Group training - Orange Knowledge Programme

There is Orange Knowledge Programme funding for 3 types of group training:

• Tailor-Made Training (TMT): customised group training courses with a maximum budget of € 75,000 for a maximum of 12 months, for all countries in the Orange Knowledge Programme.
• Tailor-Made Training Plus (TMT Plus): customised group training courses with a maximum budget of € 200,000 and a maximum end date of 31 August 2024.
• Refresher courses: these courses are only for previous graduates from the Orange Knowledge Programme or its predecessors. Like TMT, they are for all countries in the programme, the maximum budget is € 75,000 and the maximum duration is 12 months.

The grant includes training development and implementation costs as well as participants related costs.

Difference between TMT and TMT Plus

In comparison to a regular tailor-made training, the following elements apply to TMT Plus:

• stronger emphasis on sustainable embedding of results in organisations and within the sector
• more focus on training development and implementation costs as well as participants related costs involving local/regional consortium partners
• due to the larger budget, there is more room for innovative approaches such as living labs, study visits and short internships
• possibility to include investments of up to 10% of the OKP subsidy amount in the budget

Whether or not you can get funding for your training request depends on:

1. the candidates to participate in the training;
2. the focus of the training;
3. the type of organisation submitting the proposal.

We have listed the criteria for all of these below.

Training candidates

You can apply for funding for group training if your course focuses on groups of candidates who:

• work at national and/or local organisations such as ministries, secondary vocational or TVET institutions, universities, private sector organisations, commissions or NGOs;
• are a national or resident of and work in one of the partner countries in the programme;
• are in a position to use the knowledge of the course in practice.

Candidates don’t all have to work for the same organisation, but should have a common training need.

Focus areas of training

For each Orange Knowledge Programme country there are specific focus areas. Only proposals in the focus areas of the specific country are eligible for funding. The more a proposal is aligned with the country focus, the greater the chance that your proposal is accepted. In addition, a training proposal should build on results from the current Orange Knowledge Programme.

Please note: for some countries there is a minimum of co-funding that the requesting organisation has to pay. This is a percentage of the training budget. You can find the exact percentages per country in the country focus document:

Country focus Orange Knowledge Programme‌ (269.89 kB) (to be updated)

Thème prioritaire et focus des pays Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) (140.29 kB) (to be updated)

The more the proposal is aligned with the country focus, the greater the chance that your proposal is accepted.

Type of organisation

A Dutch training provider and a group with a common training need from a partner country can submit a joint proposal for funding.

The Dutch training provider should be a Dutch vocational or higher education institution, or a training organisation that:

• will give the training themselves: an intermediary agency cannot apply for funding and is not allowed to give the training;
• has a proven track record of training provided in the focus area;
• has sufficient organisational and financial capacity, as proven in a COCA form that has been approved by us:

Checklist Organisational Capacity Assessment (COCA) group training Orange Knowledge (95.59 kB)

An approved COCA is valid for a maximum of 1 year and can be used for different applications. You don’t need to fill in a new COCA form for a new proposal if you still have a valid COCA form.

You can submit a completed COCA form throughout the year. We encourage you to submit the form well ahead of any application deadline.

Submit your COCA form by email to okp@nuffic.nl referring to 'COCA'.

If you are in one of the Orange Knowledge partner countries and you have a training need that meets the above criteria, you need a Dutch training partner to submit a proposal together. Here are some tips to find a partner:

• Check the Country Plan of Implementation for your country to see what the focus is in your country and if your training need fits one of these focus areas. If so, check the overview of current open calls for group training.
• Check our Studyfinder database to see a list of programmes offered by Dutch education institutions that are involved in the Orange Knowledge programme. You can contact one of these institutions to see if they are interested in group training.
• You can also contact the Dutch embassy in your country to ask for information on Dutch organisations that are already active in your country.

Still not found a good partner?

If you are having trouble finding a partner, send your request to our Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, so we can share it on social media. Please tell us:

• the country you are from;
• that you are looking for a partner for group training;
• what the specific training need is.

You can only apply for funding for group training if there is an open call for the specific type of training. If there is a call for the type of group training you are interested in, you need to follow the process below.

Step 1

You need to submit your application, with the necessary attachments, through our Delta application system. The link varies per open call. You can find formats for all the documents on the call page as well. Never used Delta? You can find guidelines in this manual:

Delta user manual - Orange Knowledge Programme‌ (384.94 kB)

Step 2

After you have submitted your application we check if it is complete, meets the basic criteria listed above and that no information is missing. This normally takes 1 week.

Step 3

The Dutch embassy in the country where the training would take place assesses the application.

They score all proposals for their country based on local context. This normally takes 2 weeks.

Step 4

The embassies send us their assessment. We then review the proposals ourselves. This takes about 3 weeks.

Step 5

We strive to award at least 1 TMT and 1 TMT+ for each country. The selection takes place in the following steps:

1. The assessments lead to a ranking of proposals per call per country;
2. From the eligible applications, all highest scoring applications per country per call will be selected;
3. If after that budget for a call remains, the then highest scoring applications (of all countries combined) will be selected, unless the training provider is already selected for that country and that call. In that case the next highest scoring application will be selected.

In case there are several highest scoring proposals with the same score (in step 2 or 3), the proposal with an underrepresented main priority theme of the OKP programme will be selected.

This takes 2 weeks.

Step 6

The grant is awarded to the Dutch training provider about 2 months after the deadline of the open call.

Once you have accepted the grant you are committed to delivering the training and reporting on its progress and outcomes. To help you, we have gathered all information you need to close an OKP training and submit your report.

How to submit a report

Budget Neutral Extension Requests

For TMT and TMT+ initiatives awarded in 2023 budget neutral extensions are not possible.

For previously awarded RC initiatives, a BNE can be requested with this format:

Format for a request for a Budget Neutral Extension for Group Training (64.12 kB)

When we implement our programme, we acknowledge our Code of Conduct. In our Code of Conduct we describe how we put our mission and values into practice every day. We explain the professional and ethical behaviour that is expected from all of us and those who handle OKP group training.

Read our Code of Conduct

We encourage you to promote your Orange Knowledge training! We have defined some communication guidelines to assist you:

Communication material Orange Knowledge Programme

We would love to hear your success stories so please share them on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn!

Questions?

Please contact us via email: tmt@nuffic.nl or call +31 70 4260 260.

Results from training

If you would like to know which types of training requests have been funded by Orange Knowledge grants, download the overview below:

Granted group trainings - overview - Orange Knowledge Programme 2018-2020 (611.98 kB)

Granted TMT Group Trainings - Orange Knowledge Programme 2021 (94.83 kB)

Granted TMT Group Trainings - Orange Knowledge Programme 2023 (194.15 kB)

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