Writing a strategic partnership
Hello and welcome to my professional practice!
For the last six weeks, I have been working in a team of three on a project overview for the Interdisciplinary platform for Sustainable Development and Innovation in Marine Science (INSM+) and its potential submission for Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance. The project is aimed at promoting knowledge and strengthening competencies needed to address the post-Covid19 economic crisis throughout the European Union and beyond its borders, while emphasising on long-term sustainability goals.
Every young environmentalist has once come up with a world-changing idea. Many ambitious projects tackling environmental challenges are created every day. But every good idea needs good realisation. It is paramount to know how to carry ideas through all the stages and challenges, develop, adapt, fund, and create fully functioning projects that bring much-needed change. This is why I was excited to work on a professional practice focusing on the nuances of environmental project management and grant writing, specifically in Europe.
So, let's see what we've done!
What?
Strategic Partnerships are transnational projects designed to develop and share innovative practices and promote cooperation, peer learning, and exchanges of experiences in the fields of education, training, and youth.
The goal of our professional practice was to design and submit the project proposal, that could potentially be accepted and funded under the initiative.
The topic was chosen in light of the recent unprecedented challenges posed by the global pandemic of COVID-19 and the following economic crisis. The idea was to create a platform that would bring together students and early career professionals with different backgrounds to create an open dialogue and promote smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth in all EU Member States and regions.
Why?
Because people are interested!
We have designed a questionnaire to illustrate the educational background, country, interest, and personal reflection on the current educational practices and distributed among partner institutions, students, through thematic Facebook groups, etc.
The results show a high demand for a multidisciplinary educational platform from students with various academic backgrounds. Over 41% of responders agreed that there is a need for a good interdisciplinary connection and exchange between students in the fields of natural science and economy, law, engineering, or similar studies. And 73% would be interested to participate and support an interdisciplinary platform of exchange to help rebuild the post-COVID-19 economy in a sustainable way.
Where?
Everywhere really. But mainly in Europe
Erasmus+ is open to many individuals and organisations, however eligibility varies from one action to another and from one country to another. Countries are divided into two main categories:
Programme countries: can fully take part in all the actions of the Erasmus+ programme.
Partner countries: can take part in certain actions of the programme, subject to specific criteria or conditions.
Nevertheless, our team made sure the program was open to participants from all over the world!
Meet the team!
Workflow
Brainstorm and Research
Like any good project managers, we started with research. We had to make sure that our ideas were unique and fully compliant with the program regulations.
Scheduling
With that out of the way, we created a team schedule complete with deadlines and milestones.
Phase I - Needs analysis
Do people agree with us? To find out, we created a questionnaire that has received more than 160 responses. They do.
WP_Nastia.docxPhase II - Work Packages
The next step was writing the Work Packages clearly defying all the preparation, management, implementation, and evaluation steps. The main tasks were also distributed between Partner Institutions.
You can see the final draft by using the pop-out button on the side
Budget_final.xlsxPhase III - Budget
We then created a detailed budget, allocating the funs for the management, activities and mobilities.
You can see the final draft by using the pop-out button on the side
Detailed Project Description.docxPhase IV - Detailed Project Description
The final, and probably the largest part of our work was filling in a Detailed Project description with all the possible details about it: aims, objectives, underlying research, partner descriptions, WP's, budget, etc.
You can see the final draft by using the pop-out button on the side
Project outcomes
As a result of this professional practice, I was hoping together with my colleagues to produce a project proposal that can later be submitted by the Ghent University for the Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance and potentially funded by the European Union. We were able to produce a Detailed Budget and WP Overview, however, due to the lack of time and experience in writing such complex proposals, some parts o remain unfinished.
The final result was underdeveloped, but given more time could become a solid base for another proposal. The research conducted for the project could potentially be useful for the university as well, as we have conducted a broad survey on the interests and common topics of students with different scientific backgrounds. For example, the multidisciplinary training and exchange platform can be created, or the information can be used to create small courses aimed at bringing students from different faculties together.
What I've learned:
Project management and team work. By the end of my professional practice, I was much more confident in myself and my ideas and noticed that my opinion was taken into account more often. I was very lucky to be partnered with people who took the time to acknowledge my ideas. I still have a long way to go in developing good communication skills, but I feel like this project definitely made me more confident in myself and what I have to say.
Technical Writing. Working on a project proposal would mean to produce more than 100 pages of text, a challenge I happily took. Though there were flaws, I have received some positive encouragement and will continue to work on my academic writing, which will hopefully result in the accepted and funded project proposal.
Time management. Working in such an unusual setting meant that we all had to adapt to the new conditions and has proven to be a great time management exercise.
Budgeting and funding. The project budget was one of our group’s proudest achievements. We have devoted a lot of time and energy into thinking through every possible detail. We have also discussed the importance and the role of budget in any Environmental Project.
EU Grant system. I am hoping this experience will help me create similar projects in my country, contribute to its development, and hopefully, one day finally see it become an EU member.
Thank you and good luck with all your future projects!
