European and other funding

Interreg IIIA

Since 1990, the aim of the European Community Initiative Programme INTERREG has been to promote harmonious and balanced development of European territory. The idea is that national borders should not be a barrier to the economic and social development of cross-border areas in the European Union.

Interreg IIIa Micro Projects

Key Information:

• Smaller Interreg projects; one or more partners on each side of the Channel
• Simplified Application Form
• Continuous submission for projects
• Projects can be awarded up to 20,000 euros (£12,500) Interreg (ERDF) grant, this means that the total project costs would be around 50,000 euros (£31,000)
• Interreg grants of up to 40% of total project costs
• Projects would be subject to a three-month (max) appraisal process
• Projects will receive three grant payments over the lifetime of the project, including an advance of 10% on completion of the grant offer letter
• Projects will last a maximum of one year
• Application forms are available from the interreg 3 website
• Projects can be submitted anytime from April 2005 and, where funds allow projects will be approved up until December 2006. Projects will need to have completed spending by mid-2008

Types of Activity:

• The main aim of the Micro-project scheme is to help remove the barriers preventing smaller voluntary and community groups from participating in the Interreg IIIA programme
• Pilot projects - partnership development, networking activities to assist smaller organisations become involved in international cooperation work
• Projects in any measure, but particularly measure two (citizenship), measure three (social inclusion), measure eight (culture) and measure nine (environment)

For more information call 01622 221944 or email steve.samson@kent.gov.uk

Town Twinning

Town Twinning is an important tool to foster European identity on the local level, for example the level that is closest to European citizens. It is for this reason that town twinning has a major role in the community programme supporting active European citizenship.

Explaining the idea of citizens' meetings

Town twining as a framework:

The Call for proposals is designed to support meetings, which bring together citizens in the framework of town twinning. What does this mean? The basic idea is simple: a town invites a group of people from its twinned town (s). A meeting can thus involve people from two or more twinned towns.

Towards active European citizenship:

The Town Twinning grant scheme is part of the EU programme to support "Active European Citizenship." In line with the objectives of the programme the Call for proposals defines some key elements that each meeting should include. It is therefore important that you design your meeting in such a way that it covers the following three features:

• Commitment to European integration - You should plan a programme, from which the participants can learn or experience that European Integration is useful and good for Europe and for its citizens.
• Friendships in Europe - Town twinning is a long lasting relationship based on friendships between the municipalities. Citizens' meetings should enable this to be realised at the level of individuals.
• Active participation - Citizens' meetings should not just involve a small group of people who are already fully committed to town twinning. The Call for proposals therefore underlines widespread local participation and suggests the involvement of local associations or other relevant organisations.