The consortium formed by KEK-CDC Consultants (www.kek.ch), Civil Society Development Foundation (www.fdsc.ro) and Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation (www.repf.ro), as the Swiss Intermediate Body for administrating the Partnership and Expert Fund, is pre-announcing the 2nd round of the Partnership Block Grant that is scheduled to be launched on March 24th, 2014.

The Thematic Fund mentioned above is part of the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme, which consists of a non-refundable aid offered by the Swiss Federal Council to twelve European member states who joined the EU between 2004 and 2007. This Programme aims at contributing to the reduction of economic and social disparities between Romania and more advanced countries of the enlarged European Union. Within Romania, the Programme aims at contributing to the reduction of economic and social disparities between the dynamic urban centres and the structurally weak peripheral regions.

The objective of the Partnership Block Grant is to promote and enhance institutional partnerships between Romanian and Swiss institutions in order to contribute to the solution of specific development challenges, to strengthen the capacities and structures of the Romanian institutional partners, to benefit from Swiss added value and to contribute to the strengthening of the partnerships. Two Calls for Proposals are scheduled for the Partnership Block Grant.

The 1st round of Call for Proposals was launched in 2012. 116 applications were received for an available amount of CHF 3,000,000. The most important lessons learnt after the 1st round, together with recommendations for the applicants of the second round, are available HERE.

Through the 2nd round of Call for Proposals another CHF 3,000,000 will be made available. Two types of grants will be awarded: small grants that range from CHF 10,000 to CHF 100,000 and large grants that range from CHF 100,001 to CHF 250,000.

On the launching date, all information related to this second Call for Proposals for the Partnership Block Grant will be available on the consortium members' websites.