Small Projects Fund within the Cooperation programme INTERREG V-A Austria-Czech republic

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The Small Project Fund, an instrument for the support of cross-border cooperation, is based on the small projects “people to people” and supports each project partner with EFRE means in the amount of EUR 3.000 – 20.000. In the former programme period the Small Project Fund has been realised in the cross-border region of Austria and the Czech Republic since the year 1996. In the meantime we reached the fourth consecutive period. This long-term cooperation supported more than 1500 small projects with an amount of about 20 million EUR. In the programme period 2007-2013 there have been supported more than 700 small projects with financial means of 8,5 million EUR. The joint task is to continue the useful cooperation also in the new programme period 2014-2020. In particular, this means to continue the cooperation between institutions, organisations and public administration, further to support the cooperation in the field of law and administration as well as the cooperation between citizens and institutions. Aim of the Small Project Fund is to overcome bounderies in the minds of people and to support the common idea of Europe on local level through the improvement of relations between organisations, institutions and the people in the programme area. The fund plans to support at least 150 small projects with about 300 partners. They will form a cross-border network of organisations and institutions, which will be part of the cross-border cooperation. The Small Project Fund enables the involvement of organisations which don´t dispose of both staff and financial means to realise big INTERREG projects. As a result, the cross-border cooperation in small municipalities and organisations can be enlarged, the partnership principle can be fulfilled and it leads to cross-border integration trough the principle of “bottom-up”. Beneficiaries will be both the applicants as well as the project partners. These are public corporations (federal states, districts, municipalities), their institutions (educational institutions and other), associations and non-profit organisations. The Small Project Fund is a useful and innovative means for the support of cross-border cooperation. In many cases the Small Project Fund works as a starting point for new cooperations, for the exchange of experiences and also as a teaching tool for the realisation of future big INTERREG projects.

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