6. Partnership

There are some general rules which need to be met to be part of a partnership:

• Partners must be an organisation with a legal entity. This means that private citizens cannot be partners in an application.

• A partner can be a private or public organisation.

• A partner must be based in the geography of the NPA programme or have a national remit. Check the list of eligible regions here.

• All partners should have relevant expertise and capacity in the topic of the project to participate fully, to deliver the project outputs and to be able to mobilise a relevant target audience.

• Service providers must be procured and not included as partners in the partnership.

Yes, the size and geographical extension of a partnership should be proportionate to the project level of ambition.

The following minimum requirements for partnerships apply:

SEE IT! 6-month projects - involve partners from at least 2 programme partner countries, at least one of which from an EU Member State.
Partnerships are recommended to include at least 2 of the 3 geographical zones of the programme area: 1) Finland-Sweden-Norway; 2) Ireland; 3) Faroe Islands-Greenland-Iceland.

SHAPE IT! 12-month and MAKE IT WORK ! 18-month projects - involve partners from at least 3 programme partner countries, at least one of which is from an EU Member State. The partnership is clearly of a transnational character.
Partnerships are recommended to include at least 2 of the 3 geographical zones of the programme area: 1) Finland-Sweden-Norway; 2) Ireland; 3) Faroe Islands-Greenland-Iceland.

There are 3 types of partners in an NPA project, each with a different level ofresponsibility.

Lead Partners: these organisations have the legal responsibility to lead the project and are the ones entering into a contractual agreement with the NPA Managing Authority.

There can be only 1 Lead Partner in a project, and it must be a public organisation based in the Interreg NPA Programme Area, or with a national remit covering the region (e.g. National Agency, Environmental organisations, etc.).

Besides leading the project, the Lead Partner also contributes actively to the project activities and has a budget.

Project partners: contribute actively to the project development and implementation. They have relevant competences, and assigned roles and tasks in the project, as well as a budget.

Associated partners: have an interest in the project,  or can contribute with knowledge and expertise. However, they do not have a budget in the project. They are connected to one of the project partners.

Read more in detail about each type of partner in Chapter 2.2 of the Programme Manual.

Following the geographical requirements, this partnership would be allowed only in 6-months project, where projects need to have minimum 2 partners from 2 different NPA countries. Having partners from the same geographical zone (Sweden and Finland) would be accepted because for 6 months long projects it is only a recommendation to find partners from at least 2 out of 3 geographical zones.

However, projects running for 12 and 18 months must include partners from at least 2 out of 3 geographical zones to clearly demonstrate the transnational character.

The Programme partner countries are those involved in the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic. Namely: the EU member states of Ireland, Finland and Sweden, together with Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. These are the 7 programme partner countries. Please also note that the programme area does not necessarily cover the entire country. For a list of eligible regions, please see here.

A transnational partnership is a collaborative network of organisations across borders working together to achieve an impact throughout the Northern Periphery and Arctic.

In general, project partnerships should include organisations from at least 2 to 3 programme partner countries, depending on the length of the project, and at least one of which from an EU Member State.

Partnership should involve organisations based in at least 2 of the 3 zones of the programme area: Finland-Sweden-Norway; Ireland; and Faroe Islands-Greenland-Iceland.

In addition to these geographic requirements, the project must clearly demonstrate that transnational cooperation is essential for delivering the results and that partners are clearly benefiting from working with each other.

 

Youth organisations can both apply on their own or as Associated partners connected to a more established organisation.

Before joining the project, a youth organisation must consider whether they have sufficient resources to contribute to project activities – both staff and financial resources.

If a youth organisation evaluates that they heavily rely on volunteer work, or would not be able to keep up with the work-load or with advancing project costs, it is recommended that they join as Associated partners.

Yes, but it is up to the organisation to realistically assess its capacity before committing to several projects.

You can use this form to give a short overview of your project idea and the kind of partners you need. Send it to the Interreg NPA Joint Secretariat or the Regional Contact Point in your country, who can advise you on which organisations could be relevant for your project idea.

You can also share your idea in the LinkedIn Partner Search Portal, here.