by Jacques Remacle, Head of Health Unit, Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency
The 3rd EU Health Programme was adopted in March 2014, and simultaneously, a completely new online system was introduced to make applying for funding through the Programme easier and the whole procedure - from the submission of applications to the signature of grants for the successful applicants – significantly shorter.
The Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) helps implement this Programme for the Commission and thus subsequently launches calls for proposals for projects and operating grants.
In the past, it took three months to evaluate the proposals. Thanks to the new IT tools, Chafea completed the 2014 evaluation in half that time, just 6 weeks after the closure of the call and the applicants were informed much earlier about whether their proposal was to be co-funded or not. It also took much less time to sign the grant agreements with the successful applicants: 3 - 4 months less than in 2013. This is a considerable advantage for all - future grant recipients can start the work in a timely manner, and co-funding will be released immediately.
Asked about the new system, applicants' feedback was positive:
- 96% are satisfied/very satisfied with the new online proposal submission system.
- 73% agreed/strongly agreed that the online submission is easier than paper-based submission.
- 60% agreed/strongly agreed that the time spent preparing an online proposal is less than with the paper-based submission.
Similarly, the external evaluators who help Chafea in assessing the proposals unanimously said that this new system was much better and made it possible for them to work more efficiently. All in all, Chafea is very pleased that it can now provide these new IT tools to the Health Programme participants and we trust that this, together with other simplification measures introduced, will ease the administrative burden and allow participants and administrators alike to focus more on the projects themselves rather than the procedures for co-funding.
