Complexity of budget from 1 (easy) to 5 (difficult): 4
Criteria for the complexity of budget
(How detailed is the budget, how complex is the documentation, availibility of documentation, etc.)
Guidelines for applicants (including financial rules) are clear
The call identifies specific EC directives and regulations where the EU approach is needed to enhance the common EU Legal Area
Detailed budget lines for each partner: travel, equipment, other costs, subcontracting, personnel (person-month for work package)
Partners’ administrative information and annexes to be uploaded on the Participant Portal
The application package includes: Technical Part Template (Part B), Annex with indicators (xls format), staff CVs (PDF file) and letters of support from associate partners
Tips for applicants on budgeting
A file for the budget definition is provided to help allocate project’s costs and fill in the proposal. It has not to be uploaded
Real costs must be applied
Partners’ responsibilities (tasks and work package leaders) should be reflected in the budget composition and allocation of person-months
Budget distribution: keep an overall balance among partners and countries, avoiding budget concentration
Programme-Specific Tips for Applicants
2-3 lessons learnt in 2014-2020
The awarding rate of calls for proposal ranged between around 16% and 47% . With respect to the specific objectives “Judicial Cooperation” and “Judicial Training”, almost half of the applications submitted were awarded.
The Justice Programme promotes projects with a European dimension to tackle cross-border issues funding activities in key areas that are not necessarily high on the agenda of Member States.
Thanks to its structure, with broad specific objectives, the Programme is able to timely respond to evolving and emerging needs.
Programme Specific Practical Information
Ensure practical feasibility of the project: include as partner/associate partner representatives of the target group;
Letter of support from organizations representing the target group are positively evaluated (Ministry of Justice, managers of prisons, council of notaries, mediators, human rights observatories, NGOs);
Time needed for proposal preparation: 2 months for experienced designers (depending on partners’ commitment and collaboration).
The file with indicators has to be carefully filled in with realistic numbers for outputs and outcomes: it is the EC’s tool for the evaluation of project’s results.
Positive aspects
The programme is addressed to very specific targets and objectives: the competition is lower
Work Programme describes the calls’ topics, so the proposal preparation can start before their official publication
The Part B template is not as complex as the H2020 one
Flexibility during the project implementation: budget shifts up to 20% of the total budget are allowed
Clear rules and templates for technical/financial reporting
Negative Aspects
The budget: obstacle for applicants without specific skills
The overall budget per project is quite low
Indicators sometimes are hard to assess or to describe