Once submitted, each application is subject to a two-step selection procedure led by the Joint Secretariat. Project proposals are first checked against the eligibility criteria in order to ensure that they fulfil the programme’s administrative requirements. Only proposals that comply with the eligibility criteria step go on to the second step. The second step of the selection procedure is the quality assessment. This involves checking the application form against five criteria. It is based on a scoring system, resulting in a ranked list of all eligible applications. The monitoring committee will usually meet within eight months after the end of each call to approve projects.