PA training in Mrkonjic Grad and the second PA training in Bihac were organized in parallel for potential applicants of IPA cross-border programmes. The training took place on 08^th and 09^th October in Mrkonjic Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was organised jointly by the CBIB project and Accredited Regional Development Agency for north-west region of Bosnia and Herzegovina – ARDA, and it was supported by the Local development Centre from Mrkonjic Grad.

CBIB organized 25 awareness seminars in Western Balkan region in 2007 and 2008, in order to inform potential beneficiaries in the region on IPA, cross-border programmes and upcoming activities related to the implementation of the programmes. These awareness seminars set the basis for the organization of the training sessions on preparation of project proposals, EC procedures and regulations that will be governing the implementation of EU funded projects.

Taking into consideration requirements related to the preparation of CBC projects to be financed from IPA CBC funds, the fact that the Calls for Proposals will be open up to 90 days and that the most of the potential beneficiaries will develop CBC projects for the first time, CBIB has decided to organize first round of trainings in the region, before the first Calls for Proposals are launched.

The purpose of the training was to prepare all interested potential beneficiaries to gain knowledge on the approach and logic in the preparation of grant proposals based on EC procedures, application and evaluation process.

Participants and objective:

36 persons from the Mrkonjic Grad region attended the two-day training. Municipalities (Jajce, Kljuc, and Mrkonjic Grad) and institutions such as Jajce Red Cross Centre, Centre for sustainable development and different NGOs and associations selected their own representatives based on experience and relevance to the training objectives. Most of trainees plan to be directly involved in the preparation of grant proposals and some of them have had experience in the preparation of projects based on EC procedures.

The main objectives of the course:

• Potential grant beneficiaries have a general understanding on the cross-border programme implementation: what is a Call for Proposals (CfP) and the role of the Guidelines for Applicants (GfA) in the CfP.
• Understand what is required from the applicants in the Application Package.
• Understand what is important in preparing for the application process and what CBC partnership is.
• Understand the principles of the logical framework approach and the linkages between the different levels in the LFA.
• Understand what role external factors in the LFA have.
• Understand what role indicators in the LFA have and are aware how to formulate them.
• Understand the principles of the activity based budgeting.
• Understand how to fill in the Application form

The objectives of the training indicate that the course was helping the potential grant beneficiaries to understand what is required in the grant preparation process, which are the ways and methods in building cross–border partnerships and what are the main elements of a logical framework approach.

The training was consisted of the following sessions under the Preparation of the Grant Proposal:

• Introduction and opening by CBIB
• Introduction to IPA and CBC, CfP cycle, grant, guidelines for applicants
• Why it is important to start preparing for CfP as soon as possible and what is CBC partnership?
• Introduction to Logical Framework Approach
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Problem analysis
• Intervention Logic
• External Factors/Indicators
• Activity-based budgeting
• Application Form/Package
• How to link the information of 2 days with the application form

Each day consisted of morning and afternoon sessions that were introduced in combination of theory with exercises/“learning by doing”, and 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 analysis, problem, and objective analysis.

Also, CBIB team has developed a Manual for potential grant beneficiaries. The Manual presents an additional tool to the potential applicants since it consists of a detailed information on grant preparation process, logical framework approach and application form.

In general, the participants evaluated the course highly positively. The qualities of the lectures were considered clear, useful, and interactive and most participants considered the course highly successful and useful.