KA210 — Projects Accepted From Outside Turkey: Process Steps

Review the acceptance notification and the Grant Agreement

The coordinating institution sends the Turkish partner the Grant Agreement it signed with its own National Agency, along with its annexes (Annex I budget, Annex II task description). The project number, total budget, duration and the budget items allocated to your partner organisation are checked.

Sign the Partnership Agreement

The document signed between the coordinator and each partner; it covers the parties' tasks, budget, payment schedule and bank details. Make sure the organisation's official name, address, PIC number and legal representative are entered correctly.

Internal assignment (approval from the Governor's Office / Provincial Directorate of National Education)

The school/institution director notifies the Provincial Directorate of National Education or the institution's governing body of the project, naming the project coordinator and the participating staff to be assigned; approval from the Governor's Office (Valilik Oluru) is obtained for mobility and spending authority.

Appoint the project coordinator ("proje yürütücüsü")

Under the regulation, the project coordinator is the civil servant/officer with spending authority who is directly responsible for running the project. This person issues all payment instructions throughout the project.

Open a dedicated project bank account

Under the Public Treasury Regulation, the project account may only be opened at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey or a correspondent bank (in practice, T.C. Ziraat Bankası A.Ş.). The account details (IBAN, BIC/SWIFT, account holder) are communicated to the coordinator via the Partnership Agreement.

Inform the accounting unit

The school/institution's accounting unit (usually the District/Provincial Directorate of National Education's Strategy Development unit or the Treasury Office) is informed in writing about the project and the dedicated account; the bank branch is instructed to process transactions only on the accounting unit's instruction.

Follow up on the first instalment (usually 80%)

Within 30 days of signature, the coordinator transfers the percentage specified in the contract (e.g. 80%) of the pre-financing it received from its own National Agency to the partner's account. The transfer is valued at the foreign-currency buying rate.

Submit a written notification if an advance is needed

The project coordinator may request an advance through a written notification stating how long it will take to receive the goods/services and within what period the advance will be reconciled; no amount or time limit applies.

Obtain Governor's Office assignment approval for each mobility

A separate assignment approval and travel-advance approval are required for every staff member/teacher travelling abroad.

Make expenditures in line with budget items

Expenditure is limited to the budget items approved in Annex I; it must be made — and documented — between the start and end dates stated in the contract.

Collect supporting documents

Besides invoices or documents of equivalent value, supporting documents such as participant lists, participation certificates and staff timesheets also count as supporting evidence. Certified Turkish translations of documents issued in a foreign language must be attached to the payment document.

Prepare travel expense statements

After travel, the advance is closed out by completing a Travel Expense Statement (Central Government Expenditure Documents Regulation, Form No. 27) and, where applicable, a Preliminary Financial Control Checklist for each participant.

Submit the periodic/interim report to the coordinator

Activities carried out, expenditures and supporting documents are reported in the format and timeframe requested by the coordinating institution.

Keep exchange-rate and reconciliation records

For advance reconciliation, the foreign-currency buying rate of the bank holding the dedicated account on the payment date is used; for other transactions, the rate on the transaction date is used. No separate exchange-rate note is required from the party concerned.

Follow up on the final report and the second payment (20%)

Once the final report the coordinator submits to its National Agency is approved, the remaining amount (usually 20%) is transferred to the partner according to the evaluation score (paid in full at 70 or above; at lower scores, at progressively reduced rates).

Retain the documents

All original documents are kept by the spending unit, and certified copies are kept by the accounting unit attached to the accounting voucher; both must be retained for at least 5 years after the project for audit purposes.