Application guidance notes GCRF Africa Catalyst Index Introduction Eligibility criteria Submission deadline Monitoring How to apply Assessment of applications Contact Introduction In September 2016, the Academy launched this capacity-building programme under its remit as a delivery partner for the Global Challenges Research Fund. The Academy supported a wide range of short pilot projects running from mid- December 2016 until June/July 2017 and appointed an external consultant to do a midterm evaluation of those interventions. Lessons learned from this evaluation, combined with suggestions from an independent consultant on programme design and input from relevant stakeholders has helped shape phase 2 of the programme. The aim of GCRF Africa Catalyst is to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-saharan Africa so that they can effectively promote the profession, share best practise and increase local engineering capacity, to help drive development. This is to be supported by high quality research focusing on expanding the evidence base for the importance of robust engineering institutions and the role they play in delivering sustainable growth, and mapping engineering capacity and diversity in the countries where grant funding has been administered. The Academy will allocate funding under two closely connected programme areas, both promoting collaboration between countries in sub-saharan Africa and the UK. In addition, the Academy is encouraging further collaborations, both locally, regionally and internationally. Should you wish to have introductions made or support in any other way to help set up partnerships, the Academy is more than happy to help you with this. - The first programme area consists of grants for capacity building which are open to professional engineering bodies, including registered not-for-profit federations, organisations, institutions and associations based in sub- Saharan Africa*, working in collaboration with a UK partner. The call for grant proposals is open 17 July - 23 October 2017. - The second programme area is focused on research, and will be an open tender for universities and leading researchers, working in collaboration with researchers and professional engineering bodies in programme-relevant countries in sub-saharan Africa. The invitation to tender will be published in August 2017.
*For the purposes of the programme, the Academy considers the following 49 countries to be part of sub-saharan Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Programme Objectives In addition to the below objectives, a cross-cutting objective is diversity. It is a requirement for applicants who do not have a gender equality or diversity policy to include the development of such a policy in their project proposal and the Academy does encourage diversity and inclusion to be considered in the project design. Objective 1: To create strong professional engineering bodies in the countries where grant funding is being administered. A strong professional body is effective, self-sustainable, transparent and provides services to its members. It has good governance, leadership, financial management, and policies and systems in place. The Academy is also looking to support professional engineering bodies working to meet international standards of engineering education and accreditation. Objective 2: To identify how professional engineering bodies can best promote the profession and better understand the current engineering landscape in the benefitting countries. The Academy is expecting the leading researcher to work with professional engineering bodies and other relevant stakeholders - in countries where grants are provided through this scheme - to map the current engineering landscape, explore which interventions are having the greatest benefit, and build on existing research to evidence the role robust professional engineering bodies can play in driving social and economic national development. The Academy is envisaging the grant funded projects to focus on Objective 1 but would also expect successful applicants to support the researchers by sharing reports and responding to ad hoc requests. The remainder of this guidance note focuses on the first programme area: grants for capacity building. Page 2 of 11
Eligibility criteria The lead applicants should ensure that: They are a not-for-profit organisation based in one of the above listed sub- Saharan African countries working in partnership with at least one UK based organisation. The application is complete and all relevant documentation is submitted. Incomplete applications will not be considered. The proposed project aligns with the programme objective. The project length and budget is within one of following bands: Size Total budget Project length Small 30,000-70,000 A maximum of 12 months Medium 80,000-160,000 A maximum of 24 months Large up to 300,000 A maximum of 36 months In this round of proposals, we expect to fund approximately two grants within each band. Please contact Louise Olofsson if you have any question regarding your eligibility. Submission deadline The deadline for applications is 4.00 pm GMT Monday 23 October 2017. Any incomplete applications, or applications received after this date, will not be considered. Monitoring The Academy has a requirement of close communication, should your application be successful. We would expect you to inform us via email should any unexpected challenges occur and we would expect to receive brief monthly updates. In addition, the Academy has three forms which would need to be filled in through our online grant system: Initiation report A brief report to confirm that the project started and is continuing as originally envisaged. Reports This is a more detailed form, where you should fill in progress against your indicators and provide a financial report each quarter. The payments are dependent on the submission of satisfactory reports. The template will be shared with successful applicants together with reporting guidance notes at the start of the project. Final report This form is very similar to the mid-term report, but includes more space for reflection of results. The Academy is looking to provide training in monitoring, evaluation and learning which successful applicants will be required to attend. Page 3 of 11
Notification of outcome All applicants should be prepared to respond to further questions between 24 October and 20 November and will be notified of the outcome of their application by latest 24 November 2017. We expect all successful applicants to sign and return their contracts and submit the brief initial report by the 1 December 2017. How to apply Applications can only be submitted by an organisation based in sub- Saharan Africa. Applications received from a UK partner as a lead applicant will not be considered for the grant proposals. However, all partners are able to support or co-write the application. All applications must be submitted via the Academy s online application system (https://grants.raeng.org.uk). The author must first register with the system and provide some basic log-in details to create a profile. The application form has seven sections and should take approximately one to two hours to complete, assuming you have answered the questions offline and merely need to enter the information, rather than compose it. The guidance notes below are more detailed so we recommend you keep this document to hand. The Academy will be hosting a webinar in September 2017, giving more in-depth guidance on developing some of the project management tools asked for in the application form. The date for this webinar will be published on the website once confirmed. Everyone who has started an application will also receive an email. It is not required to attend this webinar, but we strongly recommend that you do. The primary purpose of this application form is to identify whether the applicant has a project plan suitable to the aims of the scheme. You will have the option to download a pdf of your application after submission, which may be useful for future reference. If you have any questions concerning the application or the online application system, please contact Louise Olofsson. Completing the application form After logging in to the online system and selecting the scheme GCRF Africa Catalyst you should be presented with the Instructions screen. Here you will see some general instructions on how to use the system as well as the following list of the seven sections of the application form: 1. Contact details 2. Organisational information 3. Partnerships 4. Project details 5. Results 6. Finance 7. Declaration Page 4 of 11
At any stage in the application process you can save your progress and return to the application at a later time. You can answer the questions in any order you like so it is possible to skip some sections and return later. It is therefore advised to view the application early on for an indication of what is required, and you should also ensure that you have all the necessary documentation at hand when you start completing the application. Please note: Lead applicants can only submit one application. Co-applicants can support more than one application, and lead applicants can also be the partner on a different project. Please see the text in orange for explanations and additional information regarding the online application form and please do not hesitate to contact us should you need any further clarifications or have any questions. 1. Contact details Please provide contact details and job title of the person responsible for the application, and for a second contact at the organisation who will know the project well, and can take over responsibility when the main contact is absent. We ask for job titles, which is referring to the title within the organisation you are applying under. Please also provide basic information about the lead organisation, which should be based in sub-saharan Africa. 2. Organisational information This section is focused on the lead organisation, asking questions for due diligence purposes as well as for the Academy to better understand your previous experience and capacity. Q Date your organisation was established: This should be the date you were set up, and does not have to relate to the registration date. Q If you are a registered body, please upload your registration documents: Please not that this is not required, however, if you do have any registration documents the Academy does encourage you to upload those. Q Date of current financial year end: Please state when the last day of your fiscal year is for example 31 March in the UK. Q Provide the figures for your organisation s most recent full financial year: In your latest closed accounts, what was the income and expenditure? Q Please upload your latest annual accounts. This should be the latest closed accounts, so either for 2016, or for 2015/16 depending on when your last fiscal year ended. Q Staffing: Paid staff (FTE) Volunteers (FTE) This is split into paid staff and volunteers, and is relating to Full Time Equivalent (FTE). It means that if you have 2 staff members working 50% for your organisation, you have 1 FTE. Unpaid interns should be included in the volunteers section. Page 5 of 11
Q Please upload an organisational chart. This can be uploaded in any format, as long as it is showing all current positions within your organisation. Q If your organisation has a diversity and inclusion policy (or similar), please upload this here. This question is not mandatory, and we expect that not all applicants will have a policy on diversity/equality/inclusion. If you do not, please include the development of such a policy in your project plan. Q What is the vision and mission of your organisation? (200 words max) Use this question to describe what your organisation does, and what it was set up to achieve. Q What is your organisations experience, relevant to this project? (400 words max) Please tell us about previous projects or activities that your organisation has participated in that are relevant to the proposed project, including when they were carried out. If staff who will be working on the project have other relevant experience, please also mention this. Q How will your organisations capacity be strengthened as a result of this work? (300 words max) Details on specific project activities will be given under the project details, but please use this question to describe if the outcomes of the project will contribute to strengthening your organisation. 3. Partnerships This is an opportunity for you to tell the Academy about any partners you will be working with. Q Partnerships: The Academy expects you to work in partnership with at least one UK based partner, but also recommend collaborating with other local, regional and international organisations. Please outline who you will be partnering with and what their relevant experience is. (400 words max) Q Roles and responsibilities: It is important that there is a clear understanding on who does what. Please tell us what the role and responsibility of each partner is. (400 words max) Q Letter of commitment: Please upload a letter of commitment, signed on headed paper by your UK partner. (1-page max) In this letter, the UK partner should confirm that they have agreed to partner with your organisation in the manner described above, and it needs to clearly show that they are aware of any other partners, as well as what the roles and responsibilities for each organisation is. 4. Project details Here you will provide the main summary details for the application, covering the project length, location/s, a project summary, rationale, planned activities and a risk register. Page 6 of 11
Q Project name: (20 words max) This should be as short as possible, and if successful, will be used on all communications. Please ensure that it is as short as possible, yet descriptive. Q Project start date: The Academy expect all projects to start by the latest end of January 2018. Q Project end date: Please make sure that the project length fits the size of the grant, according to one of the three grant sizes listed above. Q Project location/s: (100 words max) If your project is focused in specific areas, please state those. If it is nationwide, please state the country. If you will work across countries or invite organisations from other countries to attend conference for example, please mention this. Q Project summary: Please provide a summary of the project including overall goal and details on how the project fits the objectives of GCRF Africa Catalyst and the overall GCRF strategy. (600 words max) This is an opportunity to tell the Academy what the aim of your project is and a short description of the project. It is important that you describe how this fits the objectives of GCRF Africa Catalyst and the overall GCRF strategy. Q ODA Eligibility: Please outline how your project fits the criteria for ODA funding. For more information on what Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is, please look at the guidelines. Q Rationale: Please provide background and justification for your project, including information on if there has been any stakeholder engagement in the project design and identification of similar activities being carried out in the area. (600 words max) Describe how you identified the need for your project and why you have chosen to address the need in the way described in this application. As mentioned in the question, it is also important to show if you have consulted with other stakeholders, such as potential beneficiaries, the government or other organisations. Q Activities: Please list all activities that are planned under this project and clearly outline how they will contribute towards the project objectives. (500 words max) This is a more in depth explanation of activities you plan to undertake to achieve the intended objectives and describe how those activities will lead to the change. Q Please upload a project Gantt chart. While the Academy does not provide a template for this the final, uploaded version should be a pdf or an excel file. A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, listing each activity you plan to undertake during the project, and shows when you are planning to carry them out. It can also be useful to add a column, stating who the owner of the activity is. The more detailed this is, the better. Please see an example below (NB! We would expect more details!). Page 7 of 11
EXAMPLE Activity Marketing Management meetings Training course System review Conference Final Evaluation 2018 2019 Notes Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Project Manager Steering group Led by X To be carried out by UK partner Hosted in X External evaluator Q Please upload a project risk register. A risk register is a living document, so this is likely to change during the project lifetime. It is however important that you submit a pre-project risk register, showing the potential risks, the likelihood and consequences of those and what will be done to mitigate the risks. A risk register is presented as a grid, please see an example below. RISK DESCRIPTION IMPACT ANALYSIS Mitigation Significance Likelihood Score Risk A H L L Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk B M L L Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk C M L L Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk D H L M Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk E M M M Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk F M M M Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk G M H M Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. Risk H L L L Description on how you will minimize the likelihood of this risk. 5. Results This section is really important as it will provide a blueprint for both the Academy and yourself on how to measure progress, and to show success, challenges and sustainability of the project, or project impacts. Q Please upload a completed log frame, using the template provided from the Academy. Download the template of the log frame from the website. All text in italics should be changed to suit your project. The first column has headings on each row. You should list the project impact, outcomes, outputs, activities and inputs here. IMPACT This is the long term goal of your project. OUTCOMES This is change that will happen as a result of project outputs. OUTPUTS This is things that happens as a direct result of project activities. ACTIVITIES This is the key activities delivered through the project. INPUTS This is things that are needed to deliver the project activities. The other columns only have headings on the top row. On each row below that, please bullet point relevant information. INDICATORS This explains what you will measure to ensure that the input, activity, output, outcome or impact has happened. It is good if they are quantitative as that is usually easier to measure, but certain change is qualitative and that is fully acceptable. The indicators should be determined to suit the project, but a few examples are listed below. Page 8 of 11
# Members (slit by type of membership and gender) # Staff members % increase in income Services provided to members Existing policies MEANS OF VERIFICATION How will you collect information to establish the indicators? BASELINE Have you got the figures for the indicators already? If so, please change the date to when those where collected and list the data. If not, please provide the date when you will collect the baseline data (this should be at the beginning of the project). This will allow us to track the change your project is making. MILESTONES Change the date to when you will collect the data for the milestones, and what your target for those dates are. TARGET Change the date for the target to the end of your project, and fill out the target for your indicators. ASSUMPTIONS Please list any critical assumptions for your indicators. Q Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL): How will you and your partner(s) gather and use information to monitor, evaluate and learn during and after the project? Please tell us about how you are planning to share lessons learnt and with whom. (700 words max) The log frame is a tool to help you plan your project monitoring. Please use this text to describe your log frame in a narrative, but also to tell the academy if you are planning any evaluations, how you will integrate lessons learnt, if you will share those lessons with anyone and if so, who they are and why. Q Sustainability: Will the change brought about by the project be long lasting? What is the plan for the project once funding from the Academy ends? (500 words max) Please explain if the impact of the project will continue past the project lifetime, and if so how? Will the project activities continue once the funding from the Academy ends or is the project then completed? If it will continue, please describe how the activities will be funded (have you secured other funding, will it be selfsustainable or will it be handed over to someone else?)? If the project is completed, will it be replicated elsewhere? If so, how? 6. Finance Q Total grant funding requested ( ): Please state the total amount of funding requested. Do check that your funding amount fits the project length above. Q Budget: Please upload a budget, using the budget template provided on our website. The budget template is split into revenue costs and capital costs. Whilst the Academy do fund capital costs, any such purchases should be justified and clearly needed for the project implementation. Page 9 of 11
Please note that the budget should be submitted to the Academy in British Pound Sterling (GBP). We do accept budget lines for bank charges, but those should be justified and it should be described in the notes section how they have been calculated. The budget template is for 3 years, so if your project is shorter than this, please delete unnecessary columns. For projects over 6 months, a budget line for inflation is accepted, but again, a description of the calculation for this is needed. It is important that your budget is activity based, meaning that each budget line should be broken down in as much detail as possible. Feel free to add headings and additional rows. An example of a heading could be Selection of participants and then list for example paper, pens, venue, chair hire, etc. (essentially anything you will need for this activity) on one row each. It is important that your figures are realistic and based on real quotes. If you have a finance department, please ask them to double check your budget before submitting this. Q How have you considered value for money in your project design? (400 words max) Value for money is not always about getting the cheapest option, but about using resources well. Please outline what you have done to address this in your project proposal. 7. Declaration In this section has to be signed by the lead applicant, showing that you understand that you will have to sign a contract, confirm that the information is correct, that you agree to work with the Academy to mitigate fraud and that you agree that your application will be shared with external assessors. Assessment of applications Applicants will be evaluated by a specially-convened panel with expertise spanning the breadth of engineering, professional institutes or international development. Each application will be assessed by a minimum of two panel members. Applications should be understandable to the non-specialist engineer. The panel will rank the applications from 1-7, and carry out the final selection of successful proposals. All applications will be assessed against the following judging criteria: Does the organisation have suitable capacity and experience to carry out the project? Did they receive funding in the pilot stage and if so, did they deliver the project and report in a satisfactory manner? Does the proposal align with the objectives of the scheme, is it eligible for ODA funding and is it addressing at least one of the SDGs? Is the project benefitting more than one country? Are the partnerships suitable and sensible? Are suggested activities achievable, sensible and have a realistic pathway to change? Is all accompanying documentation clear and matches the project proposal? Has the project design been piloted? Value for money. Page 10 of 11
Sustainability. Diversity. Quality of monitoring and evaluation plan. The application and award process: Scheme launch 17 July 2017 Creating Partnerships Project Design Fill in & submit application Reviewers going through all applications Opportunity to provide more information 24 October - 20 November Panel meeting Information on outcome 24 November Signing of contracts & submission of initial report Initial grant payment Contact If you have any queries please contact the GCRF Programme Manager, Louise Olofsson, at louise.olofsson@raeng.org.uk or call +44 (0) 207 766 0680. Page 11 of 11