodic assessment for ‘Partnership 2021’ will be launched in APPEL.

This exercise will close on the 31st of December. Please have a look at the Guidance - EU Humanitarian Partnership Certificate 2021, and if you have questions please contact DG ECHO at echo-appel@ec.europa.eu.

An updated version of the Single Form Guidelines is now available in the Reference Documents section. Revised versions of the KRI & KOI PowerPoint presentation and the Single Form WASH Indicators Guidance are also online.

An updated Visibility manual is also availalble. on the Reference Document visibility.  

As of 15 November, the requirement to provide a justification for financial transfers exceeding EUR 60,000 to third parties does no longer apply.

This change will apply to all new projects created in the e-Single Form from that date onwards.

 DG ECHO has updated the FAQs to enhance consistency and readability – please see them here. 

The open public consultation of ISG members for the EU Civil Society Strategy is now available here. It will run until the 5 September 2025.

A technical update of the ‘Provisions on medical and food supplies applicable to actions funded under the EU Humanitarian Partnership Certificate 2021 – 2027’ has been published. 

This revision does not entail a change in the rules but an adaptation of the definition of the obsolete concept of ‘stringent regulatory authority’ to the current WHO approach. Consequently, the concept and reference to ‘stringent regulatory authorities’ have been substituted with the reference to regulatory authorities certified for the highest level according to WHO, which are: ‘WHO Listed Authority (WLA)’ , ‘WHO transitional WLA’, or a ‘WHO National Regulatory Authority operating at maturity level 4’. This revision incorporate these definitions and updates the obsolete footnotes.

A new version of the Single Form Guidelines has been published, along with a note to partners outlining the implemented changes. These documents are now available on the Reference Documents page for NGOs, and on the Reference Documents page for IOs -  under the Single Form 2021 section. 

Please also refer to Annex I of the note, which provides an overview of the Minimum Requirements for Final Report Liquidation.

New FAQs have been published regarding Remaining Supplies (see FAQ 19) and Eligibility of Costs (see FAQs 141, 286, 287) and new updates concerning Temporarily Interruption-Activities Reduction (see FAQ 116) and Certified Financial Statements  - CFS -  (see FAQ 270) have also been made! You will find them listed in the FAQ page at this link. 

The recording of the second session of the  webinar "MGA Article 6.2.A Personnel costs - the 215 days method" is availalbe at this link.

The slides are availalbe at this link. 

The AGA – Annotated Grant Agreement is available on the Reference Documents page.

The recording of the webinar "MGA Article 6.2.A Personnel costs - the 215 days method" is availalbe at this link.

The slides are availalbe at this link. 

The AGA – Annotated Grant Agreement is available on the Reference Documents page.

DG ECHO and The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) have signed an agreement on disaster management.

This agreement will further strengthen cooperation between the EU and ASEAN countries in in preparedness and response to disasters.

More information here. The signed Administrative Arrangement is also available for your reference here. 

The updated version of the Humanitarian Aid Contribution Agreement (HACA) is now available. It is in place as of March 2025 for all new contracts with the UN and MSSAs under HIPs 2025. Following a targeted amendment of the EU Financial Regulation (recast 2024/2509) some mandatory technical updates and additional clarifications have been introduced to the contractual template, namely:

• Reporting on fraud and irregularities,
• Compliance with core values,
• Protection of security and the public order,
• New provision on Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH),
• Deferred payment of first prefinancing,
• Clarifications on the treatment of any surplus balance and access to the European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO),
• The provisions on the pillar assessment exercise’s complementary pillars (7-8-9) have been updated and streamlined between the General and Special Conditions,
• The wording of certain Definitions (Article 1, General Conditions) has been aligned to the standard Contribution Agreement

Have a look at the Reference Documents page ​​​​​​

DG ECHO has published the Guidance Note for DG ECHO Partners on Flexible Funding Measures. You can find this document on the Reference Documents page.

DG ECHO is glad to announce the publication of its new Health Policy Guidelines: Health Response in Humanitarian Settings.

The document is available here.

A new set of FAQs on Visibility and Communication has been published. Have a look here. 

The French version of the MGA and Annex 3 has been published and is available on the Reference Page.

The Frequently Asked Questions related to SEAH – Yearly Reporting on Allegations have been recently updated. You can review them here.

In November 2024, the single form was updated with the creation of new Key Result indicators (KRIs) for the Health, Mine action, Protection, and WASH sectors.These new features are only related to these four sectors and to new projects (thus not available for  MR of ongoing projects created before November 2024).

For more details on the new KRIs please refer to section 7.2 and the annexes (page 80) of the Single Form Guidelines,  available on the ECHO partners' website https://www.dgecho-partners-helpdesk.eu/reference-documents-ngo  or https://www.dgecho-partners-helpdesk.eu/reference-documents-io

To help you to use these new features, please also carefully read the PowerPoint presentation "MULTI-KRI PER SUBSECTOR"  available on the ECHO partners' website https://www.dgecho-partners-helpdesk.eu/reference-documents-ngo  or https://www.dgecho-partners-helpdesk.eu/reference-documents-io 

Please note the following:

• It is important to only choose the KRIs related to the sub-sector you selected.  In the drop-down menu, the system shows all the KRIs defined by DG ECHO, for all the sub-sectors.  Among this list, only the KRIs linked to the selected sub-sector should be chosen. If you selected a WASH sub-sector, a KRI related to Protection should not be selected as the system will give an error message at the submission stage.

• For each subsector, you should select among the proposed standard KRIs related to this sub-sector those which are the most relevant to the Result.  These KRIs should be used as a priority instead of creating custom indicators. Custom indicators should be used only in exceptional cases to reflect essential dimensions not covered by the proposed KRIs.

• For some of the sub-sectors, compulsory indicators (KRIs marked with an asterisk) have to be selected. In other words, you cannot submit a proposal with those sub-sectors without also choosing the compulsory KRI. You are of course free to select additional standard indicators.

• For sub-sectors without a compulsory indicator, select KRIs among the list of KRIs related to this sub-sector (see point 1 and 2 above). Custom indicators should be used only in exceptional cases.

• When you finalise the chapter 7 of the Single Form, we advise you to launch a ‘print draft pdf’ (see in the enclosed PowerPoint presentation) to identify all potential mistakes that will block the submission of the eSF.

• To benefit from these new features, please ensure your proposal has been created in APPEL after 6 November 2024. Please do not use former eSF you may have created before 6 November 2024.

Please do not hesitate to contact APPEL helpdesk  ECHO-IS-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu if you have any questions.

You can find here the recording of the webinar "Yearly Reporting on SEAH Allegations", held on January 29, 2025.

The objective of the webinar was to provide guidance on how to compile the 2024 Annual Report on SEAH Allegations.

In case you need further clarification, please contact ECHO-REPORTMISCONDUCT@ec.europa.eu