Blog

Ideas to build better proposals

Guides, case studies and lessons on European funding, social innovation and financing for organizations.

Stories

Climate Labs: climate innovation laboratories in ten universities

Universities across Mexico, Colombia and Brazil set up applied research and climate innovation labs together with partners from France, Italy and Spain, co-funded by the European Commission's Erasmus+ programme.

Stories

Commons: the academic network that has kept growing for a decade

In 2016, teaching teams from Chile and Mexico joined the first cohort of Commons. Today the network gathers more than 160 academics from over 40 institutions who keep meeting.

Stories

Micro-credentials across two continents: the EU-LATAM Food System Academy

150 vocational educators in Colombia and Chile co-design micro-credentials with partners from Germany and Spain. A new way of certifying green skills, built between two continents.

Stories

Santo Tomás: an institutional strategy with social innovation at its core

One of Chile's largest higher education networks realigned its strategic plan around social innovation as its differentiating value: 104 educators and 80 senior leaders trained, collaborative spaces in 4 regions and its own diploma programme.

Stories

Linares: the full ladder of climate action, in one territory

130 students from public schools took part in the Young Climathon of Linares. Their teachers had trained first in the Climate Action Academy. This is what a territory looks like when learning is sequenced.

Methodology

Theory of Change: why projects that use it go further

The single tool that distinguishes a winning proposal from one that falls short. Three elements that should appear but rarely do.

Methodology

Defining impact before application: why most teams do it the wrong way around

Impact is not written at the end of the form, it is designed before the first activity. Two approaches to build an impact-oriented proposal.

EU Analysis

How the European funding cycle 2028-2034 is shaping up

The largest budget in EU history: nearly €2 trillion. What's changing and why it matters for LAC organisations looking at Europe.

Strategy

Why Europe can make sense for scaling innovations from LAC

After 48+ projects on the LAC-EU corridor, one conclusion: Europe is not the obvious option, but it is the right one for certain profiles.

Strategy

Quality and quantity: the two factors behind a winning application

Without access to the evaluation room, applying to a fund comes down to two variables. Ignoring one of them explains why excellent proposals sometimes lose.

Methodology

The application form trap: why starting there ruins the proposal

The form is designed for evaluators, not for the person writing the proposal. Filling it first crowds out creativity and flattens the voice of the organisation.