A/HRC/15/38 VIII. Methods of work and grants cycle 29. Indigenous representatives are requested to fill in the above-mentioned application form by the deadline of 1 October of each year. This deadline has been changed over the years in the light of changes in the mandate and in order to meet the technical and practical requirements of the participation of beneficiaries, and it would possibly need to be revisited again should the mandate of the Fund be extended further. The application contains an explanatory note on the Fund, its mandate and especially on the duties and obligations that each beneficiary and organization would have if selected. 30. Applications are then analysed by the secretariat from 1 October until the session of the Board of Trustees in February or March. This timeframe gives the Secretariat enough time to request additional information from the applicant in case the application is not complete. If possible, the Secretariat will contact the regional OHCHR offices and other relevant partners in the pre-screening process of applications to obtain information from the field and verify the information received. 31. The secretariat of the Fund prepares a comprehensive chart with all the relevant information, including results of past evaluation forms and comments regarding compliance with the selection criteria. At its annual session, the Board will review the admissible applications received on the basis of the documents prepared and prior analysis done by the secretariat of the Fund. 32. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the secretariat and reduce its workload when analysing applications, the Board of Trustees has recommended the establishment of a database on past beneficiaries of the Fund. This directory is intended to contain relevant information on past beneficiaries, including information on their indigenous communities, activities of their respective organizations, the beneficiaries themselves, their field of expertise and experience in matters related to indigenous rights and the results of their evaluation forms and performance. This database, which is now in the process of being elaborated, is expected to facilitate the consideration of future requests for funding. 33. Once the recommendations have been approved by the High Commissioner on behalf of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat informs the new grantees, two months in advance of the session at issue. Subsequently, the Secretariat starts all the administrative procedures especially with the financial department and the Travel Unit to ensure that the travel arrangements are prepared in time. Official invitation letters are also sent to recipients so that they can request visas to travel. 34. At the session of the Expert Mechanism or the Permanent Forum, the Secretariat of the Fund liaises with the beneficiaries and aims to ensure their effective participation. Before the end of the session, beneficiaries are requested to submit an evaluation report on their participation in the session. On this form, the beneficiary is asked about his/her participation not only in the regular meetings of the organ, but also in parallel meetings. Beneficiaries also have to report on how they prepared for their participation, consulted members of their communities and organizations and what were their main objectives and achievements. After the sessions, beneficiaries are requested to send to the secretariat a follow-up report on the awareness-raising activities that they have organized within their local communities in order to share the knowledge acquired at the international level. The evaluation report and the follow-up report are then analysed and presented to the Board at its next session. These are taken into consideration when selecting candidates from the same indigenous organization or community. 8