The primary goal of Cooperation Partnerships is to allow organisations to increase the quality and relevance of their activities, to develop and reinforce their networks of partners, to increase their capacity to operate jointly at transnational level, boosting internationalisation of their activities and through exchanging or developing new practices and methods as well as sharing and confronting ideas. They aim to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level. Results should be re-usable, transferable, upscalable and, if possible, have a strong transdisciplinary dimension. Selected projects will be expected to share the results of their activities at local, regional, national level and transnational level.

Cooperation Partnerships are anchored to the priorities and policy frameworks of each Erasmus+ sector, both at European and national level, while aiming at producing incentives for cross-sectoral and horizontal cooperation in thematic areas.

Depending on the field of the project proposed or on the type of applicant, Cooperation Partnerships are managed either by the National Agencies or by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). For more information in this respect, please refer to the section “Where to apply” under the eligibility criteria.

Objectives of the Action

Cooperation Partnerships aim at:

• increasing quality in the work, activities and practices of organisations and institutions involved, opening up to new actors, not naturally included within one sector
• building capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors
• addressing common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport
• enabling transformation and change (at individual, organisational or sectoral level), leading to improvements and new approaches, in proportion to the context of each organisation

Which are the criteria to be met to apply for a cooperation partnership? 

To be eligible for an Erasmus grant, project proposals for Cooperation Partnerships must comply with the following eligibility criteria:

Eligibility criteria

Who can apply?

Any participating organisation established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme can be the applicant/coordinator. This organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project.

In order to be eligible, applicant organisations must have been legally established at least 2 years before the application deadline.  

For Partnerships in the fields of education and training or youth submitted by European NGOs and managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) the applicant coordinator must be a European NGO¹ active in the field of education and training or youth.

The European body/secretariat of the European NGO applies on behalf of the European NGO.

Which types of organisations are eligible to participate in the project?

Any public or private organisation, established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme or in any third country not associated to the Programme in regions 1 to 3 (see section “Eligible Countries” in Part A of this Guide) can participate in a Cooperation Partnership ² .

Exception: organisations from Belarus (Region 2) are not eligible to participate in this action.

Organisations established in EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme can either participate as the coordinator of the project or as a partner organisation.

Organisations in third countries not associated to the Programme cannot participate as project coordinators.

Irrespective of the field impacted by the project, Cooperation Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training, youth, sport or other socio-economic sectors as well as to organisations carrying out activities that are transversal to different fields (e.g. local, regional and national authorities, recognition and validation centres, chambers of commerce, trade organisations, guidance centres, cultural and sport organisations).

Depending on the priority and the objectives addressed by the project, Cooperation Partnerships should involve the most appropriate and diverse range of partners in order to benefit from their different experiences, profiles and specific expertise and to produce relevant and high quality project results.

Participation of associated partner organisations

In addition to the organisations formally participating in the project (the coordinator and partner organisations), Cooperation Partnerships may also involve other partners from the public or private sector that contribute to the implementation of specific project tasks/activities or support the promotion and sustainability of the project.

Within an Erasmus+ project, these partners will be called “associated partners”. For eligibility and contractual management aspects they are not considered to be project partners, and they do not receive any funding from the Programme as part of the project. However, in order to understand their role within the partnership and have a global picture about the proposal, their involvement in the project and in the different activities needs to be clearly described.

Number and profile of participating organisations

A Cooperation Partnership is a transnational project and must involve minimum three organisations from three different EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.

There is no maximum number of participating organisations in one partnership.

All participating organisations must be identified at the time of applying for a grant.

For applications submitted to National Agencies in the fields of school education, vocational education and training, adult education and youth, the same organisation (one OID) cannot be involved in more than 10 applications overall per deadline, either as applicant or partner³ .

As a general rule, Cooperation Partnerships target the cooperation between organisations established in EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.

However, organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme can be involved as partners (not as applicants), if their participation brings an essential added value to the project and as long as the minimum participation from three organisations from three different EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme is fulfilled.

Priorities addressed

To be considered for funding, Cooperation Partnerships must address:

• at least one horizontal priority

and/or

• at least one specific priority relevant to the field of education, training, youth and sport that is mostly impacted.

For projects in the field of education, training and youth managed by the Erasmus+ National Agencies in indirect management, National Agencies may, among these priorities, give more consideration to those that are particularly relevant in their national context (called "European priorities in the national context").

National Agencies must duly inform potential applicants through their official websites.

For projects in the field of sport only one priority (horizontal or specific) can be addressed.

Venue of the activities

All the activities of a Cooperation Partnership must take place in the countries of the organisations participating in the project, either as full partners or as associated partners.

In addition, if duly justified in relation to the objectives or implementation of the project:

• Activities can also take place at the seat of an Institution of the European Union ⁴ , even if in the project there are no participating organisations from the country that hosts the Institution.
• Activities involving sharing and promotion of results can also take place at relevant thematic transnational events/conferences in EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme or eligible third countries not associated to the Programme.

Duration of project

Between 12 and 36 months.

The duration has to be chosen at application stage, based on the objectives of the project and on the type of activities planned over time.

The duration of a Cooperation Partnership may be extended, upon justified request by the beneficiary and with the agreement of the National or Executive Agency, provided that the total duration does not exceed 36 months. In such a case, the total grant will not change.