Third EU Health Program –
preparation of a project
proposal
Jurgita Kaminskaite, project officer
Consumers, health, agriculture and food
executive agency (Chafea),
European Commission
Consumers, Health,
Agriculture and Food
Executive Agency
29 June 2015
Proposals received 2008-2013. 2HP
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Total
154
183
115
38
87
67
644
Conferences
43
45
27
35
42
47
239
Operating
Grants
26
26
25
35
46
45
203
2
4
10
5
5
5
31
225
258
177
113
180
164
1117
Instruments
Projects
Joint Actions
Total
Consumers, Health,
Agriculture and Food
Executive Agency
2
Irish participation in 2HP – type of
actions co-funded
Consumers, Health,
Agriculture and Food
Executive Agency
3
Irish participation in 2HP –organisations
and partner co-funded
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Executive Agency
4
Country participation during 2HP
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Agriculture and Food
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5
Country participation during CFP 2014. 3HP
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Agriculture and Food
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6
Call for Project Proposals 2014. Participation by MSsCoordinators & partners after submission
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7
General principles EC funding
Applicable to all financing mechanisms
1. Co-funding rule: external co-financing from a source other
than EC funds is required (own resources or financial
contributions from third parties)
2. Non-profit rule: the grant may not have the purpose or
effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary
(total Expenses = total incomes)
3. Non-retroactivity rule: only costs incurred after the
starting date defined in the grant agreement can be cofunded
4. Non-cumulative rule: only one grant can be awarded for a
specific action carried out by a given beneficiary
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Eligibility criteria applying for a grant
• Applicants must be legally established.
• Only applicants from the 28 EU Member States
plus Norway and Iceland can apply.
• A project proposal must be submitted by at least 3
different legal entities from 3 different eligible
countries.
• The only eligible activities are those listed in
section 2.1 "Grants for projects" in the work
programme 2015.
• The co-funding is meant for a future project.
Running projects cannot be supported.
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9
Exclusion criteria
• Exclusion from participation:
• being bankrupt,
• convicted of an offence concerning
professional conduct,
• guilty of grave professional misconduct
• not in compliance with their obligations
relating to the payment of taxes
• Exclusion from granting procedure:
• conflict of interest
• guilty of misrepresenting the information
required by the Agency
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Selection criteria
Financial viability
• Not if < 100 000€ EU co-funding or if public
• If > 750 000€ -> attach audit report
• Self-check must be performed
If the self-check result is "weak" do not be
discouraged from applying!
• Operational capacity
• Self-declaration
• Provide information on capacity
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Award criteria - I
Maximum points
1 – policy relevance 10
8
Threshold in %
of max. points
80%
2 – technical quality 10
6
60%
3 – management
quality
4 – budget
adequacy
TOTAL
10
6
60%
10
6
60%
40
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Consumers, Health,
Agriculture and Food
Executive Agency
Threshold
12
Award criterion 1 - Policy and
contextual relevance
• Sub-criteria:
• Relevance of the contribution to meeting the
objectives and priorities defined in the annual
work plan of the 3rd Health Programme, under
which the call for proposals is published,
• Added value at EU level in the field of public
health,
• Pertinence of the geographical coverage of the
proposals is high,
• Consideration of the social, cultural and
political context.
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13
Award criterion 2 - Technical quality
• Sub-criteria:
• Quality of the evidence base,
• Quality of the content,
• Innovative nature, technical complementarity
and avoidance of duplication of other existing
actions at EU level,
• Quality of the evaluation strategy,
• Quality of the dissemination strategy and plan.
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14
Award criterion 3 - Management quality
• Sub-criteria:
• Quality of the planning and appropriate task
distribution to implement the project,
• Relevance of the organisational arrangements,
including financial management,
• Quality of the partnership.
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15
Award criterion 4 – Overall and
detailed budget
• Sub-criteria:
• Relevance and appropriateness of the
budget,
• Consistency of the estimated cost per
applicant and the corresponding activities,
• Realistic estimation of person months per
work package
• The budget allocated for evaluation and
dissemination is reasonable.
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Types of participants
• Project coordinator
• Other beneficiaries
• Affiliated entities
applicants
Several entities form one for the purpose of
the action
Legal and/or financial link to another
beneficiary
Must comply with eligibility criteria
• Subcontractors
• Do not sign grant agreement
• Get 100% of the cost reimbursed
• Collaborating stakeholders
• Do not sign the grant agreement
• Cost not eligible
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CONTENT PREPARATION
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NEW – electronic submission system
Part A
• administrative "form": title, keywords,
abstract, partners, overview budget
(60/80% ?), checklist with criteria
Part B
• free-flow text, according to template
(PDF)
• You need to write your own proposals
• Template gives the mandatory structure
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Evidence base and problem analysis
• Analysis of the health problem and its
impact on society/quality of life
- incidence, prevalence, distribution,
development over time
• Analysis of the factors underlying the
problem (determinants)
• Effectiveness of proposed measures,
applicability in the proposed context
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Defining the objectives
General objective – relate to purpose and
vision and is set as the main single aim.
Specific objectives are the concrete
activities you carry out to achieve your
general objective.
Often active verbs e.g. assess needs,
revise, assemble, compare, investigate or
develop.
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Make the objectives S.M.A.R.T
• Specific - Specify the target group and the factors that need
to be changed
• Measurable - Formulate objectives in a measurable format
e.g. numbers to be reached, increased awareness by 25 %...
• Appropriate - Make sure objectives are achievable and
attainable, acceptable for the target group?
• Realistic - Ensure that you can realistically achieve the
objectives given the project’s resources: time, money, staff?
Time-bound - Connect objectives to a time line. State when
you will achieve the objective e.g. within 3 months, by
February 2016?
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Indicators
Are the base for the evaluation - need to measure the
performance of the project
Should be directly linked to the specific objectives, for
each specific objective, one or more indicators can be
defined
Should be separated into:
• Process indicators
• Outcome/output indicators for effect evaluation the
level to which the objective is reached -> per
specific objective
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Formulation of an indicator
Step
Example
Basic
indicator
Peer educators trained
Quantity
Number of peer educators trained
Quality
Number of peer educators trained in
counselling that passed the test
Time
Number of peer educators trained in
counselling that passed the test in 2016
Target
Increase from x to y in the number of peer
educators trained in counselling that passed
the test in 2016
(Horstman, 2002)
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Types of indicators
Process indicators
• Are related to the outputs of the project
(deliverables, structures created,
materials produced/published)
• e.g. 120 condom distribution points have
been created in night life venues in the
city before the end of 2016
Impact/outcome indicators
• Measure broader results achieved by
project activities and outputs
• e.g. Contraceptive use by the target
group has increased from 30 to 40% over
the last twelve months
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Methods and means
- The activities of the project needs to be
described
- Every specific objective should be
achieved by aplying a method/ using
means
- Methods need to be scientifically
validated & match the staff expertise
- Answer the question: Why are these the
most effective methods to achieve your
objectives?
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Target group
• Identify the groups who will be
involved in and benefit from the
project.
• Be specific, try to find a segment of
people who are as homogenous as
possible e.g. girls / aged 11-15 /in
school settings
• Ensure that the planned methods for
the interventions are relevant for this
particular group
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Policy and contextual relevance
• Contribution to the third health programme
and the annual work plan, other EU policies
e.g. Communication on HIV/AIDS
• Strategic relevance, EU added value and
innovation
• Pertinence of the geographical coverage
• Adequacy of the project with social, cultural,
policy context
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7 ways to create EU-added value
• 1. Implementing EU legislation
• Objective: ensuring that legislation is implemented
correctly
• Example: JA on Facilitating collaboration on organ
donation between national authorities in the EU
• 2. Economies of scale
• demonstrate ‘return on investment’ for MS &
ensure sustainability
• Objective: To save money, and to provide better
service to citizens
• Target: No duplication of efforts
• Example: JA on Forecasting health workforce
needs for effective planning in the EU
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7 ways to create EU-added value
3. Promotion of best practice
• Objective: Citizens benefit from state of the art best
practice, capacity building where necessary
• Target: ‘best practice’ applied in all participating MS
• Example: JA on Mental Health and well-being
4. Benchmarking for decision making
• Focus on indicators with real impact on decision
making.
• Objective: To facilitate evidence based decision
making
• Target: Real time data comparison available
• Example: JA on Improvement of HIV prevention in
Europe
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7 ways to create EU-added value
• 5. Cross border threats
• Objective: To reduce risks and mitigate
consequences of health threats
• Target: Depending on individual threats
• Example: JA on the impact on maritime
transport of health threats
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7 ways to create EU-added value
• 6. Movement of persons
• Patients crossing borders, migration issues and
brain drain - movement of workers across
Europe
• High ‘EU legitimacy’. Ensure high quality Public
Health across EU MS. Added value depends on
the scale of the problem
• Example: JA on Forecasting health workforce
needs for effective planning in the EU
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7 ways to create EU-added value
• 7. Networking
• Very difficult to put into objectives, targets,
and indicators.
• Is a ‘side effect’ of other actions
• Is the rationale of the funding of ‘networks’
• Is very important for dissemination of the
results to all MS including non-participants
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Managing the project implementation
• An evidence based problem analysis that takes
into account
• Policy and contextual relevance leads to
defining the general objective of the project.
• This is translated into several specific, s.m.a.r.t
objectives.
• Link target groups, methods and means to
each objective and expected outcomes and
indicators of these.
Group activities in work packages
with defined deliverables.
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Work packages
- horizontal tasks: coordination, dissemination and evaluation
(mandatory)
- vertical tasks: actions fulfilling the objectives (max 6)
WP 1 – coordination of the project:
Specifications, Description of work, List of deliverables, Milestones
Horizontal
WP:s
WP 2 – dissemination of results
WP 3 – evaluation of the project
Core
WP:s
Timetable
specification
WP 4
WP 6
WP 5
WP 7
• Description of
work
• deliverables
• Milestones
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36 months
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Project example
Steering Committee
WP 1: Coordination
WP 2: Dissemination
WP 3: Evaluation
WP 4
WP 5:
WP 6:
Improvement
of existing
Instruments
Urban
Environment,
Transport
related
physical
activity
Healthrelated
fitness
4.1
Q Core Development
4.2
Q Workplace Module
5.1
Environmental Determinants
4.3
Accelerometry
5.2
Active Transportation
6.1
Fitness Test for adults
4.4
Assessment of PA in Children
5.3
GIS Data Analysis
6.2
Fitness Test for children
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Timetable
• Applicants can use format they prefer
• Suggestion: GANTT chart
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BUDGET
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Eligible costs
Connected to the subject of the GA and included in the
Technical annex and in the budget description
Necessary for the performance of the action
Reasonable and justified “good housekeeping”
Generated during the lifetime of the action
Actually incurred by the beneficiaries (including affiliated
entities), using applicable accounting principles
Identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in
the accounting records of beneficiary
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Cost categories
Direct costs:
• Personnel cost
• Subcontracting costs
• Travel Costs and subsistence allowances
• Equipment
• Other goods and services
Indirect costs:
• Overheads – flat rate of 7% of total direct costs
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Non-Eligible costs
Return on capital
Debt and debt services charges
Provision for losses or potential future liabilities
Interest owed, doubtful debts
Exchange losses
VAT – depends – watch new grant agreement!
Cost declared by a beneficiary and covered by
another action funded by a EC grant
Contribution in kind
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Sources of income
•
•
•
•
Co-funding request from the EU budget
Applicant financial contribution
Income generated by the action
Other External resources
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Tips/suggestions
• Plan for each Work Package separately
• Identify:
• Activities necessary to achieve objectives
• Cost elements (and cost category) of each
activity
• Partners participating in a given activity
• For simplicity use EC rules
• EUR 500 per roundtrip flight + EC rules on
subsistence
• Depreciation rules for equipment (straight
line, 36 months for software / computers and
60 months for other items)
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Tips/suggestions (continuation)
• Confusion of Staff & Subcontracting
• Consult HR department
• Partnership / Consortium Agreement
• Signed by each partner
• Internal project management
• Roles and responsibilities of partners
• “Project management” minded staff at main partner and WP leaders,
Financial manager at main partner
• Read the grant agreement
• Send documents in time! Delay of 1 partner delays the whole action
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Thank you
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