Glossary

Beneficiary – A legal entity, partner in a project, for which a grant is awarded.
Budget of project – Includes the total eligible costs of a project and comprises both grant and co-financing to be spent by all the project partners.

Call for proposals – A public invitation addressed to legal entities which may propose projects within the framework of a specific Programme.
Co-financing – Cash contribution to be provided by an Applicant and its Partners from their own resources in order to finance a project. According to Programme requirements, each project partner shall provide co-financing in order to implement the project.
Consultants – People providing professional advice for a fee.
Contract – An agreement, between two or more persons or entities, with specific terms and an undertaking to provide services and/or supplies in return for a financial consideration.
Contract budget – A summary of the costs of performing the contract. The total of these costs is the contract value. Where grants are concerned: the budget shows the eligible costs for funding and the total costs. The income must also be detailed.
Contract value – The total budget of a contract (eligible costs where grants are concerned).
Contractor – A natural or legal person with whom a procurement contract has been concluded.

Deliverable – Side-product resulting at the end of a project activity which contributes to one main project output.
Dissemination – Distribution. Dissemination of project information might mean telling a wider audience about a project and its results. This may be by means of seminars, newsletters, press releases and similar methods. This can enable organizations to learn from others’ experience.

Efficiency – Means how well project resources and activities were converted into main outputs and/or results in terms of quality, quantity, time, and also quality.
Eligible activities – Activities presented in the programming and implementing documents whose implementation leads to the fulfillment of the programme’s objective.
Eligible applicant – Entity that fulfils certain criteria regarding the legal status, financial and legal situation and the capacity of co-financing the project, as defined in the text of the programme and in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants.
Eligible expenditure – Expenditure (to be) made by the project partners and related to a project, which are fully compliant with the Programme requirements.
European Commission – The Commission of the European Communities.
Evaluation – An examination that gives the decision makers of the programme enough information in order to take a decision regarding the possibility of reaching the objectives of the project (of efficiency, efficacy and impact), by analysing the relevant experience presented and has the purpose of making practical recommendations for the further actions of the project.

Feasibility ( of a project) – The capacity of a project to be implemented, provided it was well prepared in advance, all the pre-requisites ensuring a proper management are met, the planning is adequate and the methodology is clear, and the costs foreseen are eligible according to Programme requirements.
Final beneficiaries – Those who will benefit from the project in the long term (at the level of the General Objective of the project). They must be clearly and distinctively identified through type, place of residence, profession, institution, age etc., as the case may be.
Financial Agreement – An agreement between the EC and the partner countries, co-signed by the Managing Authority, which determines the objectives and scale of a future programme of assistance, as well as the responsibilities of Partner Country.

Grant – A direct payment of a non-commercial nature by the Managing Authority to a specific recipient to implement a project.
Guidelines for applicants – Document explaining the rules of a Call for proposals regarding who may apply, the types of projects and costs which may be financed, and the evaluation process, including the evaluation criteria. It also provides practical information on how to complete the Application Form, what documents must be annexed, the rules and procedures for applying.

Hard projects – Projects having an infrastructure component with a value of at least 1 million euro.

Infrastructure component – Permanent works and/or equipment which contribute to at least one Programme (common) output.
Indicator – An indicator is used in order to measure an objective, a resource that needs to be involved, an effect that needs to be obtained, a qualitative level or a contextual variable. An indicator quantifies an element considered relevant for the monitoring and evaluation activity of a programme.

Lead beneficiary – The legal entity which signs a grant contract with the Managing Authority and assumes full legal and financial responsibility for the entire project implementation, technically and financially, according to Programme requirements and the grant contract provisions.
Logical Framework – A tool to be used especially with the purpose of project management outlining the key features that lead to a project achieving its objectives.

Major social, economic and cultural centres – The programme included 4 major social, economic and cultural centres in the programme area : Bucharest, Suceava, Bacău and Piatra Neamț. The organisations located in these cities may only participate in projects as partners, but not as lead beneficiaries.
Main Output – Is obtained following a project activity or group of activities, and mandatorily and decisively contribute to achievement of a project result.
Monitoring – The regular collection and analysis of information about a project (usually at least financial, technical and institutional) in order to check performance compared with its stated objectives, outputs, budget and work plan.

On the site verification – Monitoring visits on site carried out by the MA or the JTS on the basis of the internal procedures of the MA or JTS.

Participating countries – The Member State (Romania) and partner country (Republic of Moldova) taking part in the joint operational programme.
Partner – Entity acting in partnership to implement a project. Provided that the project is selected and a grant contract is signed, the Partner become a “Beneficiary” and shall be responsible for the implementation of its share of project’s activities.
Procurement precedure – The procedure followed by any project Partner in order to identify and conclude a contract with a suitable contractor to provide clearly defined works, goods or services. Specific provisions to undertake a procurement procedure are comprised in the grant contract.
Profit – A surplus of receipts over the costs incurred by the beneficiary when request is made for final payment.
Programme area – Includes “core regions” ( Romania – 4 counties – Botoșani, Iași, Vaslui and Galați ; Republic of Moldova – the whole country) and “major social, economic and cultural centres” (Suceava, Bacău, Piatra Neamț and Bucharest).
Project Cycle – A useful tool for understanding the various stages that any project will probably go through.
Project Partner – Participant in a project, responsible for implementation of part of the project’s activities, in accordance to the project plan and to the partnership agreement signed with the beneficiary (lead partner) of the grant.
Project Selection Committee– The evaluation process is conducted by this joint structure having Romanian and Moldovian members designated by Joint Monitoring Committee, and whose coordinator is nominated by the Managing Authority.

Relevance – Appropriateness of the project to the problems and needs of the target group(s) and final beneficiaries, and its contribution to the Programme. The “relevance” include several criteria which are to be evaluated and scored during step 2 (technical and financial evaluation and is eliminatory in the framework of this Programme.
Results – Clear benefits for the target groups, which are expected to be achieved, proved and checked during/at the end of the implementation period. They are supporting the solution identified by the project to address the specific needs/challenges.

Soft Projects – Projects which do not include an infrastructure component or their infrastructure component is of less than 1 million euro per project.
Specific Objectives – Changes foreseen (e.g. enhancing, reducing, extending etc.) at the end of project implementation at the level of target groups. They are supporting the solution identified by the project to address the specific needs/challenges.
Stakeholders – People with an interest, or involvement in a project, and/or who are directly or indirectly affected by its results. It should be noted that not all stakeholders are necessarily in favour of a proposed project.
Strategy – A comprehensive set of objectives, and plans for their achievement.
Sustainable – A project is sustainable when it can provide an acceptable amount of benefits to the target group during a sufficiently long period after the funder’s assistance ceases.
SWOT Analysis – A technique for identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the programme area as a basis for discussing programme objectives.

Target groups – Groups/entities to be directly positively affected by the project by the end of project implementation. They must be clearly and distinctively identified through type, place of residence, profession, institution, age etc., as the case may be.
Technical assistance – Preparatory work, management, monitoring, evaluation, information, audit and control, and any administrative capacity-building activities necessary for implementation of the joint operational programmes.
Technical assistance contract – A contract between a service provider and the Managing Authority, under which the service provider exercises an advisory role, directs or supervises a project, provides the experts stipulated in the contract or acts as a procurement agent.
Tender – A written or formal offer to supply goods, perform services or execute works for an agreed price.
Tender procedure – The overall process of putting a contract out for tender, starting with the publication of a procurement notice and ending with the award of the tendered contract.

Viability (of a project) – The project’s capacity to be successfully implemented and to continue after the end of EU financing. The “viability” includes several criteria which are to be evaluated and scored during evaluation.