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A Great Challenge Requiring Thorough Preparation

[Obecné noviny, September 12th 07]  

   

Part Two

We talked to Ján Trgala, a partner in the largest Slovak consulting company, Centire s.r.o. on the subject of drawing non-returnable financial resources from EU funds.

 

  • Let’s try to look specifically at the project preparation which includes many steps necessary for the project to be approved and resources allocated. What tasks make up the individual phases of project preparation?

In the ideal case scenario, the town or village in question has already defined a strategic plan before the start of the project preparation in the shape of the Programme of Economic and Social Development for the town or village. This defines its targets and priorities for the next period. Each project is preceded by the publication of an appeal for submitting an application for a non-returnable financial grant. This appeal is published on the sites of the individual ministries and on the site www.strukturalnefondy.sk which contains all the appeals published by the appropriate governing institutions. The appeal in question must be thoroughly examined to make clear whether all the conditions are in accordance with your project plan. Then a pre-project preparation must be carried out which includes preparing the compulsory annexes to the project such as a cost and yield analysis, a feasibility study, a business plan and a study of the effect on the environment. This preparation is time-consuming and this is why it is recommended to carry it out before the publication of a specific appeal. If this is not the case, it might be that the town or village does not have time to prepare the project thoroughly in the time required and meet all the conditions. If all the formal conditions for submitting an application are not met and kept and are not completed even after receipt of a warning from the ministry in question, the project is simply ruled out. Together with the preparation of compulsory annexes to the project, the applicant then begins to fill in the project forms. He defines the targets, the starting situation, activities, target groups, budget and timetable of the project. All these steps must be coherent, and must link together.

  

  • What are the most common mistakes made by potential applicants for non-returnable financial resources?

From my own experience, I see mistakes mistake in the overall cross-connections. Either individual targets do not link in with specific activities, or individual budget items do not correspond to the activities defined. When drawing up budgets, mistakes are made by not making them realistic; they are often over-valued. Even wrong calculations which are the result of inattention are not unusual and this is why precision and method are important in every operation, step by step. Other mistakes worthy of note include: misunderstanding project forms, or lack of concordance between the plan and the specific appeal. Simple things can also decide on the success of the project submitted, such as: the visual and aesthetic side of the project, or its “cosmetic layout”. When you realise that such a project is 50 pages long, it is more than understandable that if it is written coherently, has clear graphs, tables, its overall value also rises. In the end, this can all make the difference.

 

  • Why is it a good idea to call on an external expert for help?

From my point of view, there are several reasons. Cooperation brings along a higher efficiency in drawing resources; instead of 10 projects, the town can submit 20, since the external service supplier is sufficiently equipped in terms of expertise and capacity to deal with such a volume of work. On the other hand, he has a huge amount of experience behind him and dozens of successful projects. Centire gives the town or village a guarantee in the shape of our business policy; our remuneration depends to a large extent on the means acquired. This approach is taken because of our certainty that by working with our client, we can adjust correctly all the project parameters, which is why our success rate to date is 90%. We also cannot ignore the fact that with regard to our long-term cooperation with the appropriate institutions and rich experience with writing and implementing projects, we have a perfect knowledge of the environment in which these projects are approved. Our advantage is also that we know how to unburden our client in the phase of project monitoring and financial management, which also requires a certain skill. The new programme period 2007-2013 concerning EU funds is a great challenge for the all-round development of towns and villages, which is why all possible opportunities must be taken to increase the success rate of submitted projects.
 

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