Own Initiatives

VLIR-UOS finances development co-operation projects that will strengthen the research and education capacity of one or several partner institutions in the South by generating and exchanging knowledge. The projects’ ultimate goal is to reinforce the academic unit(s) in the South at the institutional level.
Own Initiatives projects should be initiated by academics affiliated with a Flemisch university, in close collaboration with one or more academic partners from a developing country. Partner institutions must be located in countries that are on the VLIR list (VLIR-landenlijst 41). However, institutions involved in an IUC programme cannot take part.
Projects receive a maximum budget of € 330,000 for the entire project period (a maximum of 5 years).
Project proposals will be processed in two consecutive rounds:

• first round - March: sending letters of intent to VLIR-UOS;
  the pre-selection of the submitted letters of intent takes place in May;
• second round - September: submitting detailed project proposals;
  the final selection of the submitted proposals takes place in November.

Letters of intent will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• scientific substance;
• relevance for development;
• a clear identification of the problems and project goals;
• feasibility;
• the ability of the applicant and his/her unit to implement the project;
• application of the Project Cycle Management (PCM) method when identifying and describing the project.

In the actual project proposals special attention should be paid to the following items: identification of the partner institution and project description; involvement of the partner institution; relevance of the project for the needs of the partner country and of the partner institution; planning of the project in stages; valorisaton of the project results.
It is important that the letters of intent and the project proposal are drawn up in accordance with the guidelines provided by VLIR-UOS.  More details are available on the VLIR-UOS website.
All letters of intent and project proposals must be submitted to VLIR-UOS through the International Office at K.U.Leuven.
Please get in touch with the university’s International Office well in advance to discuss your project proposal.  Special attention will be paid to budgetary matters and to applying the PCM method.

Deadline

K.U.Leuven internal deadline: 27 March 2009.

Contact: Martine Dekoninck