Unfortunately, there is no universal recipe which would guarantee that your project application will reach the top of the ranking list. The basic and general applicable rule is to carefully read and follow the instructions in the call document and in the application form. All CERV calls define their award criteria under section 9. Award criteria of the call document.

Call-specific requirements are outlined in its section 2. Objectives — Themes and priorities — Activities that can be funded — Expected impact. Additional drafting instructions are included in Part B of the application form. 

Practice also shows that proposals surpassing the minimum overall quality threshold of 70 points (and which can be considered for funding) are those with: 

• a clear and direct response to the call’s objectives; 
• a strong focus on issue(s) in which there is a general interest at national / EU-level; 
• a clearly established link with the EU policy priorities; 
• clearly defined and realistic project’s objectives, which then translate into concrete activities supported by a clear methodology and in practical and useful outputs; 
• the potential to have a real impact on the target group(s). This should come hand in hand with a well-defined and appropriate choice of the target group(s) by the project partners bearing in mind the need to have access to these target groups to involve them actively and meaningfully in the project design and its activities;
• a good prospect for sustainability and/or long-term impact lasting beyond EU funding (e.g., the project results have a clear potential to be used by the partners and other relevant target groups at national/EU level in their daily practices; changes will continue to resonate after the project ends);
• meaningful partnership composition, fit for achieving proposal objectives, where partners have experience in the field, access to the target group(s) and support of relevant public authorities;
• all relevant cross-cutting aspects (e.g., respect to EU values, child protection principles, gender mainstreaming perspective, data protection rules, etc.) appropriately covered and clearly described – as these are often only briefly touched upon by applicants. Hence, properly addressing these can really make a difference; and
• innovative solution(s) proposed (i.e., featuring new or alternative approaches to recurrent or new problem(s)) or covering geographical areas where the type of activity proposed by the project is clearly missing). 

The degree of fulfilment of the above characteristics can differentiate good proposals from the excellent ones.

The CERV programme through its projects contributes to making Europe a better place for all of us.

Join us on this journey and submit a quality proposal!