Call for European NGOs: apply for a project in the field of education or youth

Erasmus+ Vzdělávání CZELO

Applications can be submitted until 22 March. Only European NGOs can be coordinators, partners can be any relevant organisations.

The main objective of Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships is to enhance the quality and relevance of the activities of the participating organisations, to develop and strengthen their partnership networks, to improve their joint action at transnational level and to strengthen the internationalisation of their activities, both by exchanging or developing new practices and methods and by sharing and confronting ideas. Furthermore, the involved organisations should open up to new actors who are not otherwise involved in their activities within the sector.

The call for European NGOs is divided into two topics: 

  • Cooperation partnerships in the field of education and training

  • Cooperation partnerships in the field of youth.

Applicants must therefore choose one of the following topics according to their organisation's area of activity. Applications can only be submitted for evaluation to the EACEA via the FTOP portal.  

Projects should be linked to one or more of the Erasmus+ horizontal priorities (inclusion, sustainability, digitalisation, participation) and at least one specific sectoral priority (these are different for youth and for education and training). They should also be in line with the European Year of Skills. Activities that can be funded under this call include, for example, exchanges of experience and good practice, networking events, capacity building, workshops, conferences, awareness raising, dissemination and promotion activities or activities aiming at involving young people in democratic life and society.

What criteria must the projects meet? 

In order to submit a project proposal under this call, the consortium must be coordinated by a European NGO (ENGO), i.e. an NGO operating through an officially recognised structure consisting of a European Secretariat legally established in an Erasmus+ programme country for at least one year and national branches in at least nine programme countries. These branches must have a proven statutory relationship with the European Secretariat and be active in the field of education, training or youth (see Part D of the Programme Guide).  

However, any public or private organisation relevant to the project and active in education, training, youth or other socio-economic sectors can be a partner. Partners can be based both in programme and partner countries (except Russia and Belarus). However, if they are from partner countries, the added value of their involvement must be justified. 

The consortium must consist of at least three organisations from three different programme countries. The duration of the project is between 1 and 3 years. To be shortlisted for funding, project applications must score at least 60 points out of 100 in four criteria and at least half of the points of each criterion: relevance of the project (25 points), quality of project design and implementation (15 points), quality of partnership and cooperation arrangements (20 points) and impact (25 points). For more information, see the Programme Guide and the Call document (education and training and youth).   

The budget for this year's call is, as in the last year's call, €5 million in the field of education and training and €2 million in the field of youth. The grant is paid out in the form of prefixed lump sums, from which the applicant chooses the one that most closely matches the project's estimated budget. It is possible to choose between 120 000, 250 000 and 400 000 euros.  

Where to find more information? 

The EACEA organised an information webinar on this call on 19 January. You can find the recording of the infosession and the presentation on the event website. During the webinar, the policy context of the call, the conditions for participation in this type of projects, tips on how to write a good project proposal and an example of a successful project (Erasmus Careers organisation - Connecting Skilled Learners to the Labour Market project) were presented. 

During the part focusing on tips on how to prepare a high-quality project application, the EACEA representatives stressed the importance of starting early and uploading the application to FTOP at least 2 days before the deadline, familiarising oneself with the relevant information and the call document (these are not operational grants but action grants) and structuring the project well (clearly stated objective, needs, target group and added value). Furthermore, it is crucial to build a good consortium and, while writing the proposal, avoid long unclear sentences, jargon, abbreviations, repetitive sentences and plagiarism. 

In case of any questions, applicants can contact the EACEA by email at EACEA-EPLUS-EDU-ENGO@ec.europa.eu (for the field of education and training) or EACEA-YOUTH@ec.europa.eu (for the field of youth).