PA Trainings 2009 – Albania
As the 1st CfPs closed first in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and then in Albania, in August and September respectively, CBIB started with the organization of trainings for potential applicants on the subject of how to prepare good quality project proposals in these two countries.
In addition, the 2nd Call for Proposals for the programme between these two countries is expected soon, thus it was of paramount importance to work with the Potential Applicants, both those who already applied under the 1st CfP and those who will only do so under the 2nd CfP, in order to prepare them on time to meet the challenges of this rather complex process.
For Albania, the trainings were advertised in the local newspapers and through CBIB e-mail alerts and website. In total, 133 registrations were received. On the basis of the number of registrations received and the level of knowledge and previous experience of the applicants and their place of residence, dates and locations were defined for 3 trainings in Albania in October – 2 initial and 1 intermediate course and 2 more basic trainings in November. The total number of applicants trained is 116.
| PA Trainings in Albania | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | No of Trainees | No of Participants |
| 1 | October 5th-6th, 2009 | Tirana, Hotel Monarc, (initial) | 22 |
| 2 | October 8th-9th, 2009 | >Tirana, Hotel Monarc, (intermediate) | 18 |
| 3 | October 12th-13th, 2009 | Shkoder, (initial) | 22 |
| 4 | November 19th-20th, 2009 | Elbasan (initial) | >38 |
| 5 | November 24th-25th, 2009 | Kukes (initial) | 16 |
| 116 trainees took part in 5 trainings in October and November | |||
Objective:
The purpose of the trainings was to have all interested potential applicants gain knowledge on the approach and logic in the preparation of grant proposals based on EC procedures, application and evaluation process.
The main objectives of the course were the following:
- Potential applicants have a general understanding on IPA, IPA II programmes, the cross-border programme implementation: what is Call for Proposals (CfP) and the role of the Guidelines for Applicants (GfA) in the CfP;
- Understand the role of the different CBC management structures;
- Understand the logical framework approach (LFA) and the link between the different levels in the LFA;
- Understand stakeholder and problem analyses;
- Understand the role of preconditions and assumptions in the LFA;
- Understand the role of indicators and their formulation process;
- Understand the principles of the activity based budgeting;
- Understand the link between the project development process based on the LFA and the filling in of the application form.
The trainings were organized as two-days courses. Each day consisted of a morning and an afternoon session that were implemented in combination of theory with exercises, i.e. “learning by doing”.
Due to the relatively short duration of the training, most of the topics were presented in plenary sessions and followed by “buzzing” – group discussions. Group exercises were organised on the following topics: stakeholder, problem and objective analysis and development of intervention logic.
Most of the trainees found the trainings very useful and adequately corresponding to their needs, as well as significantly improving their knowledge on project preparation. The main suggestion expressed by the trainees was that such intensive courses, with great amounts of information and useful tips presented, should last longer – three-day courses would have been more suitable.