In July the Clearing House team intensified its presence in the regions of Belarus. Two information days combined with sectoral discussion meetings were held in Brest and Grodno for representatives of non-profit organisations, local authorities and mass media. Within information days “European support opportunities for Belarusian organisations: how to prepare a successful project” representatives of Brest and Grodno communities got practical advice on preparation of a project application for European calls for proposals, while the sectoral discussion meetings were focusing on “Gender as a cross-cutting issue in European projects and programmes”.
First of all the participants got acquainted with the Clearing House, the project implemented by the Office for a Democratic Belarus in cooperation with the “Office for European Expertise and Communication”. The goal of the project is to enhance the capacity of Belarusian civil society organisations so that active representatives of civil society can in turn help their local communities. What does it mean?Nowadays in different spheres the burden of state responsibility is heavy. Feasable help may be provided both by the European Union and local communities - for example, upon implementation of international projects supported by the EU. The projects may be different: from purchase of medical equipment and organisation of leisure time for retired in rural area to cross-border cooperation and finding solutions to global environmental problems. How does it work?
Project implementation period may vary from 16 to 60 months. And it takes from one month to a year to pass the way from transferring a project idea into detailed budget planning, preparation and submission of a project proposal. Consultations on all project-related questions are provided by the Clearing House consultants. Any Belarusian organisation may request free of charge counseling assistance for preparation and implementation of its projects. Priorities of the European Commission’s calls for Belarusian organisations depend on the funding instrument and encompass tourism, education, support of SME, ecology, human rights, and transport among other.
How to increase chances for proposal approval? Nowadays the Clearing House specialists can explain it to any organisation in each Belarusian region. The consultants provide free help to local organisations and authorities in preparation of project applications for international calls for proposals. The team of 11 consultants is now available in various regions of Belarus.Integration of European values in the daily work is one of the ways to raise project implementation standards as well as organisational standards. . Within information days in Brest and Grodno the participants learned how to improve the quality of project proposals and got acquainted with main priorities of European programmes for the next 7 year cycle – the traditional period established by the European Union for financing of different programmes.
About 21 million of Euro is annually allocated by the EU for implementation of different projects in Belarus. Nowadays more than a half of the sum is spent on environmental projects and cross-border cooperation (including the cooperation with the State Customs Committee of Belarus). Other financial resources are intended for support of SME, regional structures, development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), projects on support to human rights and civil society, education, cultural cooperation and youth exchange, and tourism development. Any Belarusian organisation may get more detailed information about current European calls and their priorities in the Project Management Department of the Delegation of the European Commission in Belarus. The representation office has worked in Belarus since 2008 and provides information about EU’s strategy and engagement in Belarus.
One more advantage of a potential project can be broadening the geography of the project. You should offer the idea that will improve living standards in a new region! If there were no projects financed in your town or region before, this step will significantly increase your organisation’s chances. Depending on the call, CSOs may prepare projects in partnership with local authorities (for example, a local community may implement the European project in coordination with a Rural Soviet or a District Executive Committee). Such partnership is encouraged and increases the chances for approval. 
Sectoral discussion part was focused on gender mainstreaming and was conducted by a prominent Belarusian expert Irina Alkhovka. As gender is viewed as a cross-cutting issue in project applications, proper consideration of it makes the application more competitive. At the same time it is crucial to adhere to gender mainstreaming and other cross-cutting issues during the project implementation phase: this helps to make the work with target groups more effective and leads to more stable results. The representatives of Brest and Grodno organisations learned from Irina Alkhovka how to make their projects gender-visionary. During the practical part of the session the participants received 5 project ideas in the field of education, medicine, culture, and transport. The task was to suggest the implementation of each project with consideration of gender component (taking into account the gender statistics indicators). Often the gender analysis of target groups of the project brings fresh solutions and new ideas for implementation. Sectoral discussions on gender were organized in synergy with the programme Belarus – EU, implemented by the Office for a Democratic Belarus under support of the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
How to prepare a successful project proposal? The complexity of bureaucratic procedure in the European Commission should not scare your organisation, if you already have an idea how to improve the quality of living at a local level and search for financing for its implementation. In the proposal you should use a simple, catchy and memorable title. Please define the type of your project: investment, infrastructure etc. You should indicate the place (town, village) and implementation period (number of months), as well as indicate possible risks and amount of financing required. Please tell about the estimated results after implementation of the project and describe your key activities. In spite of the fact that the structure of a project application is simple enough, many organisations make same typical mistakes during project preparation. What are they?
The first mistake is an excessive emotionality in the proposal text when future implementers can’t be impartial in describing the problem (ecological, transport etc.). While preparing a project proposal you should approach different research, statistics and problem evidence impartially. For said purpose specialists recommend to learn more about the topic of the project and consult with thematic experts that already have experience in this sphere.
The second and frequent mistake made by Belarusian organisations during preparation of a proposal is a lack of logical structure in the text of the document. The regional consultants of the “Office for a Democratic Belarus” can explain how not to confuse the overall objective with a specific objective and how to approach the preparative of a logical framework for the application. The third important point is advance thinking over all risks upon project implementation: economic, political, social, etc. The most thorough examination of all possible risks will significantly simplify the implementation of the project.
During the information days in Brest and Grodno the participants got acquainted with the activity of international funds and programmes available for Belarus. This is, in particular, the student exchange programme “Erasmus Plus” in the field of higher education, the European Youth Foundation (EYF) of the Council of Europe and the International Visegrad Fund, supporting the cultural cooperation and youth exchanges; the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, financing the projects for poverty reduction and sustainable development among other.
The organisers of regional information days in Brest and Grodno drew attention of the local organisations to the counseling support opportunity provided by the CH consultants. Nowadays they may provide expert support not only for the preparation of the project proposal, but as well to find the relevant call for proposal for outlined project idea or assist during the implementation period, M&E, and reporting. We believe that the secret of a successful project is simple – taking the European view upon implementation of an idea and preliminary detailed thinking over key implementation solutions.
Materials from Brest information day
Presentation of the Clearing House by Maxim Padbiarozkin
“Analysis of the project application form”
“Cross-cutting issues in the European projects” by Vladimir Krasko “Typical mistakes in
project design and recommendations for improvement”
“The foreseen priorities for the European Commission’s calls”
“Registration in PADOR database”
“Review of open international calls for proposals relevant on July, 17, 2014”
Training: Gender component in preparation of project proposals.
Presentation. Author: Irina Alkhovka
“How to justify the inclusion of a gender component as a cross-cutting issue into the EU projects” by Irina Alkhovka
“Basic micro-level indicators for measurement of gender sensitivity of the project” by Irina Alkhovka
Materials of Grodno information day
Presentation of the Clearing House by Maxim Padbiarozkin
“The foreseen priorities for the European Commission’s calls”
“Analysis of the project application for the European Commission’s calls” by Marta Bialenik
“Cross-cutting issues in the European projects” by Sergey Salei
“Analysis of typical mistakes in preparation of proposals for the European Commission’s
calls. Recommendations for improvement” by Marta Bialenik and Sergey Salei adapted from the materials of the Clearing House consultants Yulia Stankevich and Maxim Karlyuk
“Registration in PADOR database”
“Implementation of the EU cross-border cooperation programmes in Belarus”
“Review of open international calls for proposals relevant on July, 18, 2014”
Training: Gender component in preparation of project proposals.
Presentation. Author: Irina Alkhovka
“How to justify the inclusion of a gender component as a cross-cutting issue into the EU
projects” by Irina Alkhovka
“Basic micro-level indicators for measurement of gender sensitivity of the project” by Irina Alkhovka