Even though we are at a time when we are still experiencing the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, the ESAYEP programme has NOT been suspended!
That is why we are sending you some recommendations on how to carry out the activities in the projects you already have in implementation and, if you want to apply for the next ESAYEP deadlines, you can go through these recommendations to organise your time as efficiently as possible, in a context where most institutions and companies have stopped working at their headquarters.
Identification and development of new partnerships
During this period, at European level, there are still many traveling restrictions and not only, as each country is working hard on controlling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of these restrictions, many of you — project promoters or potential future beneficiaries of the programme – face difficulties in strengthening existing partnerships or in identifying new partners from the Donor States for future projects.
Of course, face-to-face meetings are and will probably remain the best solution to approach and get to know a partner, however, during this period, we recommend that you use all the opportunities offered by the online environment in identifying partners.
You can organise virtual meetings, contact future partners and/or write the project proposal together using one of the available online tools that can facilitate and replace face-to-face discussions (e.g. Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc.).
However, an important step remains finding a partner – an action that takes place by searching online anyway, and to this end we recommend you to use:
— the searching tools on the eea4edu.ro website, the “Search Partners” section on each page corresponding to the programme’s components;
— the Donor States databases created specifically for identifying partners for the EEA projects. A centralised file with all of these can be found here.
In bilateral cooperation, we recommend that you use the EEA Programme Partnership Guide in close connection with the specific regulations of the ESAYEP programme published on www.eea4edu.ro.
In order to offer you a better support, the deadlines by which you will be able to submit projects for the pre–university, VET and Roma components will be extended as follows:
– for projects targeting pre–university education experts (school inspectors, counselors, teacher trainers), the new deadline is 1 October 2020 at 13:00, Romanian time;
– for projects addressing vocational education and training – VET – the two new deadlines are: 1 October 2020 (13:00) for cooperation projects and 15 October 2020 (13:00), for national VET projects, Romanian time;
–for projects addressing the inclusion of Roma pupils in schools, the new deadline is 1 October 2020 (13:00), Romanian time.
Implementation of ongoing projects
The Programme Operator (ANPCDEFP) is constantly concerned about limiting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the ongoing ESAYEP projects. Therefore, it maintains a permanent contact with the National Focal Point, the Financial Mechanism Office and the programme partners of the Donor States. We recommend that you maintain permanent online contact with the partners in your project, so that you can find mutual solutions to the situations that may arise and, where and if possible, keep in mind that you can reschedule the activities. The Program Operator has obtained an official approval for the ongoing projects having activities that can be reprogrammed. In this respect, the Project Promotor will request the extension of the project implementation by up to 12 months.
According to the details received from the Financial Mechanism Office, the crisis situation caused by the pandemic will allow certain cases to be justified by “force majeure”. If you face any problems that may affect the implementation of your projects, as you have assumed in the application, please contact the ANPCDEFP project expert in charge with your project as soon as possible, to obtain appropriate support to solving the problems that may arise.
