Partnership agreement and standards
Article 10
1. Before sending and hosting organisations enter into a partnership, a needs assessment shall be carried out by the hosting organisations, where appropriate in cooperation with the sending organisations, taking into account the Commission's assessment of humanitarian aid needs. 2. The needs assessment shall include as a minimum: (a) a vulnerability and risk assessment of the country of deployment, including assessment of security, travel and health risks relevant for EU Aid Volunteers; (b) consideration of the current capacity of the hosting organisation to host an EU Aid Volunteer; (c) an analysis of the competences and capacities currently lacking within the hosting organisation and the local community, identifying needs and analysing how they can best be addressed; (d) an analysis of the expected added value from the EU Aid Volunteer and, where relevant, from the envisaged capacity building support to the hosting organisation and local community. 3. A partnership agreement shall be signed by all partners to ensure compliance with the following minimum partnership standards: (a) partnerships shall be based on an agreement on shared values and a shared vision, in particular as relates to volunteering and humanitarian aid; (b) the added value of each partner and their respective roles shall be clearly defined; (c) all partners shall agree on the common objectives of the partnership and the ways in which the partnership shall be managed, in particular: (i) decision-making procedures and working practices; (ii) financial arrangements and management; (iii) communication channels between all stakeholders; frequency of meetings and field visits by sending organisations; (iv) work plan and activities, including timeline; (v) task allocation, according to the communication plan of the initiative; (vi) monitoring and evaluation of the partnership; (vii) book-keeping and documentation; (viii) a refinement and finalisation of the needs assessment referred to in paragraph 1; (ix) joint formulation and evaluation of EU Aid Volunteers' task assignments; (x) roles and responsibilities with regard to candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers over the different stages of their participation in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative; (xi) procedures for handling complaints (both those made within the partnership and those from external parties relating to its work) and resolving conflict between partners; (xii) policies and procedures for the exit of a partner; (xiii) financial implications; and (xiv) contractual implications (including as relates to EU Aid Volunteers and the communities concerned); (d) where relevant, a needs-based strategy for capacity building and/or technical assistance between partners shall be developed and a dedicated budget allocated to this strategy; (e) partners shall contribute to learning activities and shall commit to carry out actions relating to communication and visibility in accordance with the communication plan referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014.