Did you make an application to Europe for Citizens in February or March of this year? You may be wondering when you'll get news of your results and how are grant decisions made. Read on...

The EACEA employs external 'experts' to review applications; carefully chosen professionals with experience in relevant areas of citizenship and remembrance. The experts take three weeks to review all applications and discard approximately 33% of the weaker ones (those scoring less than 50 out of 100). Next, the internal Europe for Citizens team at the EACEA review those remaining.

Once the second review is complete, a final list of proposed projects is presented to the Europe for Citizens Committee, composed of representatives from DG Home, the Head of Unit and other stakeholders. They make the final grant decisions and four months after the submission deadline the selected projects are published on the EACEA website.

Note: The Wheel will contact any successful Irish organisations directly too. We're hoping for good news! 

You may be surprised to learn that the Europe for Citizens Programme funds town twinning projects. Grants of up to €25,000 are available and community groups, not just local authorities, can apply. Twinning can involve more than just two towns and now many projects involve community actors, volunteers and marginalised groups. 

The Wheel is running two information sessions on Tuesday 26 April 2016 and Wednesday 11 May in Dublin and Cork respectively. Our Spotlight on Town Twinning events will explore old and new town twinning ideas, provide funding advice and share stories of success. Read more about our events and book places here. 

The Europe for Citizens Call for Proposals is now closed. As we wipe the sweat off our brows here at The Wheel, we want to wish all six Irish organisations that applied the best of luck. 

This year it was really great to see so many groups from Ireland take the role of 'lead applicant' as opposed to project partner. Our support involved training, feedback on draft proposals and technical assistance.

A new call opens in July. Want to get on board? Contact us and we'll put your name down for a FREE application training workshop in June.

As you may know, Europe for Citizens is funded by the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Affairs in Brussels. Recently the agency launched a handy new database of Europe for Citizens grantees. The catalogue lists projects funded from 2014 onwards.

Our advice to you? Search the database and get a flavour of previous projects that have received a grant. Could your organisation or town do something similar? Enter the search term 'IRELAND' and view Irish organisations and towns awarded funding since 2014. Happy viewing!

Yes it's baffling and daunting! How do people randomly forge partnerships with unknown organisations around Europe who might not even speak the same language, nevermind share the same values? Where do you start?

Fear not. If others can do it, you can too. The Europe for Citizens Information desk at The Wheel regularly receives requests for partners from all over Europe. See here a list of ​organisations currently in search of partners. Are you ready to collaborate? Browse their profiles and contact them directly or email us today. 

We were thrilled to run our first ever Applying for EU Funding workshop in Dublin on Wednesday 20 January 2016.  Our trainer for the day was Lene Topp, self-confessed 'EU guru' and all-round expert who hails from Schumann Associates, a Brussels-based consultancy.

Thank you to the 23 people from community groups and local authorities who came along to learn more about the Europe for Citizens Programme and further develop their project idea.  Lene supported participants to hone their project concept and ensure it fitted with the programme's objectives - a really valuable activity.

If you'd like to attend a similar workshop then please let us know - email us today or call 01-4548727. 

We are happy to announce that the Europe for Citizens call for proposals is now open, with a submission deadline of 1 March 2016 at 12pm CET/CEST. Read more on the EACEA's official page for applicants.

If you're currently preparing an application, then why not sign up for our specialist Applying for EU Funding workshop taking place in Dublin in January 2016. We have very few places left so if you're serious about applying, then contact us. 

Remember that when applying to the European Commission, you need to create an ECAS (European Commission Authentication Service) account and obtain a Participant Identification Code. We advise that you start gathering all the necessary paperwork for this NOW as it can be a lengthy process. 

Good news today for anyone considering applying to Europe for Citizens in 2016. Today the EACEA has published the priorities of the programme for 2016-2020, an important document to read and understand if you are preparing an application next year.

Have you struggled to understand what what kind of work will be funded by Europe for Citizens next year? This outline will help steer you.

Read the Programme Priorities now! 

The Wheel was delighted to represent Ireland at the 2015 Europe for Citizens contact point meetings in Paris from 14-16 October. Contact points from EU member states came together to meet with representatives from the European Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency (EACEA), discussing 2016 programme priorities plus applicant trends and issues. 

For The Wheel it was an opportunity to network with European counterparts and ultimately improve partner search for Irish applicants. 

​If you are keen to find a partner for your project idea under Europe for Citizens, please fill out this partner search form and return to deirdref@wheel.ie.