How to make effective funding applications: EPEC leads the way : Despite the many opportunities for EU-funded projects available to new EU members such as Poland and Lithuania, take-up has often been inhibited through lack of know-how at the level of completing application forms effectively. EPEC is a project that has researched just what skills are needed, identified the target groups and developed a training programme to fill this need. The fact that other countries are now requesting the training is a testimony to its success. This project started in 2000 and lasted 33 months.