Cooperation Partnerships

Overview

Objectives

Cooperation Partnerships aim to increase quality in the work, activities and practices of organisations and institutions involved, and opening up to new actors, not naturally included within one sector. Furthermore, they aim to build the capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors;and  address common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport. Lastly, these partneships aim to 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

Activities included in proposals for Cooperation Partnerships must address at least:

• one horizontal priority of the Eramus+ programme (i.e. inclusion and diversity; environmental sustainability; digital dimension; participation and civic engagement) and/or 
• at least one specific priority relevant to the field of education, training, youth and sport that is mostly impacted.

Cooperation partnerships must last between 12 and 36 months and the duration must be chosen at application stage, based on the objectives to be achieved.

Anticipated outcomes

Cooperation Partnerships are meant to allow organisations to increase the quality and relevance of their activities,  develop and reinforce their networks of partners, and increase their capacity to operate jointly at transnational level, boosting internationalisation of their activities and through exchanging or developing new practices and methods as well as sharing and confronting ideas.

They should foster 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, upscalable and, if possible, have a strong transdisciplinary dimension. 

Institution providing the funding

Erasmus+ National Agencies and EACEA (depending on the specific topic) 

Size of funding

Option of 3 pre-defined lump sums grants, to be chosen by the applicants: EUR 120 000, EUR 250 000 and EUR 400 000

Conditions

Overview of eligibility criteria

A Cooperation Partnership is a transnational project and must involve minimum three organisations from three different EU Member States or third countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme.

Any public or private organisation, established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Erasmus+ Programme or in any third country not associated to the Programme in regions 1 to 3 in the “Eligible Countries” in Part A of the Guide can participate in a Cooperation Partnership, with the exception of organisations from Belarus.

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. Irrespective of the field impacted by the project, Cooperation Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training, youth, sport or other socio-economic sectors as well as to organisations carrying out activities that are transversal to different fields (e.g., local, regional and national authorities, recognition and validation centres, chambers of commerce, trade organisations, guidance centres, cultural and sport organisations).

In addition to the organisations formally participating in the project (the coordinator and partner organisations), 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. 

Overview of award criteria

Award criteria include the following:

• Relevance (up to 25 points), including relevance to Erasmus+ objectives and shared EU values, relevance to needs analysis, relevance to foster synergies between education, training, youth and sport.
• Quality of the project design and implementation (up to 30 points), including clearly defined objectives, adequate methodology, accessible and inclusive project activities, green practices.
• Quality of the partnership and the cooperation arrangements (up to 20 points), including a diverse mix of organisations involved, involvement of newcomers, effective coordination and communication mechanisms.
• Impact (up to 25 points), including positive impact on participants and organisations, sustainability and transferability of results beyond the project lifetime, dissemination strategy.

The minimum threshold for proposals to be considered is 70 points out of 100, on the condition that proposals score at least half the maximum points for each award criterion.

Procedures

Application procedures

Application procedures vary depending on the type of Cooperation Partnership and applicant:

• For Partnerships in the fields of education, training and youth submitted by any organisation in these fields, with the exception of European NGOs, applications should be submitted to the National Agency of the country in which the applicant organisation is established.
• For Partnerships in the fields of education and training or youth submitted by European NGOs, applications should be submitted to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal
• For Partnerships in the field of sport, applications should be submitted to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

In all cases, the same consortium of partners can submit only one application and to one Agency only per deadline.

Application support available

For more information, please check the text of the call (see below) as well as the Erasmus+ Programme Guide.

Useful links

Link to funding opportunity

Link to the programme for more info