Support and strengthening of bilateral relations between the Czech Republic and the Donor states (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) is one of the two main objectives of the EEA and Norway Grants. The aim is establishing, respectively increasing the level of cooperation between the institutions as well as facilitating the exchange of knowledge and sharing best experience in areas of common interest.

As the Czech Republic and the Donor states face similar challenges in the area of public health, the establishment of bilateral partnerships in the Health Programme is strongly accentuated and supported. Preference will be given applications that respond to the bilateral concern of the Programme, e.g. in the form of additional points for applications having a partner from a Donor state.

The main activities of the programme aimed at supporting the search for suitable partners from the Donor states, the establishment and development of bilateral cooperation include:

• Contact seminar for potential project promoters from the Czech Republic and potential donor project partners

The aim of the contact seminar is to connect potential grant applicants from the Czech Republic with organizations from the Donor states and to inform about the possibilities of bilateral cooperation. The seminar was held in mid-January 2019 in Prague. Seminar materials are available online.

• Open call for submitting grant applications for the implementation of bilateral initiatives

The objective of the call is to support search for partners for donor partnership projects, development of bilateral partnerships and joint preparation of an application for a donor partnership project.

In case you seek recommendation for a potential project partner from Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, you can follow up with the contacts below:

contact points

Norway	The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Donor Programme Partner) Ms Solfrid Johansen	Solfrid.Johansen@fhi.no
	The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Prague Ms Helena Ganická	Helena.Ganicka@mfa.no
Iceland	The Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) Ms Aðalheidur Jónsdóttir	adalheidur.jonsdottir@rannis.is
	NORTH Consulting ehf Ms Maria Kristin Gylfadottir	maria@northconsulting.is

In order to support smooth preparation of project partnerships, brochure including basic recommendations was prepared by the Programme Operator following the contact seminar.

While searching for and contacting a potential project partner, it is recommended to:

• Avoid sending a very general partnership requests (it is recommended to use a form while contacting potential partner organizations)
• Have a good description of own activities and the area of expertise
• Contact similar or complementary organization
• Have clear expectations from the partnership

Before submission of the project application or as soon as possible after the start of the project, it is recommended to schedule a partner meeting. As part of the project application it will be necessary to submit Declaration of Partnership. In case of approved project, the successful applicant will be asked to submit Partnership Agreement.