2.2 Project work plan

The Intervention Logic of the EUI-IA project is a representation of clear and well-thought-out understanding how planned actions are expected to lead to the desired change and intended results – see Figure 4 below. It is a way of describing the logical sequence between initial needs, inputs, projects activities, outputs, results and ultimate impact. It is a tool to structure complex interventions and to prepare the evaluation of a project. The Intervention Logic describes: What is the rationale for the intervention/project? What are the challenges/needs that triggered the intervention? What problems is the intervention meant to solve? What is the “desired change”? How are these changes to be achieved?

The Intervention Logic is composed by strategic, operational and monitoring and evaluation components.

Strategic components

Overall objective defines what do you aim to achieve by the end of your project. It relates to the strategic aspect of the project and provides the overall context. The overall objective goes beyond the project duration, it describes the strategic ambition of the MUA and long-term change in a certain existing socio-economic situation the project intends to contribute to achieve for the benefit of the beneficiaries/end users.

Specific objectives detail what the project is trying to achieve during its duration. Specific objectives allow to achieve the overall objective, they are narrower in scope than the overall objective and are described in a more precise way. They form a concrete statement describing what the project is trying to achieve within the overall context. At the end of the project, it should be possible to evaluate whether the specific objectives were achieved.

Expected results define the expected change that is to be achieved by the project. Reflect the desired mid-term change in the local situation as direct consequence of the project implementation, the immediate advantage for beneficiaries or end users and the behavioural change. They shall be as realistic, specific, concrete and measurable as possible. Expected results should correspond to specific objectives.

Operational components

Project Work Plan explains the “how” of your project. It’s a roadmap representing the guide for implementing your project if it gets funded. The Work Plan is a breakdown of the project into major steps called Work Packages, and Work Packages are broken down into smaller steps called activities. Activities lead to deliverables and each Work Package leads to one or more outputs.

Work Packages, as mentioned above, are building blocks of the Work Plan, they represent the main pillars of the project and are composed of related project activities required to deliver specific components of the project and produce project outputs. To structure the EUI-IA project the following set of Work Packages should be used:

• Work Package Preparation and Initiation Phase
• Work Package Project Management
• Work Package Monitoring and Evaluation
• Work Package Communication and Capitalisation
• Work Packages Thematic (investments embedded if any)
• Work Package Transfer
• Work Package Closure

Activity is a specific task/stage of the project delivery for which resources are used. Each activity shall result in at least one deliverable and/or an output. The planned activities should be necessary and sufficient to achieve the project’s objectives and expected results. Any activity carried out in the framework of the project shall be for the direct benefit of the area concerned by the urban authority(ies) involved in the project.

Deliverable is a tangible or intangible object delivered during project activities. It’s an intermediary step in the delivery of a project output and usually, one or more deliverables are needed to produce an output.

Output is what has actually been produced as a result of the funding given to the project. It is a main product (in other words: end product) of the project. It directly contributes to the achievement of project result(s). It shall be realistic, specific, concrete and measurable.  Each implementation Work Package should lead to the delivery of at least one output. Please note that a similar product (e.g. a feasibility study) could be an output in project X, and a deliverable in project Y. A way to help making the distinction is to analyse whether the delivery of a given product has a direct effect on the specific objective of the project. If the effect is not visible yet, then it is very likely that the given product would represent a deliverable in that project.

Monitoring and evaluation components

Indicators are the main instrument of monitoring – intended as continuous analysis of the project's progress towards achieving the expected outputs and results to improve the management and decision-making process during project implementation – and provide critical information for the evaluation of a project’s effectiveness, impact, relevance and sustainability. Within EUI, two types of indicators are defined: output and result indicators.

Output indicators[1] are used to measure and monitor project outputs. A number of output indicators is predefined in the Terms of Reference of the relevant Call for Proposals, and they can be selected by the applicants under the Thematic Work Packages whenever relevant for the project proposal. In case a project output does not fit in any of the predefined indicators, the category “Other” should be selected. Please note, that there is also a set of pre-defined outputs and corresponding output indicators obligatory to be selected under the Transfer Work Package (see Chapter 2.2.7 “Work Package Transfer” for more details).

Result indicators[2] are used to measure the expected results of the project, i.e. the change in the local situation as direct consequence of the project implementation, the immediate advantage for beneficiaries or end users and the behavioural change. A number of result indicators is predefined in the Terms of Reference of the relevant Call for Proposals and relevant ones for the project proposal should be selected by the applicants. In case predefined result indicators are not sufficient or relevant to measure project’s expected results, project specific result indicators can be developed.

To help define good quality indicators, please refer to RACER criteria[3]. Indicators should be:

• Relevant: closely linked to the objectives to be reached. They should not be overambitious and should measure the right thing. They should be able to measure the mentioned expected results.
• Accepted (e.g. by Project Partners and/or wider group of stakeholders): activities, roles and responsibilities to achieve the target of the indicator need to be well defined.
• Credible for non-experts, unambiguous and easy to interpret. Indicators should be simple and clearly defined.
• Easy to monitor: e.g. data collection should be possible at low cost.
• Robust against manipulation (e.g. administrative burden: If the target is to reduce administrative burdens to businesses, the burdens might not be reduced, but just shifted from businesses to public administration).

Target value[4] (to be defined in the Application Form) refers to the value of the indicators to be achieved by the end of the project implementation. It should be realistic and achievable by the end of the project.

Figure 4. The EUI-IA project Intervention Logic

Work Package Project Preparation and Initiation Phase covers two stages related to project development and getting ready for the implementation. In the Application Form, this Work Package is pre-filled.

Under Project Preparation, the Work Package includes all activities and related deliverables, needed for the definition and the design of the project proposal. This can include the different meetings with the wider group of stakeholders to define the main challenge(s) to be addressed, to collect data and evidence of the local situation, to identify the main objectives, to define the different potential contributions and ultimately to co-design the project proposal and write the application. The pre-filled deliverable under the Project Preparation part of the Work Package is the completed Application Form to be submitted:

• D.1.1.1 Application form submitted

Under Initiation Phase, the Work Package includes all activities that are carried out before the official start of the project implementation and dedicated solely to administrative and project management. The objective of the Initiation Phase is to ensure a smooth start and implementation of project activities. The Initiation Phase strictly lasts 6 months and thematic and horizontal Work Packages cannot be delivered in parallel. The Initiation Phase part of the Work Package is pre-filled with the different deliverables to be completed during the Initiation Phase:

• D.1.2.1 Initiation Meeting 
• D.1.2.2 Signature of the Subsidy Contract
• D.1.2.3 Set up of the project management team and administrative prerequisites for EU funds reception
• D.1.2.4 European Urban Initiative – Innovative Actions training seminar
• D.1.2.5 Addressing Selection Committee Recommendations and other adjustments
• D.1.2.6 Updated Application Form
• D.1.2.7 Readiness check and ex-ante audit
• D.1.2.8 Project Monitoring Plan
• D.1.2.9 Partnership Agreement signed by all Project Partners[5] and formalised identification of Transfer Partners

Costs for the Work Package Project Preparation and Initiation Phase are covered by two lump sums of EUR 100 000 total eligible costs (corresponding to maximum EUR 80 000 ERDF):

• EUR 25 000 (EUR 20 000 ERDF) – lump sum for the project preparation and
• EUR 75 000 (EUR 60 000 ERDF) – lump sum for the Initiation Phase.

The MUA is the sole recipient and can distribute it between the Partners according to their respective involvement.

The EUI-IA project applicants are requested to describe how the management on the strategic and operational level will be carried out in the project, plan the deliverables for each activity according to time and resources needed for the project coordination and management. The Project Management Work Package presents a set of five predefined activities. One additional activity can be added by the applicant if deemed necessary. 

The predefined activities under this Work Package aim to ensure a sound management and coordination of the project concerning both the overall project management and all aspects linked to the financial management. The Work Package also aims to organise the work between the Partners involved by building a strong collaborative relationship formalised in a Partnership Agreement. The organisation of Partners’ responsibilities should result in the successful implementation of the project as well as in the production and submission of the administrative documents for accounting of expenditure and reporting on the activities implemented. MUA is expected to further develop the below predefined activities with a maximum of three deliverables, considering the following aspects:

• A.2.1 Set Up of the Project Management Structures and Governance framework: describe how you plan to implement the predefined activity defining management structures and roles, the frequency of the meetings and decision-making procedures, a Rules of Procedures for the right functioning of the management structures, a project management plan and the governance of the project.
• A.2.2 Project Coordination and Internal Communication Partnership: describe how you plan to implement the predefined activity defining the coordination mechanisms, the day to day and operational management, communication between all levels within the project, the approach to communicate about the project achievements, progress and delays.
• A.2.3 Project Work Plan Management and Reporting: describe how you plan to implement the predefined activity, reflect the monitoring of the progress and delivery of the Work Packages compared to the initial timeline in Application Form, define the internal reporting of the project’s Thematic Work Packages after the meetings and decisions on any change during the implementation phase.
• A.2.4 Project Financial Management: describe how you plan to implement the predefined activity, how you foresee the financial management of the project and reporting procedures for costs/use of budget versus the Work Plan (activities) delivered, within the Partnership and towards the Permanent Secretariat. Define responsibilities, monitoring of financial data by the MUA, including ERDF transfers, forecast of budget, reporting of expenses incurred and collection/verification of audit trail.
• A.2.5 Procurement and Legal proceedings: describe how you plan to implement the predefined activity, reflect on procurement and identified legal proceedings necessary to implement successfully the project (e.g.: e.g. Environmental Impact Assessment, expropriations, authorisations to build/use a given technology in the public space, etc.) especially if your project brings investments (equipment and/or infrastructure and construction works – please see Chapters 7.2.5 “Equipment” and 7.2.6 “Infrastructure and construction works” for more details).

The proposal should clearly describe who is in charge of the project management, how much personnel and time are devoted to this task (in conjunction with the budget description), as well as how and by whom decisions on the project are made during the project period. It is strongly recommended that the project manager is a full-time employee. It is expected that the project management is carried out by the staff of the MUA. However, delegation (to another Partner) or outsourcing of part of the project management is feasible based on an appropriate justification and provided that the MUA retains the ownership (see Chapter 1.4 “Main features of a successful innovative solution”) and overall responsibility for the project implementation and expenditure. The proposal should clearly describe how this control is guaranteed.

The applicants are requested to describe how the project monitoring and evaluation will be carried out in the project. This Work Package presents a set of four predefined activities to strengthen the project monitoring and evaluation. One additional activity can be added by the applicant if deemed necessary. MUA is expected to further develop the below predefined activities with a maximum of three deliverables, considering the following aspects:

• A.3.1 Monitoring of project performance: this activity shall be focused on the monitoring of project progress and performance based on the monitoring plan that will be consolidated during the Initiation Phase. It includes a systematic collection of information about project activities by monitoring the project’s progress and checking if activities are on track, and deliverables/outputs produced. It starts from day one of project implementation and lasts until the end of the project.
• A.3.2 Establishment of the evaluation framework of the innovative solution:  this activity shall be about the preparation of the groundwork for evaluation, the scoping, piloting and development of research instruments, the definition of data that will be needed and, if relevant, fine tuning of the project result indicators during the first year of implementation.
• A.3.3 Data collection on the implementation/performance of the innovative solution: this activity shall be about collecting data on the innovative solution/main innovation/main project output(s) (quantitative and qualitative data collection). The data collection starts during the testing phase/implementation of the innovative solution and lasts a time that is sufficient to have sound and representative dataset (given the nature of the projects, for some of them a month of data collection could be enough while others may require more time, e.g. 6 months).
• A.3.4 Final evaluation of the innovative solution and reporting on result indicators: this activity includes the analysis and evaluation of the collected data, the final assessment of the proposed innovative solution to measure success against project objectives and expected results, final evaluation factsheets including lessons learned and how to continue the ‘'experiment’' after the project end date, the reporting on the project’s result indicators and the knowledge exchange and meetings/events with EUI Experts. This activity should take place during the last 6 months of the project Implementation phase, once testing of the innovative solution is concluded and implementation of the Thematic Work Packages finalized.

The applicants are requested to describe the communication strategy, related communication and capitalisation activities and how it will contribute to achieving the project’s objectives. This Work Package presents a set of four predefined activities to strengthen the project communication. Two additional activities can be added by the applicant if deemed necessary. The communication objectives for each of the identified target groups (outreach and engagement actions), should be further described indicating cross-references with the Thematic Work Packages where possible to better understand how communication plays a role and supports the implementation of the project core activities. As participation and co-creation should be an important aspect of the project, the communication strategy and related activities should include and consider a wider group of stakeholders (citizens, social and economic stakeholders). MUA is expected to further develop the below predefined activities with a maximum of three deliverables, considering the following aspects:

• A.4.1 Kick off communication activities: this activity includes the organisation and delivery of a kick-off meeting or event and the design of a communication strategy including a monitoring and evaluation of the communication activities.
• A.4.2 Promotional and informational activities: this activity includes the planning and delivery of digital communications, the production of promotional materials and publications; and raising awareness of and to other EU cities about the innovative solution.
• A.4.3 Capitalisation and dissemination activities: this activity includes the delivery of the project’s knowledge dissemination activities as well as the participation and contribution to EUI policy labs and EUI knowledge and capacity building activities during the implementation phase of the project.
• A.4.4 Final closing and dissemination activity: this activity includes the planning and delivery of a final dissemination activity or event on a local level and to a broader audience

The project applicants should make a distinction between internal (management) and external communication, allocate sufficient time and resources to communication activities, and make sure there is one person responsible for communication inside the project.

These Work Packages are the heart of any EUI-IA project. They describe in detail how the proposed innovative solution will be carried out. Activities include the "experimental setup" (e.g.: equipment, infrastructure and works); the demonstration and testing phase; as well as the implementation process. Under each thematic Work Package, Project Partners shall describe the main activities, resources, timetable, the related deliverables and outputs as well as Partners’ roles and responsibilities at activity, deliverable and output levels. While designing the Thematic Work Packages, Project Partners should pay particular attention to describe the different intermediary steps (activities/deliverables) necessary to deliver the proposed outputs.

In the Application Form, projects can create up to maximum four Thematic Work Packages corresponding to the main pillars of the project. A maximum of five activities can be listed under each Thematic Work Package. A maximum of three deliverables can be developed under each activity. Each Work Package must also lead to at least one output. It is strongly advised that projects make optimum use of these Work Packages to ensure good readability of the activities proposed, related costs and distribution of tasks amongst Partners. Applicants should emphasize cross-references between the different Work Packages to ensure a clear and logical coherence in the overall Work Plan.

Regarding investments, applicants can include a number of investment(s) within relevant Thematic Work Packages if needed and properly justified. As a rule, investments shall be foreseen in the EUI-IA projects only to the extent that they are necessary for the achievement of the project's outputs and results. Moreover, an investment is a project output that remains in use by the project’s target group after the completion of the project. Depending on the nature of the innovative solutions proposed, investments should be essential support (infrastructures/equipment) for the related Thematic Work Package or key outputs of the project itself. Investments should be proportionate to the Work Plan and budget and should therefore represent good value for money.

There could be several individual investments, which should be one at a time described and considered as separate outputs. Each description should relate to only one physical investment. An investment description needs to be provided, as well as a justification, the location (and if already known, the exact address of the investment), a list of required documents and permits (i.e.: technical requirements, working permits, etc.), details on the durability and final ownership (for more information about ownership please refer to Chapter 7.5.6 ”Ownership and durability”), as well as a list of related risks are to be presented in Part G “Risk management” of the Application Form.

Please note that implementation of all the activities under Thematic Work Packages ends 6 months before the end of the project Implementation phase (please see Chapter 1.7 “Project phases” for details). As explained, the requirement of ending piloting of the innovative solution prior to the project end date was introduced to allow sufficient time for a proper evaluation of the project implementation and experimented innovative solution, foster transfer activities and further capitalise on the project’s achievements.

Transfer is an immanent component of each EUI-IA project (for more details regarding the logic of embedding transfer activities in the EUI-IA projects, please see Chapter 5 “Transfer”). Its implementation will be realised via a specially dedicated Work Package Transfer. This Work Package consists of the 3 following pre-defined activities and 1 additional activity can be added by the EUI-IA project if deemed necessary:

• A.1 Coordination of the transfer cooperation: this activity includes launching of the transfer cooperation, organisation and coordination of the transfer activities, preparation of the details work plan between all involved Partners, management and communication mechanism between the Partners, etc.
• A.2 Knowledge exchange and peer to peer learning: this activity includes working methods selected to reach transfer objectives (site visits, on-line or off-line workshops/meetings/discussions, peer review activities, and other forms of work and cooperation).
• A.3 Formulation of the framework for the transfer of innovative solution: this activity focuses on Transfer Partners preparation for adapting and replicating followed innovative solution in their own urban contexts (pre-defined outputs: Replication Feasibility and Opportunity Studies – one per Transfer Partner) and preparation of the legacy of the project, in terms of its replicability and transferability, by the MUA and Delivery Partners (pre-defined output: EUI - Innovative Solution Model); for more details regarding both outputs see Chapter 5.

Similarly, to other Work Packages, a maximum of three deliverables can be developed under each activity. This Work Package must also lead to the listed above pre-defined outputs and additional outputs can also be added by the applicant.

At the application stage, proposals should identify other European urban areas that could benefit from replicating the proposed solution: either in view of the favourable conditions for transfer (similar contexts, characteristics) or of increasing their innovation potential. It is expected that the EUI-IA applicant will present a concept and a framework plan on how the implementation of the Transfer Work Package is envisaged; specifying how the most suitable Transfer Partner’s will be identified; and if Transfer Partners have already been identified, what are the main underlying motivations and rationale. All these elements as a whole will be considered when determining project transfer readiness.

At the later stage, once all Transfer Partners have formalised their commitment, a detailed work plan will be prepared jointly[6]. It is expected that Work Package Transfer will be led by the MUA, and MUA can appoint a dedicated Delivery Partner to support implementation and facilitation of the transfer activities. 

Please note that Work Package Transfer must start at the latest 12 months after the project start date and lasts until the end of the Implementation phase (please see Chapter 1.7 “Project phases” for details).

The last Work Package Closure relates to the Administrative Closure phase that lasts 3 months after the end date of the Implementation phase. For the Administrative Closure, a project has 1 month after the end date of the Implementation phase to provide the Permanent Secretariat with the (final) 4th APR and 3 months after the end date of the Implementation phase to provide the FQR and the project final expenditure reported in the (final) FC2. As explain in the Chapter 1.7 “Project phases”, during the Administrative Closure phase, projects are also expected to continue taking part in the knowledge capitalisation and dissemination activities initiated by the Permanent Secretariat (for more details please see Chapter 8 “Project Communication and Capitalisation”).

Costs for the Work Package Closure are covered by a lump sum of EUR 20 000 total eligible costs, corresponding to maximum EUR 16 000 ERDF (even if more activities than originally planned in the Application Form are added).