It was in September 2019 when the EU-CORD development group, then called ‘Collaborations for Resourcing’ decided at a meeting at Konstanz in Germany that a Unique Selling Points Brochure should be produced to include as many written USPs as members were willing to prepare. A template with the basic questions to answer was provided and in the following months most members drafted and submitted their USPs to the Secretariat for the issue of the first Members 2019 USP Brochure.
During the Konstanz meeting, a ‘market place’ session had been held where delegates showed a flip chart noting the key points of their organisation and inviting discussion. This event led to discussion about how EU-CORD functions, not just getting to know one another and making friends but getting to know one another’s organisations too.
The USP Brochure idea was proposed as an easy reference guide to see what strengths members offer where collaborations could potentially be developed. The brochure also contributes to help build an informed understanding of members’ capacities, to foster a greater appreciation of the donor links that members have developed, and to bring about greater understanding of geographic presence and thematic expertise. This is important in a framework in which relationships and partnering awareness are built up long before funding of consortia can happen.
The intentions in 2022 are unchanged but the USPs needed to be updated. Thus, in February we asked members to submit their update or their very first contribution to the USPs brochure. Either by following the template with basic questions or by drafting a more original contribution, members provided information on their objectives, geographical spread and expertise in programming, budget figures and donors, and added values of their work.
While this first version of the brochure for 2022 includes the contributions of 17 organisations, other members committed to send their updates in the next months. Thus, once we have an updated version the brochure will be reissued accordingly.
We hope you find the USP Brochure informative to learn more about the work of EU-CORD members.
