By Type of Assistance

There are primarily three projects of this category in the United Nations system:

1. Institution Building Projects - these projects normally involve the creation or upgrading of a capacity to satisfy the recurrent needs of the target beneficiaries on a sustained basis. This defines the most common ICAO project, i.e. the establishment or strengthening of different parts of the civil aviation infrastructure.
2. Direct Support Projects - direct Support Projects are projects formulated in response to a one-time need. They include such outputs as feasibility/pre-feasibility studies, increased skills of a particular group, research results and technical data. This type of project is not so common in the ICAO programme although occasionally direct support projects are implemented, for example when experts, who are recruited to carry out operational functions in cases where the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) does not have appropriately qualified staff for the delivery of specific training courses. In this case the delivery of the course is the intention rather than the setting up of a capability within the Civil Aviation Training Centre (CATC) for its ongoing delivery.
3. Preparatory Assistance Projects - preparatory assistance is assistance provided by UNDP to a government for a specific project, prior to approval of full assistance for implementation. It usually has the following objectives:

• to assist a government in project formulation
• to carry out preliminary work relating to project implementation
• to assist a government in project formulation and, after its formulation, to carry out preliminary work relating to project implementation.

By Geopolitical Classification

The following projects implemented by ICAO are classified on the basis of geopolitical considerations:

1. Country Project - This is the most common of ICAO managed projects. Country projects are confined to improvements in the civil aviation sector within the recipient country and can be as simple as purchasing an off-the-shelf navigation aid or sophisticated as the implementation of a Civil Aviation Training Centre infrastructure comprising all of the classical components of experts, training and equipment.
2. Regional Projects and Programmes - In regional projects, typically, a number of States participate in the implementation of the project and take advantage of its output, which has as its goal to improve the situation of civil aviation on a regional basis, e.g. the establishment of a common system of safety oversight for all participating states.
3. Interregional/Global Projects and Programmes - These projects are expected to bring benefits to States in two or more ICAO Regions or to the entire developing world. Examples would be the assistance for implementing communication facilities between, say, Senegal in the Africa Region and Brazil in the South America Region or, on a global scale, assistance in the implementation of the World Area Forecasting System in all or most developing countries.

By Type of Agreement or Funding Arrangement

The following projects implemented by ICAO are contract-dependent:

1. Trust Funds Agreement Projects - A trust funds project is one in which the government (or another State or funding source through the government) provides funds directly to ICAO, in trust, for work to be carried out under ICAO’s administration in that State. In effect, a trust funds project is similar to a 100% UNDP cost-shared project, except that the funds are deposited directly with ICAO rather than with UNDP. ICAO applies similar financial and administrative rules and procedures to these projects, particularly in respect of provision of experts, training and equipment and is accountable to the government (and/or funding instrumentality) for these inputs. Generally speaking, project documents governing trust fund projects are less complex than those for UNDP. Project documents will, however, always embody the essential elements involved with the project’s logic, time frame and budget.
2. Management Services Agreement Projects - A “Management Services Agreement” (MSA) project is a form of a trust fund agreement and in most aspects it is similar in nature to those agreements with one major exception: under a MSA, instead of a fixed percentage of the total project value charged under Trust Fund agreements, a specific percentage is charged for each project component based, on the estimated actual cost of delivering the service. Handling charges may increase or decrease due to changes either in the duration or the scope of the services to be supplied, thus ensuring that costs are fully covered and are appropriate to the actual work performed. This practice results in a variable cost rate.
3. Letters of Understanding on Technical Cooperation - Letters of Understanding on Technical Cooperation are documents signed between ICAO and a stakeholder. They are another form of a Management Service Agreement, defining the modalities for the coordination of future projects to be implemented by ICAO with assets from the respective stakeholder.
4. Expression of Interest - An Expression of Interest is a document prepared when it becomes known to the Technical Cooperation Bureau that a project is being considered by a Government or financing organization which is within the expertise of the Organization, but ICAO has not been invited to make an offer. An Expression of Interest is usually written in the form of an abbreviated Project Document providing background information on the project, a short overview of how ICAO proposes to implement that project and a Capability Statement indicating the reasons why ICAO should be considered as a potential candidate for that task.
5. Civil Aviation Purchasing Service Projects - The Civil Aviation Purchasing Service (CAPS) was established in 1974 as a facility provided by ICAO to assist developing countries in the procurement of high value equipment systems or to contract for technical services required for civil aviation. Through CAPS, countries can benefit from the comprehensive purchasing and contracting system already developed within ICAO for technical cooperation purposes.
6. Lump Sum Agreement - Lump Sum Agreements (LSA) are similar to the MSA but relate to specific budgeted activities of a short duration, where the total amount payable is fixed in the agreement.