European funding available for interesting development projects

Yeah, it can be complicated. It's designed to cope with a large number of submissions, ensure quality and limit public spending to the best ideas. Besides making it easier for the reviewers they're forcing you to really think about your idea and prove its viability. It's almost completely different than public contracts.

Your friend's anecdote, provided he isn't a fundraiser, tells us more about that NGO and/or the sector in that country.