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Frequently Asked Questions

ERASMUS+KA3

European Youth Together

EACEA

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Contents

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2.

3.

4.

Questions on eligibility

Questions on the award criteria

Questions on the budget and

financial/operational capacity

Questions on the work programme

and project proposals

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Frequently Asked Questions: Eligibility

1. Can applicants involve partners from other continents or third

world countries?

Only partners established in the following programme countries are

eligible:

- EU member states (see Applicant guidelines 6.2)

- The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries which form part of the European Economic Area (EEA): Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway.

- Candidate countries for which a pre-accession strategy has been established: Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Please note that organisations based in other regions of the world, such as the Western Balkans (Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo) are not eligible to take part in the European Youth Together call.

2. Which countries are eligible for the different regions proposed:

North, South, East and West?

Applying organisations should demonstrate their capacity to ensure a good

geographical balance in terms of partners from different parts of the

Erasmus+ Programme countries.

3. Can an organisation be a partner with more than one project in this

call?

Yes, the European Youth Together initiative has no limit for the amount of

projects an eligible partner organisation can be involved with.

4. Are municipalities and other local stakeholders welcome as part of

the consortium?

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Yes, as stated in the applicant guidelines (Eligibility Criteria (6.1),

participating organisations can be public bodies at local, regional or

national levels.

Consequently, if an organisation feels that municipalities can provide an

added value to the project then they can be included in the application.

5. Can a student association linked to a university be a coordinator?

Yes, non-profit organisations, associations and NGOs including European

Youth NGO's are classified as eligible applicants for European Youth

Together.

6. Is it necessary for applicants to create new strategic partnerships

for this call?

There is no requirement in the call to establish new networks; the specific

objectives refer to building or strengthening partnerships. Therefore

reinforcing an existing network is eligible under the call. In addition, there

is no limit to the number of organisations that can be part of a network

however at least five organisations must be submitted in the application.

7. Is there a specific start date for projects and activities involved in

European Youth Together?

Yes, the action should start in the month after signature of the grant

agreement. The roadmap published with the call indicates that grant

agreements will be signed in July – August 2018.

8. Can a non-contractual staff member within the organisation which

leads the project be classified as a coordinator?

The costs of natural persons working under a contract with the beneficiary

other than an employment contract or who are seconded to the beneficiary

by a third party against payment may also be included under such

personnel costs, provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:

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(i) the person works under conditions similar to those of an employee (in

particular regarding the way the work is organised, the tasks that are

performed and the premises where they are performed);

(ii) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless exceptionally

agreed otherwise); and

(iii) the costs are not significantly different from the costs of staff

performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the

beneficiary;

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Frequently Asked Questions: Award criteria

1. Are there priorities within the objectives of the call and the award

criterion on which groups of youth to target?

As stated in the applicant guidelines (Specific Objectives 2.2), European

Youth Together will specifically support projects that,

"Promote participation of under-represented groups of young people in

politics, youth-organisations and other civil society organisations by

engaging vulnerable and socio-economic, disadvantaged youth."

We would like to see at the very foundation of applications a direct

engagement with youth from the different geographical regions of Europe.

2. Is there a specific emphasis on the promotion and use of the English

language for this call?

For European Youth Together, we do not have any requirements that state

that projects are to be implemented in English. All official EU languages are

welcomed and accepted for this call.

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Frequently Asked Questions: Budget and

financial/operational capacity

1. Is it obligatory to produce exact figures for the budget proposals, or

can applicants produce raw estimations?

The agency understands that applicants will not have precise figures

available to them during the application process. Consequently,

organisations are not required to produce exact financial figures when

completing the estimated budget annex. Instead, we ask applicants to make

an estimation that is as precise as possible at the time of submission.

2. Are in-kind contributions eligible for this call?

No, these kinds of financial contributions are not part of the budget and

therefore they will not be accepted by the Agency.

3. When completing the estimated budget annex, can applicants apply

for lump sums to cover travel costs?

No. Given the nature of this call, applicants cannot apply for lump sums.

Instead, when completing the estimated budget annex applicants are

required to enter the number of people travelling into a table that converts

them into unit costs (e.g. 50 youth is equal to 50 units). In this way we hope

to save applicants a lot of time in the application process.

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4. Are applicants at risk of double funding if they have already applied

for an additional Erasmus+ programme?

If an applicant has already applied for an Erasmus+ programme they are

still able to apply for the European Youth Together call. Please note,

however that an action may receive one grant from the EU budget and in no

circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Agency (see

Applicant guidelines, section 11.1).

5. Is there a possibility that the project can be approved with a

condition to decrease the originally proposed budget?

Yes, projects may be approved with a condition to decrease the originally

proposed budget. Any changes to the budget will be proposed following a

financial evaluation of the application. If the Agency considers that

estimated costs are not eligible, we will propose a modified budget to the

applicant organisation.

6. Is an applicant organisation's annual budget a selection criterion? Is

it more likely that applications with smaller budgets will be approved

for funding instead?

No, applications with smaller budgets do not have an advantage over any

other proposals. The agency will assess the financial capacity of an

organisation in order to determine its ability to carry out the actions

proposed. Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to

maintain their activity plan throughout the duration of the grant and to

participate in its funding. In case of weak capacity, the Agency will take

appropriate steps.

7. Are costs for printing publications eligible?

Yes, costs for printing publications fall under the 'Estimated

Communication costs' in the budget annex.

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8. Can a staff member's salary be claimed across two grants if the

organisation is active in more than one Erasmus+ programme?

The rule of non-cumulative award applies here, meaning that the same

costs cannot be financed twice under the EU budget. If selected, the

beneficiary must demonstrate that staff time is apportioned separately for

work on the European Youth Together action and any other activity for

which the beneficiary is in receipt of a grant from the EU budget. Time

sheets are recommended to facilitate this and to ensure that the Agency can

analyse staff time clearly attributed to the project at final report stage.

9. In regards to staff costs, can applicants submit financial documents

covering the whole year?

Only the time that staff members spend working on European youth

Together is eligible for funding. As mentioned in section 11.2 of the

applicant guidelines, eligible costs are those that incurred in connection

with the action which is subject of the grant and that are necessary for the

implementation of the action.

10. Is an applicant organisation required to submit all operational

capacity documents listed from each partner?

Separate supporting documents to prove operational capacity are not

required. The application and annexes include questions addressing the

operational and technical capacity of the persons implementing the action

and this information will be evaluated accordingly.

11. Is there a model or mandate to be signed by the “Partner

Organizations” to officially state the partnership?

Mandate letters do not need to be submitted with the application. They will

only be requested in case the project is approved, prior to signing the grant

agreement. Only the applicant organisation should sign the Declaration on

Honour. This is not considered an alternative to mandate letters.

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12. Do all partner organisations have to submit a declaration on

honour?

Only the applicant organisation is requested to complete and sign the

Declaration on Honour and to submit it with the application.

13. If an applicant hires someone acting as an external provider (video

maker, illustrator, photographer etc.) are they to be presented in the

subcontracting or communication/dissemination category of the

budget?

If the service is provided externally then this person should be included

under sub-contracting. Further information on subcontracting can be

found in the Applicant guidelines under section 11.1 (General Principles).

14. In section 11.2 of the Applicant Guidelines it is stated that "the

recommended methods for calculation of direct personnel costs are

provided in the Appendix". What is this Appendix referring to?

The appendix referred to provides information relating to simplified grants

(unit costs and lump sums). The budget for staff costs in the case of the

European Youth Together call is exclusively based on real costs; please

therefore refer to the information in the call and the general conditions

(published with the call) for information.

In addition, grant agreements issued for selected proposals will include a

project handbook. Please note that personnel costs charged to a project

receiving an EU grant should not be inflated, but remain in line with the

usual remuneration policy of the beneficiary. Taking into account

weekends, public holidays & other holidays, the total number of productive

days for any member of staff in a year should not normally exceed a

maximum of 220-240 days per year or 22 days per month. Of course,

exceptions exist and the veracity of the days really worked in a year should

be verified with supporting evidences (employment contracts, annual

salary slips, time sheets and calculation methodology provided by the

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beneficiary, etc.) in order to establish the actual daily costs of personnel

assigned to the action.

15. When inserting personnel costs for mobility activities (young

people, youth workers, trainers etc.) in which section of the budget

should they be included?

The location of personnel costs in the budget is up to the discretion of the

applicant organisation. All estimated costs are to be included in the budget

and placed under a budget heading that is relevant and applicable to the

specific work programmes submitted.

16. What compulsory annexes need to be submitted at application

stage?

The detailed project description, declaration on honour and the project

budget estimation need to be attached to the Eform and submitted online at

the application stage. These three annexes are all that need to be submitted

for the deadline on the 25th May 2018.

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Frequently Asked Questions: Work

programme and project proposals

1. Can applicants submit different kinds of mobility activities in the

same work programme?

Yes, if organisations feel that projects should be implemented through a

variety of activities then we encourage applicants to submit different kinds

of mobility activities. These activities must be directly linked to the general

and specific objectives of the Call and must be detailed in a project

description covering the whole period of the grant applied for.

2. Can applicants organise local activities which will not be 'cross-

border' in nature?

Yes, organisations can organise local activities under European Youth

Together, however proposed activities cannot exclusively be local.

Applicants must demonstrate some cross-border initiatives that are able to

demonstrate European youth coming together from a variety of European

regions.

3. Is it possible to present two cycles of the work plan?

Given the duration of the call (9-24 months), applicants may wish to

organise an action consisting of two cycles. This is not mandatory and

depends on the complexity and duration of the proposed action.

4. Would it be advisable to create a website for the dissemination

element of the work programme?

A website can be part of the dissemination process however it is not

mandatory. Given the nature of this call and the importance of reaching out

to different regions of Europe, the agency expects to see a strong

dissemination plan that promotes the key objectives of the call.

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5. Are applicants obliged to include all participating organisations in

their application form or can organisations present simply a core

partnership?

We recommend that applicants state all participating organisations in the

application and not just a core partnership. This is to ensure the eligibility

of mobility activities and for reasons of transparency. It must be clear to

which organisations EU funds are awarded.

6. Is there a partner search tool available to applicants for Key Action

3 programmes?

There is no partner search tool available for the Erasmus+ KA3 actions

managed by the Agency.

7. When completing the detailed project description, is the limitation

of characters referencing characters with spaces or without?

For this specific call the limitation refers to characters without spaces.

8. Is it necessary to involve all the partner organisations into every

youth exchange or training?

It is not obligatory for every partner organisation to be involved in each

activity. Partner organisations are expected to play an active and involved

role within the action.

9. Is it necessary to arrange an activity (youth exchange or training) in

every partner country?

It is not required that every partner country hosts an activity that features

in the work programme. It is, however, necessary for activities to extend

beyond one, European country. As mentioned in section 6.3 of the Applicant

Guidelines, activities shall be of cross-border nature and may be performed

at European, national, regional or local levels.

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10. Can applicants organize activities in all eligible countries

irrespective of the scope of the partnership?

As mentioned in the Applicant Guidelines (section 6.3), mobility activities

and youth exchanges must take place in the countries of the

applicant/partners. For additional activities that do not fall under this

category; seminars, workshops, public debates on EU policy, activities can

be organised in eligible countries that extend beyond the scope of the

partnership. Please note, all activities must take place in the countries listed

under the Applicant Guidelines eligibility criteria.

11. For the European Youth Together call, the minimum duration of

mobility activities is 5 days. Is travel time included in this time period?

Does this minimum duration have to be consecutive or can we split it

up (e.g. organise several 'mobility weekends' as one activity)

With respect to mobility activities, the minimum duration of 5 days

excludes travel time. As a result, applicants should take into account the 5

day period plus additional days for travelling.

Mobility activities must always represent a consecutive time period of at

least 5 days. They cannot be split up over a number of different time

periods such as weekends.

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