Training & Consultancy

Training & Consultancy Study for free in The Netherlands with a NFP/MSP scholarship in 2015 In this document: Quick information on the scholarship programme, About the NFP/MSP programmes Application process and beyond Frequently Asked Questions prescribed formats for employers letter and government statement MSP Scholarships 2015 You work, live and are a national of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria or Tunisia. You work in development sector The overall aim of the MSP is to contribute to the democratic transition in the participating countries. It also aims at building capacity within organisations by enabling employees to take part in diploma or other courses. Good Command of the English/French language. You work for a local NGO, SME or public organisation but not for a multinational corporation, a UN organisation, the World Bank, the IMF, a bilateral or multinational donor organisation, or a large national and/or commercial organisation Your employer has to nominate you. Apply for a Scholarship at MDF, comprising: Tuition fee, training materials, accommodation, meals, return flight, visa costs. Choose your course and apply at MDF: Management of Development Projects and Programmes www.mdf.nl/course/mdpp-nfp - English or French Gender Mainstreaming in Projects and Programmes www.mdf.nl/course/gmpp-nfp - English or French Organisational Capacity Development www.mdf.nl/course/ocd-nfp Competency-Based Learning www.mdf.nl/course/cbl-nfp Prepare your application Documents: Copy of valid passport, and Employer s letter, and government statement (if applicable, depends per country) CV and Motivation Letter. Apply at Atlas (documents ready in pdf): https://www.atlas-candidate.nl/index/137 For all information: http://www.mdf.nl/nfp 1

MENA Scholarship Programme The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Scholarship Programme (or MSP) offers scholarships to professionals from ten countries. The scholarships can be used for short courses in the Netherlands. The programme is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim of the MSP The overall aim of the MSP is to contribute to the democratic transition in the participating countries. It also aims at building capacity within organisations by enabling employees to take part in diploma or other courses. The fellowship Scholarships are available for short courses with a duration between two and twelve weeks. Each short course is listed under a specific fellowship application deadline. Deadlines: End October, End March, End July. An MSP fellowship is intended to supplement the salary that you should continue to receive during the study period in the Netherlands. The allowance is a contribution towards your costs of living, the costs of tuition fees, visas, travel, insurance and thesis research. If applicable, the fellowship holder is expected to cover the difference between the actual costs and the amount of the personal MSP allowances. The fellowships are awarded in a very competitive selection to highly motivated professionals who are in a position to introduce the newly-acquired skills and knowledge into their employing organisation. While scholarships are awarded to individuals, the need for training must be demonstrated in the context of the organisation for which the applicant works. The training must help the organisation develop its capacity. This means that employers must nominate an applicant and motivate his or her application in a supporting letter. For whom You must meet a number of criteria that support the aim of the NFP to be eligible for a fellowship. To be eligible for an MSP scholarship you: must be a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the MSP country list valid at the time of application: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria 1, Tunisia must have an employer s statement that complies with the format Nuffic has provided including your plan of implementation, download the word format from step 2. All information must be 1 - In light of the current situation in Syria, the Dutch government has decided to suspend all aid programmes in Syria, in line with the decision of the EU. Therefore, the MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP) is currently not available for Syrian nationals or residents. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 1 (7)

provided and all commitments that are included in the format must be endorsed in the statement; must not be employed by an organisation that has its own means of staff-development. Organisations that are considered to have their own means for staff development are for example: multinational corporations (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft), large national and/or a large commercial organisations, bilateral donor organisations (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid), multilateral donor organisations, (e.g. a UN organization, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB), international NGO s (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care); must have an official and valid passport; must not receive more than one fellowship for courses that take place at the same time; must have a government statement that meets the requirements of the country in which the employer is established (if applicable). Download the word format from step 2; must not be over 45 years of age at the time of the grant submission; have a good command of English or French to be able to participate fully in the training. MDF reserves the right to check this. Priority areas for the MSP scholarships The Dutch Ministry who is financing the scholarships aims at a sustainable capacity development of organisations working in or around one of the four focus areas: food security, safety and security, water, reproductive health and rights. You should indicate in your application when you work in one of these focus areas. Each of the Dutch Embassies in the NFP countries work within the policy lines of the Dutch government. Within this framework they have set priorities for their field of work. Please check this document for the country focus of the embassies. For detailed information, please visit the Embassy website to find out more. There is a further priority for people from Sub Saharan Africa and for women. How to apply for a MSP/NFP scholarship Read the course description and all the information on the MDF website: www.mdf.nl/nfp. Check if you are eligible for an MSP fellowship and start to collect your documents. To apply for a scholarship for an MDF course, you only need to apply in Atlas. Atlas is an online registration system of Nuffic where you apply for a scholarship. You can register in Atlas about two months before the respective application deadline. Before applying for an NFP or MSP scholarship make sure you prepare the documents mentioned below. You need to have all the required documents and information ready, as you will need to submit them online during one session. This is because your application has to be completed and submitted in one go. Please use the formats provided by Nuffic (see Quick Acces) and submit all the required documents in the EXACT way as specified. Otherwise your application will simply be rejected by Nuffic! Please read the instructions carefully before you start filling out the registration form. All documents must be in pdf format and be max 2 MB. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 2 (7)

NFP and MSP registration instructions for candidates Below is an instruction to register for a fellowship of the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) of the MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP). You will not be able to save any changes before sending in the form. Therefore we advise you to prepare all the required information in advance. Select for which sub-programme you want to register On the first page you need to select the sub-programme. You will only see the sub-programmes that are open for registrations. NFP-SC Netherlands Fellowship Programmes Short courses MSP-SC MENA Scholarship Programme Short courses Nominating employer The employer of a candidate plays a key part in the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes and the MENA Scholarship Programme, as the employer should enable the candidate to address the issues in their home country. Please prepare all the required information on the employer organisation, which is also providing the employer statement. Name of employing organisation Type of organisation Current position Tasks and responsibilities Name superior Email superior Telephone superior Motivation Please enter the name of the organisation where you are currently employed. This should be the organisation providing the Employer statement. Please specify what type of organisation you currently work for. Please enter the title of the position your currently hold at your organisation. Please specify the tasks and responsibilities of your current position. Please enter the name of your superior at you employing organisation (max 50 char.) Please enter the email address of your superior at your employing organisation. Please enter the telephone number where we can contact your superior at your employing organisation. Have your letter of motivation prepared so you can copy/paste it into the online application form. This motivation will weigh heavily in the selection procedure. Do not forget to mention in which focus area you are working. Questions that are asked in your Nuffic application are: What is the issue or problem you want to address in your country? How will this course enable you to address this issue? Please give a brief outline [in min 50 and max 1000 characters] of the issue or problem hindering the development of your country you would like to contribute to solving using the knowledge and expertise gained by attending the study programme or course. Please explain [in min 50 and max 1000 characters] what knowledge and expertise you expect to gain from the course or study program and how this specific knowledge and expertise can contribute to solving the issue or problem. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 3 (7)

How will you address this issue with your position within your organisation? Please describe [in min 50 and max 1000 characters] the position you hold in your organisation and explain why and how this position will enable you to address the issue or problem with the knowledge gained from the course or study programme. You do not need to nclude a detailed list of activities here, as a specific plan of activities forms part of the employer s statement that has to be uploaded separately. The required documents: copy of a valid passport Employers letter Government statement Admission letter Registration form in Atlas Please upload a copy of your valid passport (in pdf) Please upload the employer statement in the required format, containing a statement from your superior and a plan of implementation. Download the word version from the MDF website. This is a very important document, please fill it out EXACTLY as specified by Nuffic and use this format provided by Nuffic on letter headed paper from your organisation. A number of governments of NFP and MSP countries require a statement from the government before candidates can apply for a scholarship. In this statement the government expresses its support for the scholarship application. Please, check in this overview to see if this applies for your country, download from the MDF website. Also, it's always good to check this with your government and/or the Netherlands embassy. If a government statement is required for your country, please use this format provided by Nuffic: format for NFP application (download word version from the MDF website) or format for MSP application (download word version from the MDF website). In the overview per country you can find information on who should sign the government statement and to whom the statement requirements apply. Here we ask you to include your CV of maximum two pages, including also your field of working: please also indicate the focus area. Use the online candidate registration form to apply: https://www.atlas-candidate.nl/index/137, include the required information, upload your documents and complete the registration. The application you submit must be complete with all the required documentation according to the required formats. The application must be submitted online through the candidate registration form before the fellowship application deadline. Applications that are not submitted according to the required process and format will not be accepted. You cannot update or complete your information after you have submitted your application. If you want to update your information or documents, you have to register once more in Atlas. Please mark in the field 'reference number': update nr: We will only consider your last application. You can save a copy of your application before you submit it. Apply as early as possible Only complete and correct applications will be considered. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 4 (7)

MDF trainers will review your information to check your suitability for the course. In case we need more information from you, we will contact you. If you still have any questions after reading this information, the information package and the FAQ and have problems with your registration in Atlas, you may contact the registration department of MDF. Fellowship selection process Only a maximum number of candidates can be considered for a fellowship. Therefore the process has a preliminary step. This step is to decide which candidates will be considered for an NFP fellowship. If a candidate is considered for a fellowship his or her application will be assessed. About the eligibility check The Netherlands embassy in your country will check your application on the eligibility criteria. If your application does not meet the eligibility criteria it will be rejected regardless of any effort, time and money you put into it. Assessment process If your application is eligible it will be further assessed. The Netherlands embassy will assess the applications on: the extent to which you fit into the target group of the training programme how well you would be able to implement the newly-acquired knowledge in your daily work; to what extent the knowledge will contribute to the development of your home country. Your application will be assessed according to the country focus an embassy may have set. If for example you submit an application for an NFP fellowship in the field of Health Sciences while Agriculture is a country focus, your chances of obtaining a fellowship will decrease. how well your plans for the time after returning to your employer are described and how easily they can be implemented. The assessment leads to a ranking of all eligible applications. The selection method takes the NFP policy principles (women, Sub Sahara Africa, food security and priority countries) into consideration. After the selection You will be informed about the outcome of the selection by mail or email. If your application is successful, we will contact you by mail or email to make all necessary (logistical) arrangements. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 5 (7)

Frequently Asked Questions 1. ONLINE REGISTRATION through MDF Website This is not necessary anymore. You can skip this step and register immediately online through the ATLAS system, see step 2. 2. ONLINE REGISTRATION through ATLAS Atlas will replace the SOL system. A weblink will be published on our website as well as the NUFFIC websites on 4 September. You are requested to fill your complete application in this ATLAS system. See the webpage. http://www.mdf.nl/nfp ATLAS will open two months before the deadline and closes end of March 2015!!! After your registered you can download your application and file it. You will not get a confirmation e-mail that your application has been received and it is not possible to track the status of your application. Only after completion of the application procedure you will be informed if you have been selected or not. This will be eight weeks after the deadline. 3. ATLAS registration number There is an optional field in ATLAS where you can file your MDF registration number. If you registered on our website you will have received a confirmation letter. In the subjet line you find a UID number (Thank you for your registration UID: 60980-example). Use this number. If you do not have a number, this is not a problem, just leave this field empty. 4. Language Test You do not initially need to submit a language test. Language tests or relevant university diploma's may be requested by MDF in a later stage of the application/selection procedure if MDF needs a confirmation of your proficiency in English. 5. Admission procedure MDF / NUFFIC No admission letter from MDF is needed to start your application in the application system ATLAS. MDF will evaluate your application in the ATLAS system and contact you in case we need additional information. 6. CV / Application MDF You do not have to send an application and a CV to MDF anymore. We request you to upload your CV in the ATLAS system at the field "admission letter optional" (this admission letter is not necessary for MDF). ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 6 (7)

7. Re-application procedure MDF/ Nuffic You have registered before at MDF: With every new deadline you will have to re-submit your application, as of 1 February 2015 in the new system ATLAS. 8. Government Letter for Nuffic application Some countries need an official letter from Government which has to be submitted for the Nuffic application. We will publish a list of these countries, and the corresponding government body for application, on our website. You can also contact the NFP Officer at the Dutch embassy in your country and/or neighbouring country to find out the exact requirements for your country. 9. Employment Letter Yes, the employment letter needs to be according to the template text, on letterhead paper of your organisation, with a signature of your superior, and a stamp of the organisation. On page two and onwards you have to include your plan of implementation (see also template on our website). Two parts in one pdf. 10. ATLAS gets stuck Our experience so far is that ATLAS is a very reliable web-based system. However, if you encounter problems, Ctrl+F5 might do the trick. 10. What is covered by the scholarship We call it "for free". Nearly all costs are covered - the international flight, the visa costs, insurance, tuition fee and material, accomodation and meals. ref:information for applicants about MSP II-deadline March 2015.docx HA Page 7 (7)

Prescribed format employer's statement. To be submitted on official letterhead, dated, signed by the superior of the candidate and stamped I [name of the superior of the candidate] hereby give permission to name of candidate date of birth position employed since month / year to follow the Short course / Master study / PhD programme: [name course or programme] from [start date] to [end date] at [educational institution, place.] I declare that 1. the candidate s salary will continue to be paid during the period for which the fellowship is awarded; 2. at the end of the fellowship period the candidate will be offered a position at least equivalent to the one he/she is currently holding; 3. the candidate will not be assigned any tasks during the fellowship period to ensure that he/she will be full time available for the study programme; 4. I am available to answer questions concerning the fellowship application of this candidate; 5. I am willing to cooperate with NFP/MSP for evaluation purposes of the programme; 6. the information provided in this letter and attachment is true and correct. A plan to implement the newly acquired knowledge by the candidate is approved by me and attached to this letter in the prescribed format. Signature of the superior of the candidate: Date: Telephone number: E-mail address: Stamp of the organization Please note that incomplete or incorrect statements inevitably lead to a rejection of the fellowship application. Please be sure that the statement is submitted on the organization s official letterhead and is signed and stamped.

Prescribed format for the Plan to implement the newly acquired knowledge by the candidate Name of the organization: Mission statement (max 750 characters): Main activities: (max 3 activities in max 750 characters): Data about the candidate who is nominated for a fellowship: Name of the candidate: Function: Tasks: Relevance of the study What knowledge and skills are to be developed by the candidate and why Relevance for the candidate: [50 1000 characters] Relevance for the employing organization: [50 1000 characters] The candidate is expected to implement the newly acquired knowledge and skills no later than 6 months after successful completion of the study. Please include a plan of activities below, including their objectives and along a timeline. Please be as specific as possible. You are advised to use the SMART method. Plan of activities: Obective Activity Period of implementation

MENA Scholarship Programme Statement of Government Authority A number of governments of countries on the MSP country list require a statement of the government before candidates can apply for an MSP fellowship. In this statement the government expresses its support of the fellowship application. Please check with your government and/or the Netherlands embassy if this applies to your country. Fellowship applications from countries that require a government statement without an attached or uploaded government statement are considered not eligible and will not be further assessed for an MSP fellowship. Candidates need to upload a government statement with their online fellowship application. Before submitting you can print your application for your own administration. You can use this print for the government authority concerned, in order to obtain a government statement. Candidates can use the format below. STATEMENT BY GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY (if applicable) The government of hereby supports the above application and certifies that the programme to be undertaken will benefit and foster the development of the country and that all the information provided is complete and correct. Date: Place: Position of the responsible government official:. Signature and official stamp: