How to write effective EU project proposals: Introduction to Full application preparation. Application Package for Applicants. Common mistakes. Natasa Gospodjinacki Kiev, 3-4 September 2015

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Seminar on Project Preparation
Stakeholder Analysis and Partnership
Kiev, 3-4 September 2015

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Stakeholder analysis - why?
 Find out interests of all stakeholders in relation to
project idea
 Find out (potential) conflicts
 Assess the risks of implementation
 Verify your best options for partners
 Identify possibilities for cooperation
 Decide on the (levels of) involvement
 Create your plan
Stakeholders

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Who are stakeholders?
 Definition 1: persons, groups or institutions interested
in planning and change
 Definition 2: all of those on whose interestes will the
project have positive or negative impact
Stakeholders

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Types of stakeholders in a project
 Partners
 Target groups – all groups/individuals on which will
the project have positive and direct effect at the
level of its purpose
 End users/final beneficiaries – all those indirectly
benefiting from the project (e.g. families of
employees)
Stakeholders

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Steps in the stakeholder analysis
 Identify all stakeholders;
 Assess how important is the project idea to the
stakeholder;
 Assess the influence a stakeholder can have on your
project;
 Place each stakeholder on the matrix of
importance/influence;
 Decide on the type of involvement the stakeholder will
have during the planning and implementation phases.
Stakeholders

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Importance
Importance indicates the level under which will
certain needs and interests of the stakeholder be
during the planning and implementation phases.
It can be either positive or negative.
Stakeholders

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Assessing the importance of the stakeholder
 What problems are influencing what stakeholders and
whether or not the project will aim at solving them?
 To what stakeholders will the project give priority, in a
sense of satisfying their needs, interests and meeting
their expectations?
 Which interests of the stakeholders are jumping out
most in relation to the policy and objectives of the
project?
 Which interests of the stakeholders are jumping out
most in a negative way (as conflicts) in relation to the
policy and objectives of the project?
Stakeholders

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Influence
Influence is the power the stakeholder has during the
planning and implementation phases.
Stakeholders

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Assessing the influence of the stakeholders
 What is the essence of the organisation/individual?
 What is their relationship to other stakeholders (e.g.
local self-government does have control over
budgets)?
 To what extent does the organisation/individual has
informal influence (e.g. personal relations with
leading politicians)?
Stakeholders

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Importance - Influence
A.
Big importance,
Small influence
C.
Small importance,
Small influence
B.
Big importance,
Big influence
D.
Small importance,
Big influence
INFLUENCESmall
Big
Big
Stakeholders

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Importance - Influence
A.
Special initiatives needed
for the protection of
interests of stakeholders
C.
Limited or no involvement
Low priority
B.
Establishment of good
business relations needed
(Potential partners)
D.
Source of risks,
constant monitoring
and management required
INFLUENCESmall
Big
Big
Stakeholders

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Partnership
Partnership

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Deciding about your role in the consortium
For what parts of the workload your key competences,
references and capacities are the best match ?
Your role in the consortium or project initiative should
be fully aligned with your strategic and development
objectives, based on your strengths and opportunities
otherwise if it’s outside of that scope it's unlikely that it
will have the necessary impact.
Partnership

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How to define partner's profiles
Looking at the workload ahead of you, your weakness
and threats, describe the key competences and
capacities of organization's that would complement the
remaining workload.
Do not forget findings of stakeholder analysis!
Partnership

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Yours… mine… theirs
How can it be ours?
Partnership

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Partnership
Partners should cooperate in at least one of the following
ways: joint project development, joint implementation, joint
staffing and joint financing.
Partnership should be complimentary, bringing different
experiences.
Aim of partnership is to jointly assess joint needs and to
approach problem solving jointly.
It enables organised approach in solving bigger common
problems without individual responsibility.
Partnership

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Partnership
Contracting
authority
P2
P1
P3
CO
Implementing and are
responsible for their own
activities, reporting to
Coordinator
Coordinating project activities
and coordinating all partners,
transferring funds to partners,
reporting to Contracting
Authority.
Partnership

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Coordinator
Coordinator should:
 Have very good communication and managerial skills;
 Has good financial and administrative capacities;
 Has a very good knowledge of the area;
 Has relevant contacts.
Suggestions:
 Chose bigger institutions for coordinators (it is harder for smaller
institutions to manage the project in terms of administrative,
technical and financial capacities);
 Partners should agree in early stages of project preparation on
nominating the coordinator.
Partnership

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What is project
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Partnership
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How to find proper partners
Terms of partnership
Common needs
Commitment and trust
Specific knowledge and
expertise
Resources (time, staff,
finances)
„Successful partnership‟
Common objectives
Cooperation and team work
Sharing know-how and
experience
Partnership

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How can it succeed?
 Create positive mission;
 Establish strong management and leadership;
 Establish clear rules and procedures;
 Create clear action plan;
 Recognize and respect partners and staff;
 Solve administrative barriers;
 Include community;
 Set objective targets and expectations.
Create projects
jointly!
Partnership

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Why do partnerships fail?
Partnership

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Why do partnerships fail?
 Existence of earlier conflicts between partners;
 One partner manipulates or dominates;
 Inexistence of clear needs/objectives;
 Unreal objectives/targets;
 Different philosophies and ways of work;
 Luck of communication;
 Absence of common interests for partnership;
 Absence of appropriate formal partnership agreement.
Partnership

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Formalizing your partnership
Partnership

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Overview
 What is covered by a ‘typical’ consortium agreement;
 Model FP7 agreements may be used as guide;
 Checklist for developing a consortium agreement;
 Recommendations for project development stage.
Partnership

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What is a consortium agreement (CA)
• The CA is an agreement made between participants to govern a
number of issues that will or may arise during the project. It may be
applied to all the contractors participating in the project covered or
not by the contract.
• The Community is not a party to any CA and does not establish the
terms and conditions of the CA but it issues guidelines for
development.
• In principle, the CA should be negotiated and signed before starting
the project.
• For example, a consortium agreement is required for all projects
financed under FP7 except those exempted from this obligation by
the call for proposals to which they have applied.
Partnership

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What does the consortium agreement govern?
1. General Information on project;
2. Technical Provisions and the internal organisation of
the consortium;
3. Financial and Legal Provisions;
4. Management of Intellectual Property Rights;
5. The settlement of internal disputes.
Partnership

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Draft Checklist for a consortium agreement
• Non-binding guidance for FP7 projects;
• Prepared by the Commission;
• Highlights main issues – 11 parts;
• Version 28/06/07 currently available
is.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/checklist_en.pdf
Partnership

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Project preparation stage
• As mentioned earlier, the CA should in principle be
negotiated and signed before starting the project;
• Nevertheless, it is too early at the application stage;
• Non Disclosure Agreement and a Memorandum of
Understanding or Letter of Intent would suffice at this
early stage.
Partnership

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Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as
a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure
agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA),
or secrecy agreement is a legal contract between at least two
parties.
• It outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that
the parties wish to share with one another for certain
purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties.
• It is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose
information covered by the agreement.
Partnership

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Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• An NDA creates a confidential relationship between
the parties to protect any type of confidential and
proprietary information or trade secrets.
• As such, an NDA protects nonpublic business
information.
• For more visit:
Partnership

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Letter of Intent (LoI)
• A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, and sometimes capitalized as Letter
of Intent in legal writing, but only when referring to a specific
document under discussion) is a document outlining an agreement
between two or more parties before the agreement is finalized.
• LOIs resemble written contracts, but are usually not binding on the
parties in their entirety.
• Many LOIs, however, contain provisions that are binding, such
as non-disclosure agreements, a covenant to negotiate in good
faith.
• A LOI may sometimes be interpreted by a court of law as binding
the parties to it, if it too-closely resembles a formal contract.
Partnership

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Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is
a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement
between parties.
• It expresses a convergence of will between the parties,
indicating an intended common line of action.
• It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a
legal commitment or in situations where the parties cannot
create a legally enforceable agreement.
• It is a more formal alternative to a gentlemen’s agreement.
Partnership

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Common mistakes
• Where something basic in the CA is not in line with the EC contract e.g.
conflict regarding publications, project trying to speed things up;
• Unclear definitions e.g. ‘exceptional circumstances’;
• Background knowledge;
• Inform Commission as well as the other contractors if you decide not to
protect knowledge;
• Duration of access rights;
• Use of results: refers to economic exploitation of the results and to their
utilisation in further research activities;
• Intellectual Properties Rights - www.iprhelpdesk.eu
Partnership