Project partnerships
Project partnerships between entities in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and the 15 EU countries benefiting from the Grants are encouraged. Funding will be set aside at national level in each beneficiary country and in all programmes in order to support networking and facilitate partnerships in projects.
Bilateral partnership projects are encouraged within all programmes. A wide range of organisations from the donor states may participate, from national and local authorities, educational and research institutions and civil society organisations to private and public enterprises, and public-private partnerships. Students from the three donor states may benefit from the scholarship funds.
Bilateral partnership projects
A partnership project consists of a beneficiary state project promoter implementing a project in close co-operation with a donor state partner. Partnership projects are joint projects where input from both parties are necessary to achieve the objectives of the project.
A wide range of organisations from the donor states may participate, from national and local authorities, educational and research institutions and civil society organisations to private and public enterprises, and public-private partnerships.
Involvement of a partner
Once the contact has been established, the proposal for the partnership project should be developed in cooperation between the beneficiary project promoter and the donor state partner. A project partner can incur costs to be funded by the project in the same manner as the project promoter. This needs to be included in the individual budget of the project application. Examples of costs that may be covered are travel expenses and standard hourly rates to cover actual costs.
The depth and breadth of involvement of a partner in a project may vary. There are different levels of cooperation, and it’s up to the partners themselves to define the extent of this. Ad hoc exchange and expert input to a project promoter will not qualify the project as a partnership project.
A partnership agreement needs to be included in the application if a project is to be implemented as a partnership project. The Regulations contain provisions on what a partnership agreement should look like and what kind of expenditures that are eligible.
Bilateral funds and seed money
Within all beneficiary states, bilateral funds will be set aside both at the national level and within all programmes to facilitate networking meetings and partner search, and may include seed money funds in order to establish a partnership with a donor state partner.
• In each beneficiary state, at least 0.5% of the country’s total allocation is set aside for a bilateral fund to facilitate outreach and networking between programme operators and donor programme partners, or potential project partners from the donor states.
• Within each programme, at least 1.5% of the available funding will be earmarked for the search for project partners from the donor states, the development of bilateral partnerships and the preparation of applications for donor partnership projects. The funding will also be used to support additional networking and exchange with entities in the donor states for approved projects.
• The programme operators may also spend some funds on activities that may strengthen their cooperation with similar entities in the donor states.
Timeline: open calls for proposals
Grants will be awarded to projects following calls for proposals that will be organised by the respective programme operators in the beneficiary states, most likely starting in spring and summer 2012. Projects can be awarded support until end-April 2014 and be implemented until 2016.
Applications for partnership projects should be submitted directly to the relevant programme operator in response to open calls for proposals. Information on all open calls for proposals will be published on this website.
