1.4 How to interpret guidelines and/or call for proposals?

Summary: Provides guidance on interpreting project guidelines and calls for proposals, emphasizing the importance of understanding and aligning with project requirements and criteria to develop successful project proposals.

Learning Objectives:

1. Develop skills in analyzing and understanding project guidelines and calls for proposals.
2. Learn to extract relevant information, requirements, and criteria from project documentation.
3. Understand the implications of guidelines and calls for proposals on project design and implementation.

A "call for proposals" (CFP) is a formal invitation or announcement made by a funding organization, such as a government agency, foundation, non-governmental organization (NGO), or international institution, to solicit project ideas, initiatives, or solutions from individuals, groups, or organizations. The purpose of a call for proposals is to identify and select projects or programs that align with the funding organization's priorities, goals, and objectives (EUCalls, 2023).

A call for proposals typically outlines the specific areas of interest, themes, or topics for which the funding is being made available. It provides detailed instructions, guidelines, and eligibility criteria for interested parties to submit their project proposals. The submission process usually involves preparing and submitting a comprehensive proposal that outlines the project's concept, objectives, activities, budget, timeline, expected outcomes, and a plan for implementation and evaluation.

Key elements of a call for proposals include:

• Thematic Focus: The call for proposals specifies the subject areas or themes for which funding is available. This could range from health, education, and environment to social development, technology, and arts, depending on the priorities of the funding organization.
• Eligibility Criteria: The call defines who is eligible to apply for the funding. This may include criteria such as the type of organizations (e.g., NGOs, academic institutions, private companies), geographic locations, and target beneficiaries.
• Project Requirements: Details about the type of projects sought, their scope, and expected outcomes are outlined in the call. This helps potential applicants understand what kind of projects the funding organization is interested in supporting.
• Budget and Funding: The call provides information on the available budget, funding limits, and financial requirements. It may specify whether the funding is partial or full, and if matching funds are required from the applicants.
• Submission Guidelines: The call lays out the process for submitting proposals. This includes information about submission deadlines, required documentation, format of the proposal, and any specific templates or forms that need to be used.
• Review and Selection Process: The call may outline the evaluation criteria that will be used to assess proposals. It might also provide details about the review process, including who will be reviewing the proposals and how the selection decisions will be made.
• Timeline: The call typically includes important dates, such as the opening and closing dates for proposal submissions, the expected announcement of selected proposals, and the projected start and end dates for funded projects.
• Contact Information: The call provides contact details for inquiries and clarifications, allowing potential applicants to seek additional information if needed.

A call for proposals is a competitive process, and organizations or individuals interested in securing funding must carefully adhere to the requirements and guidelines specified in the call. Successful proposals are those that effectively demonstrate alignment with the funding organization's priorities, a well-defined project plan, and a clear potential for positive impact or outcomes.

Various institutions at different levels publish call for proposals to provide funding for specific objectives. These objectives are related with their agenda and usually have a background analysis and/or based on policy documents. This call for proposals usually include a guideline, a template document for the Project proposal and supporting documents. Before preparing a project, it is crucial to examine the guideline document properly.

What you need to do first is to check the objectives of the programme and activities that can be supported. If you have a project idea that doesn’t match with the call for proposals, it is hard to justify your activities, so even though your proposal is prepared perfectly, the chances about receiving a fund would be slim.

The next thing you need check is eligibility criteria. This means who/which actor can apply for the programme. Although, there are programmes those support individuals, most of the programmes opt to fund legal entities. These entities can be public / private institutions, non-governmental organizations, schools, universities, unions, umbrella organizations etc. Usually, political parties are not supported. In some programmes, such as Erasmus+, some actions can include non-formal youth groups that have no legal entity. So, before you apply, you need to be careful about this exemptions and exclusions as well.

Call for proposals can also include certain financial and organizational capacity criteria as well. So, if you are planning to apply a Project from the organization that you are working for, make sure to read and understand this part as well. If the call for proposals state that your organization shouldn’t have any debts due to social security payments and tax and your organization cannot comply this, it is better for you to know this before you prepare the proposal.

Call for proposals generally ask applicants to create a consortium. The rules for establishing the consortium (such as minimum/maximum number, location, capacity of partners) are stated in the guide. The international programmes usually require for you to establish a consortium with partners abroad. Therefore, it is important to understand the required partnership structure and analyze whether you can have suitable partners with necessary qualifications.

Budget is also another important part you need to check. If you already have a Project in mind, you need to adjust the scope of the activities in line with the budget of the programme. If you have a consortium, you need to consider the finance of their activities as well. It is also imporant to check what kind of activities and/or components can be financed from the programme. Ineligible activities can be financed from outside sources. Some programmes may require from you to contribute the proposal financially up to certain degree. This process called co-finance. While some programmes may require you to finance certain part of the Project directly via bank account, some other programmes may accept in-kind contributions (such as use of Office supplies, fixed equipments, Office rent, payment of bills etc.) and/or appointment of workers of your organization. It is possible for you to co-finance the Project from your consortium partners.

Deadline and application method is also important part of a call for proposals. You need to make sure that you sent your proposal via proper channels. Some programmes require for you and/or your organization to register to digital and/or offline platforms. Therefore, you need to make sure that you can complete these processes before application. If programme requires physical application, you need to examine the acceptance details. Some programmes may accept the proposals by checking time stamp of the post Office, some programmes don’t. So, if the programme that you will apply requires for application to reach the address/destination in a given time, you may need to send the application 3-4 days or even 1 week prior to deadline.

A general examination of a project application template and evaluation criteria is important because it gives you a general idea regarding the time and resources that you are going to use in the preparation process of the Project application. The guiding questions and character limitations will provide you a general idea about the degree of details required in application.