Five tips for call 12 applicants
The opportunity for existing North Sea Region projects to apply for additional funding opened on January 11 with the announcement of Call 12. All guidance and information related to this call is available on our dedicated Call 12 web page.
The Joint Secretariat would like to help current projects in developing a proposal for this call by providing five tips.
Tip number 1: Talk to us
There is a reason this is tip number 1; it is that important! Please reach out to your project advisor and/or a National Contact Point to discuss your proposed extension and ask any content-related questions you may have that are specific to your project. There will be a webinar to answer general questions about extensions on 4 February.
Tip number 2: Sell your project
In preparing the proposal, focus on the additional activities and/or partners, but do not forget to highlight the preliminary successes and sound project management you have demonstrated so far.
Tip number 3: All on board
Ask all partners if they are interested in extending the project. If there are partners that will not participate (and that's ok!), make sure to explain in the extension request how the partnership will organise and complete the final report.
Tip number 4: Are we online or in person?
All proposed new activities should be planned with the ongoing pandemic in mind.* Keep in mind that over the next several months there won't be much scope for holding physical meetings or carrying out other in-person activities, but that the opportunities to do so will likely increase over the next year and beyond.
Tip number 5: Update and add value
Demonstrate the added value of new/up-scaled activities and or partners joining the project. Update output and result targets accordingly and make sure to outline how the updates link to the activities you are adding. Describe the transferability and durability of project services/products/working practices. Examine current spending levels in your project, develop sound and convincing arguments for the need for additional funding, and explain how your project will spend the money.
These are tips from the North Sea Region Programme's team of project advisors, who reviewed successful and unsuccessful proposals in previous calls. Please note that fulfilling these recommendations does not guarantee success, but taking all of them into consideration will help you avoid pitfalls and develop a stronger extension request.
* Please note that projects that simply need more time due to Covid-19-related delays should submit a Covid-19 lifetime extension or a project lifetime extension request of 6 months through the minor changes module. You can find more information in the Covid-19 Q&A. The North Sea Region Programme now allows two such ‘COVID-19 lifetime extensions’ during the project lifetime. Projects that have already received Covid-19 extension(s) or a project lifetime extension are not excluded from applying for an extension under Call 12.
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