In principle, each progress report covers a reporting period of six months.

The start and end date for each reporting period are being indicated in the progress report template in Portal.

Only the first and last reports cover a period that is slightly longer: 

• The first progress report covers the period from the date the project is approved by the monitoring committee to the end of the first six months of activities
• The final report covers a nine-month period (six months of implementation + three months of closure).

The progress report needs to be submitted to the programme three months after the end of the reporting period, except for the last progress report which must be submitted by the end date of the project.

The dates of the reporting periods are set by the programme.

The reporting procedure for projects is as follows:

1. Each project partner (including the lead partner) compiles and submits the partner report to a controller within two weeks after the end of the reporting period. The partner’s financial report in the Portal must include:

• The list of expenditure (incl. the list of contracts)
• The control certificate
• The control report (including control checklist).

2. The lead partner includes all the partner reports that have been confirmed by a controller in the joint progress report. Based on the information on the activities carried out, the lead partner also compiles the joint progress report.

3. The lead partner submits the joint progress report to the joint secretariat. By doing so, the lead partner confirms that:

• the information provided by partners is accurately reflected in the joint progress report
• the costs included result from implementing the project as planned and as set out in the application form and described in the progress report.

4. The joint secretariat checks the report and, if necessary, sends clarification requests to the lead partner. Once all points have been clarified, the progress report can be approved

5. The accounting body makes the payment of the Interreg Fund to the lead partner

6. The lead partner transfers the funds to the partners after receipt of the payment within the timeframe agreed in the partnership agreement in line with the amounts stated in the progress report.

The programme uses an online reporting system (Portal).

The lead partner of the project must grant to each partner access to this Portal.

Each partner will then have access to the Portal using an individual username and password.

In the Portal, each partner must create, fill in and submit its individual partner report to the controller.

Controllers are granted access to the Portal by the control body or the approbation body, depending on the control system applying in the country.

For further information about the control systems, please see the country specific info section of our website.

Interregional events refer to exchange of experience meetings involving at least two partner regions (e.g., workshops, seminars, study trips, staff exchanges, peer reviews).

Back-to-back meetings (e.g., study visit following a seminar organised by the same partner at the same place) should be counted as one event.

This indicator does not include:

• local / regional events such as stakeholder group meetings
• public relations events aimed at disseminating project information and results.

Among result indicators, projects can report the number of policy instruments improved thanks to the projects.

Policy improvements are validated only when sufficient evidence is provided that the following conditions are met:

• The improvement of the instrument has taken place (intention is not enough)
• The nature of the improvement is clearly specified
• The improvement can be attributed at least in part to the activities and knowledge generated by the project.

This indicator is expressed as a percentage by comparing the total number of policy instruments ultimately improved to the total number of policy instruments addressed by the project.

The midterm review meeting between the joint secretariat and the lead partner takes place during the fourth semester of project activities (i.e., second semester of year 2 of implementation).

It offers an opportunity for the programme to obtain a more detailed picture of the project’s performance beyond the information provided in the progress reports.

The core objective of the midterm review is to check on progress towards the project objectives and prepare the ground for the second half of the project (including the follow-up phase).

This review will primarily look at the following parameters:

• The state of play of the project in relation to policy improvement in each participating region
• The project’s spending rate - Whether or not the project is requesting a pilot action (see also section 3.2.1 for the detailed procedure).

For projects accumulating significant underspending, their ability to spend the total budget by the end of the project will be reassessed.

This indicator captures the number of organisations whose professional capacity has increased thanks to their participation in the project’s activities.

At the application stage, projects need to estimate the target value for this indicator.

The ‘achieved value’ for this indicator is reported only once in the project’s lifetime, in the final progress report. It is derived from a dedicated survey. The relevant survey template is provided in Appendix 02 ‘Performance framework’.

Through its question 3, the survey also specifies how an organisation can demonstrate that it has increased its capacity thanks to the project. This survey should be launched in the last semester of the project and sent to all organisations actively involved.

Only organisations able to convincingly justify their increased capacity (e.g., through using new knowledge, adopting new tools, changing their internal structure) should be counted under this indicator.

It is the partners’ responsibility to check and validate the answers provided to the survey.

The list of organisations with increased capacity should be provided to the programme as evidence for the achieved value reported in the final progress report.

In order to monitor project implementation and as a condition for the Interreg Fund reimbursement, a progress report must be submitted periodically to the programme.

There are two reasons for reporting on your project progress:

1. To follow the project activities and results;
2. To demonstrate the project's and the programme's success and usefulness.

The programme uses an online reporting system which is accessible in the Portal.

The lead partner compiles the progress report, composed by

• the partner reports (financial report),
• partners’ policy reports (reports on activities and results),
• and a summary of project activities.

The lead partner submits the progress report to the Joint Secretariat through Portal. It is due three months after the end of the reporting period.