Thank you very much for your interest in the WBAA Projects.

The possibility for WBAA members to implement their own projects is an essential and relevant task of WBAA to achieve the objectives of WBAA. With WBAA projects, WBAA members not only get the chance to realise their own ideas, supported by other partners/organisations from the higher education context but also improve the regional cooperation within the Western Balkan region and strengthen the idea of the network. In addition to that, they are dealing with important issues from the region and thereby provide concrete solutions and measures for those regional topics.

Please carefully read the following information:

The WBAA Project Process Scheme 2022 is explained in the WBAA webpage, please have a look at it to have a general idea of the components and phases of this call: Call for WBAA Projects

Project proposals of the 2nd call 2022 must be placed in the context of the European Year of Youth 2022, which was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September 2021, and specifically contribute to a Global Erasmus+ alumni mentoring scheme. Even though the projects will be implemented in 2023, this is envisioned as a legacy of the year of the youth.

The global dimension of Erasmus+ is an integral part of the European Year of Youth, reaching out to young people and cooperating with partner countries, organisations, and alumni networks worldwide.

With the re-launch of international learning mobility in 2022 and the celebrations of the 35 years of the Erasmus+ programme, young people are put in the spotlight for global mentoring, and Erasmus+ alumni are ideally placed to play an active role in this context.

Erasmus+ alumni should become mentors for Erasmus+ prospective participants. They should promote Erasmus+ by offering testimonies of their own mobility experiences and providing information about destinations, courses and institutions.

In conclusion, the project ideas of this call must focus on awareness-raising, mentoring and information provision on Erasmus+ by alumni to prospective participants.

For more information about the European Year of Youth 2022 please see the press release.

For more information about Erasmus+ please check here.

2nd Call for WBAA Projects 2022, competition process and deadlines

Important: Please note that for this call, the time before the submission deadline is only 4 weeks! The same goes for the evaluation and elaboration phase, which will be just 4 weeks long.

First Phase, WBAA Projects competition

Launch of call: 12 Sep 2022

Submission deadline: 10 Oct 2022 at 12 pm (CEST)

Project selection: until 04 Nov 2022

Second Phase, WBAA Projects Elaboration

Project Design: Starts on 05 Nov 2022

Third Phase, WBAA Projects Implementation

The respective WBAA Project Coordinator of the funded project will implement the WBAA Project and will be supported by the Service Provider within the agreed timeline but no longer than the following months December 2022 to May 2023.

If you would like to submit a project for this call, please log in to the WBAA community, there you will find the link to the application form and all further information.

Supported project topics

The WBAA Project Ideas should be aligned with one of the five well-known cluster topics:

Cluster 1: Events for Erasmus+ and WBAA promotion. This cluster aims to support the promotion of Erasmus+ and WBAA and to increase participation in Erasmus+ and WBAA initiatives and programmes.

Cluster 2: Training sessions for volunteers and WBAA activists (capacity building, career development, project, or entrepreneurship skills, etc.).

Cluster 3: Projects promoting research in Higher Education.

Cluster 4: Projects promoting modernisation and internationalisation of Higher Education in the region. This cluster looks to encourage projects that serve to improve higher education.

Cluster 5: Other outreach projects providing knowledge exchange and networking opportunities.

IMPORTANT: We kindly advise to consider the current and potential physical and social restrictions in your project ideas due to the Corona pandemic.

WBAA Project sizes

All Project Ideas from small to medium projects (up to 8.150 EUR including taxes) are welcome and can be supported.

The final project budget will be fixed in the second phase, when approved by DG EAC1. Hence the submission of a project idea needs to include a realistic budget estimation.

Eligible costs for WBAA Projects

Please review the “Eligible costs and budgetary framework” document (included in the additional information and templates section of the call for projects in the WBAA online community platform) where the eligible costs and budgetary framework is further explained. There you can find some examples of costs that can be covered, you will also find examples of what cannot be covered by this scheme. It is not allowed to purchase goods or equipment or to pay daily rates or salaries to alumni. We advise to rent needed goods and equipment.

Submission criteria

Submitters must be a member of WBAA.

We encourage partnerships with other organisations for the purposes of the WBAA Projects scheme. However, non-WBAA partner organisations do not meet the criteria for applications. Therefore, they can only be part of a projects but cannot apply as a stand-alone.

Applicants my submit several project ideas, but only one project will be granted per person and call.

Evaluation process and selection criteria

The process of the project evaluation consists of several steps and will be conducted by independent evaluators from the WBAA Regional Board, DG EAC and the Service Provider who will evaluate the project ideas based on the following criteria:

2) Content (30 points)

a) Objectives and relevance:

• Clear description of objectives and how they align with the planned cluster topics and aims of WBAA.
• Soundness of the idea, how relevant is the problem that the project is addressing?
• The objectives stated in the application are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Action Oriented, Realistic and Relevant, Time based) and the goals are well described.

b) Added value.

• The WBAA Project support is offering clearly defined added value as for the defined aims.

2) Feasibility (20 points)

a) Activities: The project idea includes a clear description of the planned activities which are part of the project.

b) Human resources (volunteers) are clearly assigned, and their availability is safeguarded. The workload is well described, and realistically distributed and balanced and back-up resources are in place.

c) Timeline: The project application includes a realistic and clear draft of a timeline and project plan.

d) The project application includes a realistic cost estimation.

e) The project considers environmental impact

3) Resilience (15 points)

a) Mitigation and flexibility towards external factors

• The WBAA Project shows resilience towards externalities, like COVID related travel or meeting restrictions.
• The WBAA Project as such is generally not fully dependent on travel or physical meetings.
• The WBAA Project is already designed to be blended or able to be converted to an accessible design.
• The submitter provides a realistic and sound plan B to mitigate externalities.

4) Expected Outreach (20 points)

a) Impact: The project idea clearly identifies:

• The direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project.
• How the project impacts its beneficiaries.
• How this impact can be measured.

b) Visibility: The Idea is including a concept on how to reach high visibility (for the project, for Erasmus+, for WBAA and for the EU)

5) Collaboration and networks (15 points)

a) The project incorporates the different WBAA regions and is accessible to all members, for example by being in English language.

b) The WBAA Project takes into account the major and most relevant stakeholders (i.e. European Delegations, National Agencies, National Erasmus+ Offices and Higher Education Institutions) and includes their potential contribution and/or participation in the project.

c) The WBAA Project incorporates other relevant stakeholders on the planned topic.

d) Collaborative proposals with other WBAA Partner Organisations and EC funded Alumni networks will receive points as well.

A project not covering any of the five criteria will be excluded from the selection. In the final selection process, the proposals with the highest scores will be clustered according to the regional representation. This aspect will be considered in the final selection procedure to balance the distribution of projects among the regions.

Reporting

You will need to report to WBAA about:

• The development of your project. If your WBAA Project is accepted, you are requested to inform us regarding your project’s design status, to create a social media item about this process.
• The outcomes of the project. Once your project finishes you will need to create:

a) A narrative report including pictures.

b) A news-item, meaning a short article for the WBAA webpage about the project.

These documents and templates will be sent to you via email by the Service Provider.

Personal Data Privacy

When applying, you will be required to give your consent to the WBAA Service Provider as well as the European Commission and, where necessary, to the WBAA Partner Organisations to receive, store and use your data and, where applicable the data of your organisation, for organisational purposes.

If your project is successful, you also accept that your contact information will be sent to European Delegations (EUDs) and the contacts of national agencies to promote your project and connect you. The contact information of the project manager will also be made public on the WBAA website to support further collaboration.

Please be aware that you will be using google suite to fill in your application data and therefore you automatically accept the regulations of the google suite regulations. For more information, please check these details: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US

Application

Does your project idea meet all requested requirements? Do you have an idea that meets the specifications? -> Do not hesitate to submit your Project Idea!

Proposal and reporting language is English.

Proposals need to be uploaded within the given deadline. It is not possible to deviate from this condition. Any proposals submitted after the submission deadline are not accepted.

Please read all the documents and information for the call before submitting your WBAA Project. You will need to download the templates to describe your project idea and the costs, all available in the call for projects.

Thank you very much for your interest in the WBAA Projects, we look forward to receiving your project proposals!

Cologne, Germany, 12 September 2022

Bachir Bibouche on behalf of the WBAA Team