On February 18th 2021, Euclid Network hosted the first online edition of the Project-Building Workshop. We were joined by participants from over 19 countries representing 32 organizations, all tirelessly working towards driving positive change.
Our EU Project Building Workshop is an annual event organised by Euclid Network with the aim of taking a closer look at the opportunities and challenges that may surround EU funding programmes. This year’s event was fully online and proud to say that we were joined by impact practitioners from over 19 countries. The participants got up to speed on the new EU Multi-annual Financial Framework and took a peek behind the scenes of the evaluation of EU project proposals, thanks to our two speakers Karel Vanderpoorten of the European Commission and Alexandra Yaghil.
Karel Vanderpoorten is a Policy Officer in the Social Economy Unit of DG GROW. He presented the European Commission’s proposal for a reinforced EU budget that aims for a gradual return to a “new normal”. He explains how the temporary instrument Next Generation EU is designed to boost the recovery. This instrument coupled with EU’s budget for the 2021-2027 programming period is the largest stimulus package ever financed through the EU. A total of €1.8 trillion will help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe. It will be a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe. The new financial perspective more directly supports social economy via the New Cohesion Policy, Horizon Europe, the ESF+ and more. See below an infographic by EVPA explaining different types of EU funding for social economy.
Our second speaker Alexandra Yaghil is a specialist on programme management and European Commission-funded projects. Her presentation gave the participants a look behind the curtain of evolution procedures for EU-grant application. She highlighted the amount of open calls for proposals and tenders available for those looking for funding. Once submitted, the evaluators consider relevance, quality, impact and budget-cost effectiveness of your proposal. Applicants should focus on telling a clear and concise story that explains the value of the proposed project. Alexandra underlined how important it is to be realistic about your outputs. As she put it: “If you promise the Moon, you will be asked for the Moon!”
With these great pieces of advice in mind and hands-on training, we wish everybody good luck with your EU project applications!
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For further clarification and other questions, please get in touch with Veerle Klijn!
