Establishing partnership

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Creating a partnership project by the representatives of several institutions guarantees
complex and innovative attitude towards operations being realized, thanks to the
complementary fields of activities of the partners.

The aim of this e-book is to present particular phases of creating and functioning of a
partnership. This e-book will bring a closer look at the rules of establishing the
partnership and launching local and international partnerships.

Countless Polish and international examples show that the cooperation may be effective
and permanent, if it is appropriately defined, prepared and systematically monitored.

E-book is divided into 3 chapters and each of them consists of several parts.

Wish you pleasant reading!

Chapter 1 - CREATING PARTNERSHIP
CREATING PARTNERSHIP – THE CHALLENGE
REASONS FOR THE NECESSITY OF PARTNERSHIP COOPERATION
OBSTACLES IN THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING THE PARTNERSHIP
GOALS
TYPES OF PARTNERSHIPS
CONSTRUCTING PARTNERSHIP
PHASES OF ESTABLISHING THE PARTNERSHIP
RULES OF BUILDING THE PARTNERSHIP
ROLES IN THE PARTNERSHIP
ROLE OF THE LEAD
ROLE OF THE PARTNER
NEGOCIATIONS

DEFINING THE FORM OF FUNCTIONING WITHIN THE PARTNERSHIP
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
FAILURES
WHEN THE PARTNERSHIP IS OBLIGATORY AND WHEN DOES IT JUST PAY
OFF?
An example from Poland - EQUAL Community Initiative

Chapter 2 – LOCAL PARTNERSHIP
WHO CAN ESTABLISH THE LOCAL PARTNERSHIP?
MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE LOCAL PARTNERSHIP
COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
COOPERATION WITH BUSINESS
- SPONSORSHIP
- PATRONAGE
- DONATIONS
AN EXAMPLE FROM POLAND…
COOPERATION DURING THE AUTOKREACJA PROGRAMME
PHOTOS
GROUPS THAT BENEFIT FROM THE PROGRAMME

Chapter 3 – INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP
WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND BY PARTNERSHIP
GOOD EXAMPLE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT – CASE STUDY
LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT PARTNER
WHERE TO BEGIN
LOOKING FOR THE PROJECT PARTNERS
WAYS OF LOOKING FOR THE PARTNERS - EXAMPLES:
SOURCES OF FINANCING THE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME
WHAT TO PAY ATTENTION TO

Chapter I
CREATING
PARTNERSHIP

Chapter 1- CREATING PARTNERSHIP
CREATING PARTNERSHIP – THE CHALLENGE
REASONS FOR THE NECESSITY OF PARTNERSHIP COOPERATION
OBSTACLES IN THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING THE PARTNERSHIP
GOALS
TYPES OF PARTNERSHIPS
- Project partnership
- Trade/sector partnership
- Local/tri-sector partnership
CONSTRUCTING PARTNERSHIP
PHASES OF ESTABLISHING THE PARTNERSHIP
RULES OF BUILDING THE PARTNERSHIP
ROLES IN THE PARTNERSHIP

Chapter 1- CREATING PARTNERSHIP
ROLE OF THE LEADER
ROLE OF THE PARTNER
DEFINING THE FORM OF FUNCTIONING WITHIN THE PARTNERSHIP
NEGOCIATIONS
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
- Tasks and duties of the partners during the project’s realization
- Financial plan containing the division of partners and rules of financial
management
- Rules of communication and information flow within the partnership
- Rules of making decisions within the partnership
- Representing the project
- The way of monitoring and controlling the project
- Rules of the external representation of the project
- Rules of solving conflicts

- Changes in the agreement
- Other and final regulations
FAILURES
WHEN THE PARTNERSHIP IS OBLIGATORY AND WHEN DOES IT JUST PAY
OFF?
AN EXAMPLE FROM POLAND - EQUAL Community Initiative

Generally partnership is being established as the effect of necessity of completing the competences
of particular parties, which cooperate in realization of the planned undertaking.

Reasons for launching the partnership:
Better coordination of funds, services and initiatives,
Limiting the duplication of services, functions and improvement of the activities’ efficiency.
Wider partnership has bigger potential and in a longer time the expense of activities calculated
on a unit remarkably decreases. Better directing funds towards real needs – which come from
the partners’ experiences,
Enlarge of the potential of particular members by exchanging experiences,
Partnership limits the duplication of certain activities. Uses the already worked out strategies
and plans,
Strong sense of common engagement and responsibility for achieving better results,
Requirements of the application for financing,
Bigger innovation of the whole partnership than the innovation of individual members,
Bigger financial infrastructure, possibility of applying for bigger grants.

Working on the rules of cooperation is sometimes being extorted (because these are the
project’s requirements),
Organizations of different sizes, resources, ways of management and most importantly of
different experiences in projects’ realization are participating in the project,
Lack of efficient management, qualified manager. Lack of competences of particular
employees, most importantly in the accountancy field,
Inability of solving personal conflicts,
Lack of financial sustainability of particular partners,
Lack of sufficient equipment and spatial resources,
The process of achieving the consensus is often a slow and work consuming process,
Unequal participation of the partners – some are more present and active than the others.

Every partnership will surely be related with losing independence of the partners and this
dependency will be the reason of additional risk, so this is why it is important to work only
with trustworthy partners.

Every partnership should have a clearly defined mission and goals. The most general
goals may be called the mission of the partnership and the most widely interpreted regulations
regarding the activity field.

The aims of the activity must be organized by the hierarchy of goals. On top of it there is the main
goal (strategic). From this we lead all the detailed goals (operational), which are put into practice by
realization of particular activities.

The hierarchy of goals and activities should be worked out by all partners. Each goal should be
accepted. When defining the hierarchy of goals, it is necessary to take into account the resources
that the partners have and the possibilities of their practical realization.

Work on your goal so that it could get converted into particular activity and also that it would be
possible to measure and check the effectiveness of its realization.

Project partnership
It is an agreement of NGOs, enterprises and/or public institutions, which would like to undertake
a particular activity together. The aims of the partnership are strictly defined in the project.

Trade / sector partnership
It is a platform of an agreement of organizations,
institutions or enterprises running similar activities,
which would like to share experiences and
cooperate with each other.

Local / tri-sectoral partnership
It is an agreement between public institutions, enterprises and NGOs, which wish to act for the
development of the region. The essence of the cooperation is the common field within which all
partners function and have common goals.

In this chapter we will present you the particular stages of establishing a partnership, the specific
relation of two or more entities aiming at a common goal.

The decision about project’s realization in a specific partnership must be conscious from the point
of view of the need of the programme and the characteristic of the proposed support. Cooperation
based on experience and involvement of partnership’s members is crucial as project’s success
depends on it and also it benefits with expected results of the undertaken activity.

I. Initializing
1. Determining the range of activities, problem analysis.
2. Identification of possible partners.
3. Establishing partnership (defining the vision of common activities, goals).
4. Planning (preparing the programme of activities).

II. Organization
5. Preparing and accepting the structure and the model of functioning and management.
6. Assuring the needed resources.
7. Preparing the project.

III. Management
8. Implementing the project.
9. Monitoring and evaluation.
10. Correcting the structure of the programme.
11. Institutionalization – creating the appropriate structures.
12. Continuation or termination.

In the phase of creating the partnership structure you should guide yourself with the following
rules:
common goal of the project (directed towards solving the problems defined in the
programme’s documentation) should unite the partnership;

the structure should include the characteristic of activities undertaken within the project;

creating the common strategy of the undertaking, directed towards the realization of the goal
and showing the effectiveness of the partners’ activities by working on „good practices”,
should become the effect of building the partnership. Common strategy needs to include both
the detailed schedule (including the engagement of all partners), the expected results of the
project and also the detailed financial plan of particular stages of project’s implementation.

Partnership’s characteristics:

Together defined goals,
Voluntary participation in the partnership,
Primacy of partnership goals, not the profit,
Voluntary membership,
Transparent activities,
Democratic control
Social solidarity
Common responsibility

LEADER, PROJECT COORDINATOR – do we want to be the mastermind of the project. This is
related with great responsibility and devotion of a lot of time and human resources to the
project. Leader is an organization (person), which takes care over the correctness of the
project’s realization, common budget. Remember that the leader is responsible for solving all
potential disputes and problems.

PARTNER Is responsible for realization of particular elements of the project and all contract
settlements; joins the possible grant agreement; above all is responsible for his assignments but
remembering that they would be effective only if will be complementary with tasks of other
partners.

SUBCONTRACTOR
Performs work commissioned by the partners and is being paid by them in 100%. Is not binded
with any grant agreement, which means does not make any decisions within the partnership.

PROMOTER – a person or group of people who promote the partnership by using their
personalauthority and experience.

All partners should know their role in the realized activities.

It is different in the general partnerships, which are based
on the informal formula or on the letter of intent, which
generally does not define the detailed responsibilities of
particular members of the partnership. In this case only
the leader of the project is assigned and has the initiative
and proposes different kinds of activities to the partners.

LEADER/COORDINATOR in particular:
- watches over signing the agreement of project financing and possible further changes,
- is responsible for the project’s realization in accordance with the schedule specified in the
financing agreement,
- is responsible for executing partners’ obligations specified in the partnership agreement,
- prepares and presents reports on the progress in project’s realization (including financial
reports),
- ensures the adequate access to documents’ control,
- manages the common budget and is responsible for the financial management of the project,
- is responsible for the correct financial and material realization of the project,
- is responsible for the correctness of all qualified expenses in front of the institution, with
which the contract is signed,
- supervises the project – also those parts which are realized by partners.

Partners of the project are responsible for:
- realization of the project in the range of competences specified in the partnership agreement,
according to the schedule and rules being in force in the partnership, including the rules
concerning the qualification of expenses, control, reporting, financial flow, information and
promotion,
- handing over to the leader/coordinator all documentation concerning the progress of the
project’s realization,
- supporting the leader in preparing reports on the progress of project’s realization,
- handing over to the leader the necessary data, needed for control and evaluation,
- immediate alerting the leader about all possible occurrences which could lead to a temporary
or final cessation of the project or any possible changes in the project,
- ensuring the right path for the audit of documentation concerning the realization of the part
of the project, the partner is responsible for.
Each partner is directly responsible for the correct realization of his part of the project and for
correct, punctual and reliable execution of his duties which out come from the partnership
agreement.

Defining the form of functioning within the partnership Formal – informal

Every cooperation requires some kind of formalization or at least determine the rules of
cooperation. The forms of cooperation can be divided into two groups: formal and informal.

In the first group we include all kinds of „written” co-operations, these are agreements, contracts,
letters of intent and some more advanced, e.g. associations. The forms of formal cooperation prove
true in more advanced partnerships or in partnerships which from the very beginning of their
existence have clearly defined goals and expectations of all parties. In case of new partnerships,
which still develop the informal cooperation, it is better and more efficient. Meetings on occasions,
without structure and objectives. The main activity is concentrated on exchanging information and
ad hoc activities.

The choice of cooperation form requires a detailed discussion and acceptance of all partners. You
need to remember that this formula of cooperation proves true if the partners are sure of it’s
effectiveness and that it fulfills the expectations of all parties.

Before the full cooperation is reached and the agreement is signed, negotiations take place.

These are not tough and ruthless business negotiations. In case of partnership agreement it is more
about taking the aspirations and business of all parties into consideration, trying to combine them
into a complementary entirety and leading to consensus. If we want to cooperate, we must lead to a
situation in

The right shape of the partnership project depends on another important element, the right division
of work and duties among the partners, which should be formalized by the partnership agreement.
Members of the partnership must know from the very beginning, what is their range of duties and
rights. All tasks must come out of the agreement’s regulations.
The agreement should define the common strategy for the project’s realization and in a
comprehensive way should regulate the internal relationships of the partnership, range of activities
and responsibilities within the project’s framework.

In every agreement there should be included:
Goal of the partnership,
Duties and tasks of the partners,
Financial plan including the division of the partners and the rules of its management,
Rules of communicating and the information flow within the partnership,
Rules of making decisions within the partnership,

In every agreement there should be included:

Representing the project,
Ways of monitoring and control of the project,
Rules of representing the project outside,
Rules of solving conflicts,
Changes in the agreement.
Other and final regulations,
Annexes to the agreement

Tasks and duties of the partners during the project’s realization

This is the most essential part of the agreement. It should contain all detailed stages of the project,
stressing out the responsibilities and competences of particular partners.

The range of tasks and responsibilities should be formulated for each partner. By creating an
appropriate regulation, you should oblige the partner to realization of a task, along with the
project’s schedule and budget.

Financial plan containing the division of partners and rules of financial management

The value of the project should be defined together with the schedule of the project’s realization
and financial plan and pointing out the financial or material contribution of particular partners.

The agreement should stress out (in percentage or as an amount in cash) the range of financial
responsibility of particular partners in connection with the realization of the obligations coming out
of the incorrect realization of the project
(reimbursement of the incorrectly spent money).

Rules of communication and flow of information within the partnership
The rules of documents’ circulation, hierarchy, rage of duties of particular organizations.

Rules of making decisions within the partnership
For example: ways of voting.

Representing the project
The agreement should include full names of the partners, their addresses and names and
surnames of people entitled to sign documents. It should also stress out the organizational and
law form of the partner, example: local governmental unit, foundation, association, university,
church and faith unions etc.

The way of monitoring and controlling the project
The duties of each partner should be defined in the scope of delivering the essential financial
and material information for the need of reporting, control, evaluation in the range of their
duties, regarding the project’s realization.

Rules of the external representation of the project
For example: the obligation of consultations before a public performance, appointment of the
press officer.

Rules of solving conflicts
In the agreement you may specify the way of solving possible conflicts between the partners of
the project.

Changes in the agreement
The agreement should define the procedure and rules of implementing changes in the
partnership agreement (agreement of all participants, written form – annexes). The agreement
should define the conditions under which the withdrawal of the agreement may be undertaken
(for example the withdrawal of the partners, abandonment of realization of the duties defined
in the agreement) and the consequences of this for the further realization of the project. The
mechanism of changes should be defined regarding the possibility of resignation of the current
partner and the possibility of letting another party in as a next partner fulfilling the duties.

Other and final regulations
This part of the agreement should contain the possible clauses, exceptions, additional
conditions and formal issues, for example the amount of copies of the agreement, the date of
agreement’s admission, place for signatures, annexes (general budget, budgets of partners and
the schedule of partners’ work).

Sometimes it happens that after the first positive contact, wide preparations and long negotiations,
it will come out that the cooperation is impossible to get realized. Treat it as an experience and
don’t become discouraged in undertaking similar initiatives!

Remember that creating partnership connects with risk such as:
- Losing one’s good name
- Losing independence
- Conflict of interests
- Challenges connected with the realization of the project

When the partnership is obligatory and when does it just pay off?

On the European level, the main legal act, which touches upon the partnership issue is the
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) no 1260/1999 of 12th June 1999, stating the general regulations
about the structural funds. Regulations contained in this document are of a general character
and are a set of guidelines defining how the member countries should reflect the participation
and engagement of potential partners. It is said here that the participation of the social partners
should be guaranteed on every stage of giving the financial support within the structural funds
of the EU. The partnership rule is the primate rule in the field of structural funds management.
This means that almost every activity realized by using funds that come from the structural
funds, should be realized basing on a partnership.

In some calls for proposals you can obtain additional points in the assessment of the partnership
projects.

Social Economy on the Amber Trail

Within the realization of the Project Social Economy on the Amber Trail in five regions of
Poland there were created five precursory social enterprises. The project was experimental and
its aim was to create a local social economy model. Project was realized in a partnership - next
to the non-governmental organizations also private firms participated.

The initiator of this undertaking was Partnership for Environment Bieszczady Foundation. The
social companies were created by the local NGOs: Partnership for Environment Bieszczady
Foundation, Ecological and Cultural Association „On the Amber Trail”, Association for the
Bałtów Commune Development “Bałt”, Babiagóra Association “Grean Line” and Association
for Supporting Entrepreneurship. Their development was supported by partners: Pracownia
Psychologiczna ElŜbieta Sołtys, ISO-Tech Sp. z o.o., Amistad Sp. z o.o., Informator Sp. z o.o.
Although most of the activities were not held on the territory of Mazowsze, Stowarzyszenie
Autokreacja from Warsaw was of a great importance.

Managing 13 partners required managers’ abilities. In big partnerships it is a very complicated
process, which may cause many conflicts. Each partnership is different and there is no golden
rule on management. Below you can find a few suggestions:
All arrangements made while establishing the partnership must be written down as a
partnership agreement.
Carefully chose the coordinator/leader of the project . He will be the one who uses his
knowledge, experience and abilities to be a judge in all issues on the internal level of the
partnership.
Make sure that the hierarchy of partners is clear (leader, partner).
Create a coherent system of communications, calendar of meetings. General meetings of
partners , working meetings should be planned in advance.
On every meeting you should be making the minutes, to which you can always refer. All
participants should receive the minutes, also those who were absent on the meeting.

In every day contacts the most important are going to be emails and telephone calls, email
settlements should be kept, from your telephone calls it is good to make short summaries and
later send them in an email.
Require reports from your partners, which will allow an up to date monitoring of the project.
Create a system of the information management. In the beginning it could be the internet site
with a password to get in, where all your important documents concerning the partnership will
be stored: such as the partnership agreement, the reports of partners, notes from the meetings,
stages of the project’s realization, contacts to the most important people in the project together
with their duties in the project. On this page you may also upload your photos, movies, press
articles about you. Creating this kind of a system allows you to check the engagement of the
partners in your project.
Do not be afraid of conflicts and if they occur, do not pretend that they don’t exist. Solve them
as quickly as possible. Reach an agreement. The more you settle in the beginning , the less
conflicts will occur later on, especially the competential conflicts, occurring during the project’s
realization.
Do not neglect the formalities! Reports, working hours cards, schedule.

Training
Local centres Chambers of
authorities commerce
Social
services
agencies Labour
Local offices
Partnership
NGOs
Trade
unions

Enterpreneurs’ Private Consulting
unions enterprises companies

Regional and local self-government:
– To improve the local economy
– To benefit the local community
– To gain additional resources and support in creation and realization of the local plan of social and
economic development
– To develop relations with other sectors, agencies and organizations
Economic organizations:
– To increase the tempo and range of the development projects
– To engage private money for the projects of public sector
– To function as a catalyst for the local plans
Social and voluntary sector:
– To increase the specific benefits of the local community
– To engage the funds for social projects
Business:
– To have profits
– To work with “clients”
– To get the access to governmental grants, subsidies and donations

Taking over by the NGOs some public tasks may happen in two ways:
1) the range of fulfilling public tasks, together with giving donations for funding the realization or
2) supporting those kind of activities together with giving donations for funding the realization.
Supporting and the range of work to be done takes place after carrying out an open call for proposals, if
other regulations don’t state otherwise.
Look for the announcements about the call for proposals in:
The local or nationwide press (depending on the characteristic of the activity)
In the bulletin of public information
In the head office of the public administration organ where the announcements are being
published
On the Internet sites of the authority
The call for proposals may also occur in another way, ensuring the access to information to
interested parties, especially by using the tele-informatical net. Some city councils have the
possibility of renting rooms on preferential terms which helps NGOs which cannot afford to rent a
space on commercial terms. Warsaw for example has this kind of offer.
PATRONAGES OF COUNCILS The patronage of a council adds prestige to the event and also
builds confidence in the possible receivers of the social activity. Information on how to receive the
patronage may be found on the internet sites of your councils.

SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship has become a popular way of presenting the enterprises in the media. Currently
we may notice the increase of interest of the enterprises in social activities. In the future those
enterprises may become the motor of all undertaken decisions for the society in Poland.
PATRONAGE
Patronage is an activity of a person or a company which supports a particular undertaking and
does not expect any promotional services in return. It relates to the tradition of taking care over
artists. Modern companies treat the patronage similarly to sponsorship. Although that the
definition states that they do not expect anything in return, on all promotional materials there
is the logo of the donor. Big and prestigious events of good reputation related not only to art
and culture but also sport or entertainment are often under the patronage.
DONATION
Another way of financing social activities is a donation
– a form of agreement where the donor is obliged to provide
services free of charge to the donatory, from his own property.
The donation may be issued both by a physical person
and legal entity.

Autokreacja Workshops – Autokreacja Workshops is the leading project of Stowarzyszenie
Autokreacja and it takes it’s name from it. It is being realized since 1995, in the beginning in the
informal structures and now it has been transformed into a big, nation-wide programme.

It is being realized within the frame of a weekly training, while which the participants gain
knowledge of how to write a CV, look for a job, behave during a job interview. The participants
take part also in short computer workshops, entrepreneurship trainings and lectures for the
managers of big companies about the recruitment stages in their organizations.

The main aim is to practically introduce the participants to the techniques of effective looking
for work and breaking the psychological barriers which make it difficult . Autokreacja
Programme is not aimed towards direct help for the participants but to provide them with
abilities, thanks to which they will be able to help themselves, successfully existing on the
labour market.

Public administration – recruitment of the candidates is being done by the employees of the
Labour Offices who have an appropriate preparation to individual work with the unemployed and
a rich experience in running some group workshops. During the training they are the leaders
who run the training with participants of their choice.

Business – the workshops are also run by the employers – experienced people, who voluntarily
participate in the programme. The commercial partner covers also the costs of accommodation
and other financial costs of the project.

Media – the active role of the media enables spreading the idea and strengths the PR effect, which
is needed by the entrepreneurs and NGOs.

Stowarzyszenie Autokreacja – fulfills the duties of the coordinator. Unites all sectors, works on the
framework schedule, participates in the process of consultations with the possible beneficiaries.
Takes care of the high substantial and organizational level of the workshops.

Chapter III
INTERNATIONAL
PARTNERSHIP

WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND BY PARTNERSHIP
LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT PARTNER
WHERE TO BEGIN
LOOKING FOR THE PROJECT PARTNERS
WAYS OF LOOKING FOR THE PARTNERS - EXAMPLES:
CONTACT SEMINARS
PREPARATORY VISITS
MEETINGS OF PARTNERS - EXAMPLES
STUDY VISITS
JOB SHADOWING

- INTERNATIONAL VISEGRAD FUND
- ASIA - EUROPE FOUNDATION
- LIFE-LONG LEARNING
-LEONARDO DA VINCI
-GRUNDTVIG
WHAT TO PAY ATTENTION TO
- CURRENCY DIFFERENCES
- LAW DIFFERENCES
-TIME ZONES
- CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
- NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

International cooperation is a specific kind of co-operation and way of creating partnerships.
Membership in the European Union opened new and valuable source of project financing for
NGOs. But you should not limit yourself only to Europe.

Partnership is being understood as any kind of cooperation (formal or informal) between two or
more organizations, which want to gain their goal together.
Examples of the cooperation fields:

International cooperation in the field of culture
International cooperation in the field of education
International cooperation in the field of environmental protection or other global problems
International cooperation in the field of sports
International cooperation in the field of youth policy
International volunteership
Exchange of the NGOs employees


„ PUT YOUR STORY INTO HISTORY” within the Youth in Action Programme – a group of
youngsters from Russia decided to invite their peers from Azerbaijan, Turkey and Poland to
realization of a film. The meeting took place between 14 and 24 September 2008 in Vologda,
Russia. During those ten days the youngsters organized their time, workshops, lectures and
meeting with people from the movies’ world. Within the frames of informal education they
learned a lot from each other, they got to know the countries of others and learned about how
life of their peers looks like in other countries. The bailout covered the expenses of
accommodation, catering, local transport, materials necessary for the film realization and 70%
of the travel costs.

The meeting was preceded by the preparatory visit, during which the representatives of all groups
reached settlements regarding everyone’s responsibilities.

The main task which needs to be done by the organization willing to enter the international
partnership is to define the goal of the undertaking, to which you will be pursuing with the
possible partner. If the goal was gained and you know exactly what you need, you may narrow
down the searching area as this will make it easier to find the right organization for cooperation.

The basis is to identify exactly what you are looking for in a partner and the next step is to try
contacting him.

Sending out the direct correspondence to possible partners, whose addresses you fund on the
Internet and generally accessible data bases.

In many cases first contacts between the possible future partners happen via e-mail, post or fax.
This is undoubtedly the cheapest way, a lot of information must be immediately exchanged.
Sometimes it is hard to check the credibility.

CONTACT SEMINARS

Make possible:
Gaining information on the possibilities of European cooperation in the field of the seminar,
Getting to know people from different countries, creating a partnership group with them,
Getting concrete information and suggestions regarding the elaboration of the project (the
division of duties and responsibilities in the project, elaboration of the procedure of the
project’s assessment and distribution of its results etc.),
Obtaining practical information regarding the procedures of filling in the proposals, financial
covenants and contracts institutions, which received the grants etc.
Based on the Life Long Learning Programme

Based on the Life Long Learning Programme

The preparatory visit enables the possible future partners to organize a meeting in order to:

Work on the guidelines, goals, methodology of the project,
Define the duties and responsibilities of the partners,
Work on the budget and the schedule,
Work on filling in the proposal for donation together .

The preparatory visit enables meeting with the organization, which you contacted and with which
you would like to realize the project. It is worth spending some time on talking over your idea for
the future activities and possibly also prepare the proposal together.

STUDY VISITS

These are short meetings ( 3-5 days ) in small groups ( 10-15 people ) of experts from different
countries working in the similar fields. During the study visits the most common ways of working
are workshops and meetings with local NGOs and institutions working in the field you are
interested in. This gives you the chance to get to know working methods related to a particular
issue. During the study visit you can observe how the NGOs from other countries manage with
everyday duties and how to gain goals. Additionally you may exchange experiences and get to
know the working methods of your potential target group.

Thanks to the study visit you get:
- better understanding of the specificity of working in another country
- new contacts for cooperation
- bigger knowledge on the practical work with possible target group

This is a kind of internship that let ’s you actively participate in the activities of the foreign
organization. It is a great method of learning which enables you to exchange experiences and get to
know the rules and methods of how other organization functions, especially on the international
level. It is in the same time the introduction to cooperation with people and organizations from
abroad. During the internship as a participant you get to know how the visited organization works
and observe how it realizes its goals (e.g. international).

Thanks to the intership it is possible to:
- obtain new qualifications
- get to know the specificity of working in another country
- establish new relations for cooperation
- work on new ideas to action


We are not presenting you all of the possible ways of financing. In this chapter we will only show
you the most popular funds. Let them be an inspiration for you…

INTERNATIONAL VISEGRAD FUND
ASIA - EUROPE FOUNDATION
LIFE-LONG LEARNING

International Visegrad Fund (IVF)was established on June 9th 2000 by the EU members: Czech
Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The main aim of this Fund is to support the close
cooperation between those countries. This regional cooperation is being organized by realization of
diverse projects, especially cultural, science, research, educational and those connected to youth
exchange, tourism promotion and transboundary cooperation. The budget of this Fund is founded
by all of those four countries.

The Fund supports projects from the following fields:
1. Cultural cooperation (festivals, publications)
2. Science cooperation and science researches (conferences, publications, research)
3. Education (seminars, summer schools)
4. Youth Exchange (sport, educational and cultural events for youngsters and children)
5. Transboundary cooperation (e.g. projects of two bordering countries, in the distance of 50
km from the border)
6. Tourism promotion (guides, presentations, trades)

It’s aim is to promote contacts between the societies of Asia and Europe and development of
mutual understanding between these two continents. It supports projects in the fields of:
art development
cultural policy and artistic development
education and academic cooperation
environment al protection and balanced development
human rights
intercultural dialogue
international relations
media and information society
youth

The member countries of ASEM: in Europe: 25 countries of the EU and European Commission,
in Asia: 10 ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia,
Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar) and China, Japan, South Korea. On the ASEM VI
summit meeting in Helsinki (10-11.09.06) Bulgaria, Romania, India, Pakistan, Mongolia and
ASEAN Secretariat were admitted.

The aim of the Programme is t o extend the European cooperation and exchange in the field of
education. It’s different forms range children, teenagers and adults – from the kindergarten to the
Universities of the Third Age. Below we present you those, which may directly relate to NGOs. We
omit the programmes financing the cooperation between other institutions, e.g. universities:

LEONARDO DA VINCI
GRUNDTVIG

The mobility project of LEONARDO DA VINCI promotes the mobility of employees on the
European labour market, also employed in NGOs and implements innovative educational
solutions for raising professional qualifications. Supports the solutions raising the transparency
and professional qualifications recognition in the European countries, also activities
strengthening the quality of professional and continuing education.

Transfer of Innovation projects of LEONARDO DA VINCI - are projects that transfer and
implement on the new ground some innovative solutions and products to raise the quality of
education and professional training.

Partner Projects of LEONARDO DA VINCI
raise the attractiveness and quality of education and professional training,
develop and implement common instruments and solutions in the field of education and
professional training,
strengthen mutual teaching and learning,
engage to cooperation all people/parties interested in education and professional training.

Main goals:
- answering the educational challenges connected to aging of the European population,
- help in securing for the adults the possibilities of improvement of their knowledge and
competences.
Examples of the subject fields:
- ways of motivating adults to learning,
- active citizenship,
- intercultural issues,
- learning foreign languages,
- balanced development,
- information technologies in adults education,
- equal opportunities for women and men,
- education of people of special needs,
- parents education.

Examples of activities which can be co-financed in the partnership projects:
- meetings of project partners, seminars, conferences, publications,
- exchange of experiences and practices, using the right means, especially using the information
and communications technologies (e.g. Internet sites, e-mail, video-conferences),
- performance of artistic works and other related to the project’s subject,
- fieldwork, analysis and research on the project’s subject etc.,
- language preparation of people
engaged in the project’s realization.

Youth in Action Programme is a programme of the European Union supporting the partnership
outside of school learning, which is the informal education. It enables establishing new
international relations and the exchange of experiences. It encourages to undertaking of many
kinds of activities for the local society, serving also the individual development. It promotes the
idea of the united Europe.
Main goals of the Youth in Action Programme:
promotion of active civil attitudes among the youngsters,
development of solidarity, tolerance and mutual understanding among young people from
different countries,
raising the quality of systems supporting youth actions,
supporting European cooperation in this field,
enlarging the participation in the social life of the youngsters with smaller chances.
Priorities of the Youth in Action Programme:
European citizenship
Youngsters participation
Engaging the youngsters with smaller chances
Cultural diversity

SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF PARTNERSHIP
From August until June 2011 Fundacja Instytut innowacji from Poland takes part in an
international project A LOT TO SHARE, STILL MORE TO LEARN. Partners are NGOs from
Italy and Slovakia. The aim of this partnership is to raise the quality of life of seniors by teaching
them to use new technologies. Moreover the project’s aim is to integrate elder people taking part in
the project, guide them new goals, enable getting to know new people from different countries,
motivating to further education. Thanks to the knowledge of new technologies, the participants
notice new possibilities, more easily solve everyday problems and protect their matters.
An important element of this partnership is the exchange of experiences and know-how on the
workshops for seniors between the partners, organizations specialized in running educational
programmes for adults. Partners compare solutions and methods and then during the project they
implement the best ones.
The project will also realize activities supporting the transfer of knowledge and culture among
seniors and the young generation and enabling the elder people the cultural exchange by using new
technologies, language abilities and two books (in English and/or in a language from the list in
table B). One of these books will include old recipes recommended by elder people and the second
one, under the title „Folk Tales for Grandchildren”, will contain folk stores for children written or
told by the elder people. The recipes and stories could be added even after the project terminates.
This cultural exchange will help better understanding between the particular European countries
and will help maintain some cultural values, which are currently disappearing.

Public library Knihovna Kroměřížska (Czech Republic) has been cooperating with the non-profit
organizations on a long-term basis. During this cooperation, the library has approached a number
of lasting project partnerships. The non-profit organizations have been helping with e.g. the
educational activities for children and adults. One example is a popular game „Plastoviny“ which
has been designed for the youngest kids and which teaches them to recycle plastic waste in the
library. Children are fans of this game and they apply the rules of this game in their homes and
show their parents what they have learned. The library has offered its spaces for exhibitions, selling
campaigns and for the presentations of the NGOs. The library has also elaborated its own database
of local non-profit organizations to support the non-profit sector. It serves the purpose of a quick
orientation for all of the interested public.

An example of project partnership is the project of Knihovna Kroměřížska named The Centre of
Life-long Learning. The aim of the project was to build an open training centre for the unemployed
and disabled people, to reduce unemployment and improve social integration of the target groups.
The main implementer of the project was the library. Important partners of the project were
Employment Office in Kroměříž, the municipal council in Kroměříž, and non-governmental
organization Centre for People with Disabilities. The role of the municipal council was to guarantee
the obligations of the project. The role of the Employment Office was to recommend suitable
candidates for the courses (computer literacy, information literacy, ecology, motivation and
communication) and the role of the NGO was to help with the aim group „the disabled“.

"BiblioNet" is a partnership between the Foundation IREX (International Research and Exchanges
Board), The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Foundation EOS (Educating for an Open
Society), The National Association of Public Libraries and Librarians in Romania (ANBPR) and
Romanian public libraries. It unfolds over a period of five years and is worth 26.9 million dollars,
funding is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
IREX is a not-for profit organization whose mission is to promote computer skills training, access to
Internet and online discussion forums, so that citizens and other organizations use technology to
better meet the needs of their communities, build coalitions among civic organizations for advocacy
and further promote professional development.
In order to carry out mission, the Biblionet program was developed, with the purpose of supporting
libraries and librarians with technology and training, to provide better services to their
communities.
Benefits for “Antim Ivireanul” Valcea County Library:
- Training of four trainers for librarians in order to use the potential of new technological
resources.
- Equipment obtained: 11 Laptops + their peripherals, 10 complete computers with their
peripherals, two projectors, two scanners, two printers, two wireless routers, course materials and
consumables for training the 9 series of 10 librarians from the county, two training programs.
The total value of equipment donated to the “Antim Ivireanul” County Library is 12.000 Euro.


Building up the Literary Park - the project of Regional Library in Žilina (Slovakia) is a good example
of cooperation and partnership with various organizations and broad public.
At the beginning there was an idea of improving and cultivating abandon, useless space in the
centre of Žilina was challenged by the group of people close to the library. (librarians, readers,
library friends and neighbors). The aim of the project was to create a space in the centre of town -
place of relaxation, meeting with friends, summer reading, or pleasant well-being.
Project was supported by 500 citizens, the Self-Governing Region of Žilina and the Chairman
himself, the Municipality of Žilina, the Mayor of Žilina, schools, companies, organizations in the
town. Important was non-financial support of the project releasers reached 11 000 €:
- More than 1 800 volunteer hours were worked ( librarians, students, readers, architects, civil
engineers, citizens of Žilina)
- Municipality of Žilina and Self-Governing Region of Žilina arranged for the park cultivation
and planting the greenery
- Commercial companies donated material and services (stone, wood, machinery used in the
park)
- Individual donors of material and services
The Regional Library of Žilina for building up the park was awarded by the nationwide price for
the support of the local democracy and the price of Slovak Library Association for Special Act of the
library.


TRAINING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

Through the database, Proinov (Portugal) invites trainers to give specialized training, in
areas such as selling techniques; guest contact; IT training and interpersonal relationship.

Our regional partner is IEM (Instituto de Emprego da Madeira) that is the governmental
organization that manages, pays and controls all unemployed people from Madeira
Island.

IEM select the unemployed groups that are going to have specialized courses, and
Proinov organizes the training, like any other training, but this ones are for free for
unemployed people.

This is an activity base in the logic of social responsibility, that we are all committed.

Estimating risk is an important but often omitted element of the initial phase of partnership
building – this is being favored by the enthusiasm connected to the consciousness of possible
benefits from cooperation. Partners should find time for thinking over the possible risk and
together, as a group, look for ways of avoiding it.

CURRENCY DIFFERENCES
Consider the currency differences. The market is unpredictable. It happens very often that
budgets are created and approved in Euros. When talking about big donations the change of
the exchange rate might lead to insufficiency and bankruptcy of the organization. The change
of the exchange rate may also be advantageous.

LAW DIFFERENCES
Get to know the legal regulations of the countries, with which you wish to cooperate. Every
country means a different law system. Even on the territory of the EU you may find the internal
regulations within the particular countries, regulations which we do not expect. The better
reconnaissance we do before starting the cooperation, the better. In some countries, especially
the Eastern ones, you need to assume from the beginning the consequences of for example legal
proceedings. Polish jurisdiction isn’t as slow, as we might think it is.

TIME ZONES
You will not always be able to call your partner in the USA, as you could just simply wake him
up and nobody likes that…

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

The effective intercultural communication requires that we carefully get to know the
communications style practiced in the particular culture, which may turn out to be totally
different from the style that dominates in your country.

USA – I know what i am doing
Russia, Holland - madman

Libya – I swear

Italy – I swear

Americans prefer a strong and firm handshake
Asian countries prefer a delicate handshake, a strong one suggests aggression, enmity

Below suggestions should be useful for people who would like to act property in contact with
representatives of other cultures.
1. Familiarize yourself with the rules concerning expressing emotions in public places. Especially
important is to know how you can use the face mimics and hands gesticulations.
2. Learn and comply with the rules of forms and sequence of behavior during greetings.
3. Find out which differences in the status must be stressed out and use the right cultural
nonverbal behaviors to accept those differences.
4. Define the level of physical contact, engagement and accessibility which is publicly expected
and behave the way that would fulfill the expectations.
5. Try to be sensitive on culturally specific expectations regarding touch, movement, eye contact
and time perception (getting late!), to adept yourself to the cultural scheme.
6. Familiarize yourself with nonverbal regulators of conversation, what should be or shouldn’t be
used in the accepted conversation.
7. Think of which nonverbal behavior is being treated as the most important in the cultural ritual,
so you could modify your behavior if needed, identifying yourself with important cultural
values. And again, it is not about you, but about the respect for others.

8. Learn how to recognize and avoid using of the emblems and behaviors, which may be received
as an insult or an offence.
9. Define the kind of outfit which is and is not in accordance with the accepted cultural
convention and later on adjust yourself to those directives.

SMILE AND LISTEN, THESE BEHAVIORS ARE POSITIVELY RECEIVED IN EVERY
CULTURE!

„Nonverbal communication” Dale’a Leathersa (Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2007)

Establishing partnership

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