Dos and Donts

The most common

mistakes in grant
applications
EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Too broad, too ambitious

objectives
Often, the objective of the Call, word for
word or slightly modified, is the objective
of the proposal.
Many applications target too many
objectives at the same time, or define very
unrealistic objectives
Focus on concrete objectives - to do what
you actually can achieve!

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Too broad, too ambitious

objectives
Examples:
Promotion of critical thinking and writing for contribution on
developing greater cohesion in working on human rights,
political pluralism and democratic political participation
and representation, in contributing to the peaceful
conciliation of group interest, combating discrimination on
any ground and developing equal participation of men and
women in social economic and political life, thus becoming
an effective force for positive change.
Professional Trainings and Capacity Building for Youth,
Women and Minorities.
The adoption of democratic political culture and creating
new social capital in building active communities and
improve the quality of life of citizens.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Expected Results
wrongly defined
Very often, results are presented in the
format of activities or outputs.
Results are the achievements, the actual
outcomes of the action and its outputs, not
the outputs themselves.
The organisation of an event, training,
workshop is not a result. The actual impact
of this event, training, workshop is a
result.

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Expected Results
wrongly defined
Good example
ACTIVITY

OUTPUT

OUTCOME

Seminars for
journalists

40 journalists
specifically trained
on EU issues.

X number of articles
on EU issues
published in the x
newspaper , x
number of articles in
the xx newspaper/
weekly magazine,
The articles published
contained less/ few/
no errors or
misconception

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Expected Results
wrongly defined
Other examples
Initiating civic/youth activism with no ethnical,
religious and racial discrimination
Formed local teams as new models of public
participation
The implementation of 4 human rights
monitorings, 4 human rights awareness
campaigns, 2 human rights informative
campaigns conducted by CSOs
A survey on the quality of life situation of PWDs
in Kosovo is made
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Relevance of the action to

the objective of the call
Often, the action itself is described under
this section and no reference is made to
the objective of the call and why and how
the proposed action relates to it.
Or simply, the relevance is missing all
together.
Explain how the action relates concretely
to the objectives of this specific call, how
your action will contribute to achieving the
objectives of this specific Call for
Proposals.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Relevance of the action to

the objective of the call
Example from the EIDHR call
Objective to provide employment for
specific target groups.
How is this relevant to promoting
Democracy and Human Rights?

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Relevance to the particular

needs/constraints of the country
(Problem analysis)
Many applicants use this section to give a
general overview of all the problems in the
country, i.e. poverty, unemployment,
illiteracy, poor education system,
discrimination, corruption, poor governance,
weaknesses in democratic structures, poor
economic situation, etc.
Instead, this section should define very
concretely the specific environment of your
action, the problems your stakeholders/target
group face, the problems you intend to
address with your action.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

Target groups/final
beneficiaries
Sometimes, the target groups are poorly
identified, too broad, ignoring important
stakeholders, etc., thus compromising the
implementation of activities and the
achievement of the project's objectives.
The more concretely and precisely you
define your target groups, the easier it is
to identify their individual specific
problems which you want to address
through your action.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Target groups/final
beneficiaries
Example
Objective: to empower the partnership
relations between CSOs and the local
authorities in the targeted municipalities;
Target groups: CSOs from Kosovo working
with vulnerable groups; Final
beneficiaries: vulnerable groups (no
involvement of local authorities!)

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Activities not clear and

concrete
Sometimes, the activities are not clearly
described, too broad, too vague, not giving
enough information on how this will be
implemented, with whom, with which effect.
Be creative! Think outside the box!
The more concretely and precisely you link
your activities to the problem analysis, the
target groups and the actual results, the
easier it is to demonstrate the impact of
your action.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Activities not clear and

concrete
Examples

Establishment of local teams through interviews based on certain

criteria, and the establishment of organizational procedures
Based on which criteria?
Strengthening the capacity of members of local teams.
How??? i.e. 'Provide training to members of local teams on project
management'
Advocacy actions to raise awareness on Convention XXX in 6
municipalities
What kind of advocacy actions? Which target groups? Which
municipalities? Why?
Public awareness campaign including short radio and TV advertisement
and publications
Increase whose awareness on what by which means?
Capacity building workshops for all target groups
Build whose capacity on what by which means?

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Budget
Activities are often not reflected in the budget.
Budget lines are wrongly presented.
Examples
Proposed activity produce a brochure on 'XYZ'
(budget line Brochure 'XYZ' design, printing,
distribution cost missing in the budget)
Transportation cost for evaluator presented
under budget line 5.Other costs, services, while
there is a separate budget line for such costs 2. Travel.

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Budget
The budget is no place to be 'cool'.
Please use formal language.
Example
6.1.3. Commuting expenses 4 teachers

EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Logical Framework
OVIs are very often poorly defined and not
measurable.
Example
Objective: to enhance the inclusiveness and
pluralism in civil society in Kosovo through
support and capacity building actions to
CSOs representing specific disadvantaged
groups of society.
OVIs: political participation and exclusion,
interethnic relations, democracy and the rule
of law.
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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Contacts
Dragana Stolic
Social Development Team
Cooperation Section
European Union Office in Kosovo/EUSR
dragana.stolic@eeas.europa.eu
038 5131 325

For more information:

eeas.europa.eu/delegations/kosovo or
www.tacso.org
EU Support to Civil Society, Information Session, EU Office in Kosovo, 10 March 2014

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