WORKSHOP ON WINING PROJECTS GRANTS FOR INSTITUTIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

1. WORKSHOP ON WINING PROJECTS GRANTS FOR INSTITUTIONAL COMPETITIVENESS by Dr. Ugbenyen Anthony Moses is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. WORKSHOP ON WINING PROJECTS GRANTS FOR INSTITUTIONAL COMPETITIVENESS Presenter : Dr.Ugbenyen Anthony Moses Ag. Head, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty Of Science , Edo University, Iyamho, Edo State Nigeria

2. OUTLINE • PART I • PROPOSAL WRITING FOR WINNING GRANTS • A-Characteristics/Elements of competitive proposal • B-Introduction to Proposal writing: • What is proposal writing? • Why proposal writing • What are Donors/Evaluators looking for in your proposal? • Common reasons for rejecting your proposal • Wining proposal tips

3. C-Developing Proposal Components : • Proposal Title • Executive Summary • Introduction/Background • Problem Statement • Justification/ Rationale • Goal/Aim • Objectives • Expected Results/Outcome • Geographical coverage • Target population/Target group ad beneficiaries • Logical framework • The Gantt Chart

4. What is proposal writing? • A proposal is a statement or planning document of intent, which shows how a project would be executed. • It is also a request for financial assistance to implement a sequence of activity or a project. • Proposal writing is a science. Proposal writing draw on psychology, organisational behaviour of donors and systems. • “The general purpose of any proposal is to persuade the readers to do something, whether it is to persuade a potential Donor to purchase goods and/or services or to persuade your employer to fund a project or implement a program that you would like to launch”.

5. Why proposal writing? • The major reason why we need to write proposals is to responds to a funding opportunity which is usually a type of call for proposals (CfP) or request for application (RfA). • However a proposal can be written in response to an unsolicited request for proposal. • Donors in general are looking for certain information, key words and concept that fit into their themes and strategic objective.

6. What are Donors/Evaluators looking for in your proposal? • Who is a Donor? • A donor in general is a person or entity who donates something voluntarily particularly money. • An international donor organisation or development agencies which are grant making which provide cash or in-kind resources for specific projects or activities. • Examples of donors are • European Union (EU) • United State agency for international Development (USAID) • Department for International Development (DFID) • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Ford Foundation • Australian Aid

7. Who are proposal evaluators? • Proposal evaluator or assessors are individual that are assigned to assess proposal submitted for funding using a marking schemed or weighted evaluation criteria. • These evaluators or assessors are usually members of a proposal evaluation committee.

8. Types of Information donor want to see from your proposal • What is the problem? • What caused the problem • What are the barriers to fixing the problem? • How will you make things different, will the problem be solved or just improved? • What are the gaps? • How will the program achieve the objectives? • Why this program? • Who will carry out the program? • The people who will handle the program are they capable. • What are the qualifications of staff of your CSO? • Who will benefit? • Where will it be implemented? • What resources do you already have? • Are there match funds? • What type of expertise are you bringing to the table? • What are your past performance reference?

9. Common reasons for rejecting your proposal • Applicant has not manage a large grant • Failure on pre-award assessment. • Applicant does not have adequate financial systems • Inability to show you have the technical capacity • Out of scope • Over budget or out of funding range • Ineligibility • Noncompliance to guidelines and procedures • Failure to mention the donor in the proposal • Failure to show clearly how ones proposal fits into donor’s goals and objectives • Bad previous past performance (Donors talk to each other) • No management plan

10. Wining proposal tips • Using the evaluation criteria as an outline • Setting ‘go or no go tools’ • Intelligence gathering, forecasting, tracking donor opportunities and positioning yourself to win • Understanding current donor stategyi.e thinking • Hiring experts (one uses money to get money) • Presentation style: cover page (Pictures) • Supporting document (relevant letter of support) • Counterpart funding/Match funding • Use of relevant buzz words, current catch phrases and technical terminologies • Understanding funding cycles, pipeline and allocations • Avoid poor formatting • Using donors language • Using logical framework ( setting logical sequnces of goals, objectives, activities, performance indicators, outputs and assumptions • Using Gantt Chart- logical sequence and order of events for implementation • Linking objectives- Activities-indicators-cost (budget)

11. Developing Proposal Components • Proposal component are the different sections within a proposal that provide specific information that respond to a particular heading. • Proposal components are standard and relatively the same for most donors, however there may be slight variation from donor to donor. • The variations are usually that some donors call the same proposal component by different names i.e justification/rationale or problem of statement/ problem to be addressed, target group/target population/beneficiaries etc. • However, most donor are looking for the same information.

12. Source: wikipedia

13. Proposal Title • A proposal title is a name given to a proposal. A proposal title need to be brief, sharp, and attractive and should be one that hit the point of what the proposal is about. • Proposal title is as important as the proposal itself and even more important since it will give the donor the first impression about the content of the proposal. • A proposal title must contains ‘buzz words’ or ‘key words’ relevant to the donors.

14. Executive Summary • An executive summary is a short usually ½ to 1 page narrative that summarises, the full content of the proposal . • Introduction • An introduction is usually the first paragraph in a written proposal. • The introduction to a proposal is a very important section, in that it sets the expectations of the donor and/or the proposal evaluator.

15. While there is no one formula for a good introduction, in general, a strong introduction should accomplish the following: • Attract the reader’s attention. (use interesting anecdotes, prick the reader’s curiosity, apt quotations, provocative questions, or statement) • Tell the reader explicitly what the proposal is about • Establish the significance of your point to the reader • Not be too long • Not start with a grand generalization

16. Problem Statement • Problem statement is a clear concise description of the issues that need to be addressed. • A problem statement should explain the problem we are trying to solve. • A good problem statement should answer the following questions: What? How? Where? When? Why? And Who?. • It should define the scope e.g. National or specific communities.

17. Justification/Rationale • A Justification/Rationale is a statement that provides more information to support why the proposed activity is important. • Justification and Rationale is a similar term. Justification is the term used more in development, while rationale is used more in research proposals. • The best practice is for ones Justification/Rationale to give further explanation as to why the proposed activity is worth funding.

18. Goals/Aims • Goals should be stated first and should be general. • Goals describe future expected outcomes or states and they focus on ends rather than means. • Objectives • Objectives are clear, realistic, specific, measurable, and time-bound, statement of action which when completed will move towards achieving the goal achievement. • Objectives tell how to meet a goal.

19. Expected Results/Outcome • The end product of the proposed activity. Will it lead to patenting of a new product/service? Will results leads to generation of publications in journals? Who will the research benefit? • The Gantt Chart • A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart or table that illustrates a project schedule. • Gantt chart illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary element of a project.

20. WORKSHOP ON WINING PROJECTS GRANTS FOR INSTITUTIONAL COMPETITIVENESS by Dr. Ugbenyen Anthony Moses is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. THANK YOU ALL FOR LISTENING