Operational and Financial aspects
Part 1
Gilles GERVAIS and Misia COGHLAN
Project Advisors
Brussels, 23rd January 2012
Presentation Overview
•Legal documents, actors and useful links
•Monitoring of projects by the Agency
Types of Grant Agreement
• A
multibeneficiary
agreement
grant
•
A mono-beneficiary
agreement
grant
EACEA
Cobeneficiaries
EACEA
Coordinator
Letter of
mandate
Cobeneficiaries
Cobeneficiaries
Beneficiary
Cobeneficiaries
3
Mono/Multi-beneficiary grant agreements
• The type of Grant Agreement used vary depending on the
nature of the consortium.
• Two models are used: a multibeneficiary grant agreement for all
consortia except Erasmus Networks and unilateral projects,
which use a mono-beneficiary grant agreement as in previous
years.
• In the framework of the multibeneficiary grant Agreement, what
was formerly known as the "beneficiary" ("applicant" in the
application form) is now the "co-ordinator" and what was
formerly known as the "partners" are now the "cobeneficiaries".
The grant agreement (1)
Please read carefully the grant agreement which contains the
Special Conditions, the General Conditions and Annexes below:
*http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/beneficiaries/2010/reporting_lifelong_learning_2010_en.php
The grant agreement (2)
Please note that:
 The terms set out in the Special Conditions shall
take precedence over those in the other parts of
the agreement.
 The terms of the General Conditions shall take
precedence over those in the Annexes.
The grant agreement (3)
The Special Conditions contain key information as:
Period of eligibility of costs
Eligible budget and maximum grant (in EUR and %)
Payment arrangements (40%-40%-20% or 70%-30%)
Reporting obligations (progress report or not)
Bank details and contact details
Exchange rate applicable for conversion into EUR
Actors
 Project
 LLP National
Agencies
 EACEA (The Agency)
 European Commission
DG EAC
Project beneficiary (called coordinator in
the multibeneficiary agreement)
• Legal representative signs all legal documents
(grant agreement, amendment requests, reports,
etc.);
• Is accountable for financial management (even if
different from the coordinating organisation);
• Signs contracts / partnership agreements with
partner organisations
Project daily coordinator
• Indicated in Article I.7.3/I.8.3 of the grant
agreement;
• Manage daily communication from and to the
Agency;
• Responsible for the implementation of the project;
• Manages partners work and is responsible for solving
partnership problems;
• Monitors the budget, controls the costs and the
justifying documents.
Project members
• Partner organisations* (called co-beneficiaries
in the multi-beneficiary agreement):
– Share part of the budget:
• Receive part of the Community Contribution
• Contribute to the co-financing
– Are co-responsible for the implementation of the
project
– Report to the co-ordinator and transmit all justifying
costs
*Including third country participants (with budgetary restrictions)
Project participants
Sub-contractor:
Organisation/person from outside the partnership
performing specific task for which no competence exists
among the partnership.
Project management and the general administration of
the project may not be sub-contracted.
Associated partners:
Organisations participating in project activities, but not
sharing part of the budget.
Cannot be subcontracted.
EACEA: Actors
Responsible for the legal and financial compliance of the project
General management of action/priorities
Calls, selection, contracts, monitoring....
Project advisor:
Performs continuous monitoring of the project
and acts as helpdesk during the project lifetime;
Validates expert assessments of progress and final reports.
Financial officer:
Assesses the financial part of Progress and Final reports;
acts as helpdesk concerning financial matters.
European Commission – DG EAC
• Policy and programme definition
• Dissemination and exploitation of project
results
•Impact analysis
LLP National Agencies
• Manage the full project life-cycle of the
de-centralised actions;
• Organise thematic meetings and
dissemination conferences at national
level.
Monitoring strategy
Monitoring activities
Online support documents
Project management information published on the website
(contractual documents, handbook, guidelines)
Helpdesk
Dialogue, telephone, letters, e-mails
Reporting
Evaluation of progress and final reports – feedback (content &
finance)
Meetings
Kick off meeting including workshops
Visits to projects
Thematic cluster meetings
Attending key events organised by the projects
●
Follow-up
Good practices in project management, dissemination
Useful links:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/beneficiaries/2011/index_en.php
Useful links:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/index_en.php
Useful links:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/results_projects/pr
oject_compendia_en.php
Useful links
Useful links:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/erasmus/documents/guideline
s_for_llp_coordinators_project_start_up.pdf
Useful links
Useful links
Monitoring Strategy
Examples of findings (1)
 Expert’s recommendations at selection stage followed
 Balanced work plan
 Active participation, clear management structure and
division of tasks
 Project coordinators supported at institutional level for all
aspects of project implementation
 Good internal/external communication (strategy, tools..)
 Web page as a dynamic tool for dissemination and
promotion
 Highly engaged target groups and stakeholders
Monitoring Strategy
Examples of findings (2)
 Delays in work plan (e.g. partner withdrawal)
 Sleeping partners
 Large underspending
 Poor dissemination plan
 No compliance with publicity clause
 Weak implementation of dissemination strategy from the
project start
 No internal quality control / evaluation mechanisms
 Underestimation of accreditation/recognition challenges
(CD)
CONTACTS
María Luisa GARCIA MINGUEZ (coordination)
EACEA-ERA-MULTILATERAL@ec.europa.eu
Gilles GERVAIS, Natalia RIESGO, Alba PRIETO GONZALEZ, Misia COGHLAN,
Mireia FABREGA-IGLESIAS, José MATOS MARTINS, Magalie SOENENS
EACEA-ERA-NETWORKS@ec.europa.eu
EACEA-ERA-ACCOMPANYING@ec.europa.eu
Katia DE SOUSA
Natalia RIESGO