Partners Support Pack

Partners Support Pack

Tips and resources for preparing ENPI CBC Project Proposals

Introduction

We hope you enjoyed the partner search forum. Did you meet some organisations that are interested in cooperating with you? Or do you already have some partners? In any case it is important to keep in touch and work together to develop your project idea, complete the application form and submit your joint project proposal.

To build and maintain your partnership and to prepare a joint project proposal you will need to communicate at length. There is a lot of work still to come.

In this pack you will find some tips and resources to help you and your partners to have your project proposal prepared and submitted by the deadline for the Call. They include:

• A project proposal clock called The Clock is ticking! Steps for preparing ENPI CBC Project proposalswith suggestions for the steps you need to follow to prepare and submit a proposal. If you watch the clock and the timing indicated, and you make sure you do not forget anything, you should be ready before the deadline with a complete project proposal.
• Tips on useful and free electronic tools to help you and your partners to prepare your project proposal together.
• A suggested format for a one page project idea summary - essential for finding partners. The summary is based on the usual ENPI CBC format for Concept Notes
• Information on further support

Starting from the launch of the Call for Proposals there is a limited number of days to prepare and complete your proposal! (Remember to check the Guidelines for Applicants for the exact timing of the Call.)

The clock is ticking - make sure you start now. Good luck!

The Partners Support Pack is produced by RCBI for information purposes only. The contents are the sole responsibility of RCBI and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the Estonia-Latvia-Russia ENPI CBC Programmes.

Useful Free Tools for partners working together

In order to easily communicate and work together on your joint project proposal, there are a number of electronic tools available for free. Some of these are given below but maybe you know of others. These tools are not only useful for the completion of your proposal. Later on during the implementation of the project you will also find them really handy.

With skype you can speak to your partners anywhere in the world for free.Skype allows you to talk with your partners via internet and, if both of you have a webcam, you can also see each other. To use skype to communicate,you and your partners will need a computer or laptop, an internet connection (preferably broadband), speakers and a microphone (or a headset).

Go to download skypeand create your own account. As soon as you have the account you can invite other people to join skype and you can talk to them as long as you like, wherever they are, for free.

It is also possible to organise skype meetings with different people in different places. A group meeting by skype is easy to arrange, just follow the directions given by skype.

With (many) partners in different places it is often difficult to get an agreement on a place and date for a meeting (either in person or via skype). Doodle will help you to easily set dates for meetings. You can present different options for the meeting which the people you invite can just accept or reject.The Doodle software is free andavailable via

When you are in the process of writing your project proposal and developing your project budget, you will need to share large documents with your partners. You sometimes also need to work on the same document at the same time with different partners. The free Google Docs gives you the possibility to do all this.

With Google docs, you can create, share, and edit documents online. Here are a few specific things you can do:

• Upload Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or plain text documents and create documents.
• Edit documents online simultaneously with anyone you choose, and invite others to view them.
• Keep track of whomever made changes to a document and when, and also go back to previous versions.
• Email your documents out as attachments.

To start using Google Docs, you need to sign in with a Google Account. If you use Gmail, you already have an account, otherwise you can create one on After that you can start developing and exchanging your project proposal and sharing required project documents.

When developing your project idea, you will want to find out the exact needs of your target group and the final beneficiaries of your project. An easy way to do this is via an online survey. Zoomerang is one software tool that allows you to easily create online surveys. It provides you with online survey templates and helps you to analyse and share the results. The free Zoomerang tools include an unlimited number of survey and polls and, for each survey or poll, up to 12 questions and 100 respondents.Go to for more information.

Survey Monkeyis another free electronic tool for conducting surveys. The basic plan is also available for free and gives you up to 10 questions and 100 respondents. Go to for more information.

Information and further support

Questions?

• First check the FAQ (frequently asked questions) page on the Estonia-Latvia-Russia ENPI CBC Programme website
• Send an official request for clarificationto the Programme
  (make sure that you do this before the deadline for questions), or
• Ask the Programme Joint Technical Secretariat or Branch offices. Find names and contact details via

Looking for partners?

• On the Estonia-Latvia-Russia ENPI CBC programme website, search for a partner or fill in a partner search form on the Partner Search page
• You may also go to the RCBI website to search the database of partners from Partner Countries, get tips on finding partners in Member States or to register yourself and your organisation in the database of partners from Partner Countries.

Support events?

• The Estonia-Latvia-Russia Joint Technical Secretariat will organise workshops, with support from RCBI,for potential applicants and partners during the call. Check the programme websites for dates and how to register -

Suggested template for 1-page ENPI CBC project idea summary

You will need to develop a short summary of your project to share with potential project partners. Here is a suggested template based on the usual format for ENPI CBC concept notes.