Cooperation Partnerships

Overview

Objectives

Cooperation Partnerships aim to increase the quality in the work, activities and practices of organisations and institutions involved, opening up to new actors, not naturally included within one sector; build capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors; address common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport; and enable transformation and change (at individual, organisational or sectoral level), leading to improvements and new approaches, in proportion to the context of each organisation.

Activities/actions supported

Support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level.

Projects must last between 12 and 36 months.

Anticipated outcomes

They aim is to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level. Results should be re-usable, transferable, up-scalable and, if possible, have a strong transdisciplinary dimension.

In 2024, all Partnerships for Cooperation supported by Erasmus+ (Cooperation Partnerships and Small-scale Partnerships) must address one of the following priority areas:

• Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sport: the Programme will support projects that promote social inclusion and aim at improving the outreach to people with fewer opportunities.
• Environment and fight against climate change: the Programme aims to support, across all sectors, awareness-raising about the green transition, environmental and climate-change challenges.
• Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity: The Programme will support digital transformation plans of primary, secondary, vocational education and training (VET), higher, and adult education institutions.
• Common values, civic engagement and participation: The Programme will support active citizenship and ethics in lifelong learning; it will foster the development of social and intercultural competences, critical thinking and media literacy.

Additional specific priorities relevant to the field of education, training, youth and sport can be found in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2024 at  https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-programme-guide

Institution providing the funding

European Commission

Size of funding

Lump sums of EU 120 000; EUR 250 000; or EUR 400 000, as chosen by the applicants.

Conditions

Overview of eligibility criteria

Applicants can be any participating organisation established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme can be the applicant/coordinator. This organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project. In order to be eligible, applicant organisations must have been legally established at least 2 years before the application deadline.

Organisations established in EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme can either participate as the coordinator of the project or as a partner organisation. Organisations in third countries not associated to the Programme cannot participate as project coordinators.

For Partnerships in the fields of education, training and youth submitted by European NGOs and managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) the applicant coordinator must be a European NGO active in the field of education, training and youth.

Cooperation Partnerships may also involve other partners from the public or private sector that contribute to the implementation of specific project tasks/activities or support the promotion and sustainability of the project. Within an Erasmus+ project, these partners will be called “associated partners”. For eligibility and contractual management aspects they are not considered to be project partners, and they do not receive any funding from the Programme as part of the project.

Lastly, as Cooperation Partnership are a transnational project, they must involve minimum three organisations from three different EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.

Overview of award criteria

The evaluation criteria include:

• Relevance (25 points)
• Quality of the project design and implementation (30 points)
• Quality of the partnership and the cooperation arrangements (20 points)
• Impact (25 points). 

To be considered for funding, proposals must score at least 70 points. Furthermore, they must score at least half of the maximum points in each of the categories of award criteria mentioned above.

Procedures

Application procedures

Depending on the field of the project proposed or on the type of applicant, Cooperation Partnerships are managed either by the National Agencies or by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). 

For Cooperation Partnerships in the fields of education, training, and youth, applications must be submitted to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency via the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal (FTOP).

For Cooperation Partnerships in the field of sport, must be submitted to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, based in Brussels.

Please note that deadlines vary, depending on the field of application:

• Education, training and youth: Applicants have to submit their grant application by 5 March at 12:00:00 (midday Brussels time) for projects starting between 1 September and 31 December of the same year.
• Youth (projects starting between 1 January and 31 August of the following year): Applicants have to submit their grant application by 1 October at 12:00:00 (midday Brussels time).

Application support available

For help related to this call, please contact: eacea-sportec [dot] europa [dot] eu (eacea-sport[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

For further information on this funding opportunity please check:

• Erasmus+ calls for proposals 2024: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C_202301262
• Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2024: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-programme-guide

Link to the funding opportunity

Link to the programme for more info