International grants faq

Why have you chosen to identify the four priority areas of education, health, natural resources and human rights?

The priorities set by the UK Committee were informed by a review of the programme, research into current development priorities and approaches and through market research and consultation with the Voluntary Sector.

We want projects to address the factors that not only make people poor but also keep them poor in the longer term. It is widely acknowledged that poor health and education reduce opportunities throughout life, and access to natural resources such as land and water has a significant influence on poverty.

Disadvantaged people are also often unaware of their civil and political rights and they often lack access to political processes to help them.

These priorities are in line with International Development Targets.

Are cross cutting outcomes less important than the programme outcomes?

No. The cross cutting outcomes represent five key factors which we believe must be addressed if projects are to tackle poverty and disadvantage in a sustainable way. Because of this, your project will need to address each of the cross cutting outcomes as well as one or more programme outcomes. We will consider how your project plans to do this as part of our assessment. We will not fund projects where there is insufficient evidence that applicants have taken cross cutting outcomes into account.

What kind of project could be considered exceptional?

The International programme is now more focussed than before. With the reduced funds available, the grant making committee intends to focus its grant making resources on specific outcomes within four priority areas. This means that some types of projects that we may have funded in the past are now outside our funding focus. Applicants considering applying for projects that are not working towards our programme outcomes but feel that their project is exceptional are welcome to submit an application and our grant making Committee will consider it. However, our grant making Committee will focus its support on projects that will contribute to our funding priorities.

Please note that all projects, whether 'exceptional' or not must still must work towards our programme aim of 'effective projects that tackle the causes of poverty and deprivation and bring about a long term difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged people.'

Am I more likely to be successful if I address more than one funding priority?

We do not prioritise projects that address more than one funding priority. We expect all projects to be appropriately focussed and it will depend on the nature of the project whether the outcomes fall under one of our funding priorities or several.

Will some programme outcomes be prioritised over others?

Only within the Natural Resources funding priority, where we intend to prioritise projects that increase access to safe water and sanitation.

When you talk about capacity building, will you be supporting capacity building for the UK office, the project partner or both?

We want to support projects that build the capacity of stakeholders overseas to bring about sustainable improvements to people's lives. We will also consider funding training or other activities for UK based staff if they are directly related to successfully implementing the project.

Are you prioritising projects that target the poorest people?

We want to target our funds on projects that target the most disadvantaged people. We make this clear in the aim of the programme.

How do you define the most disadvantaged, will you use poverty data?

When we use the term 'the most disadvantaged people' we are referring to the poorest and most marginalised women and men, girls and boys.

We ask applicants to provide relevant
international, national, regional and local data to demonstrate that the project is targeting the most disadvantaged people. The data should include quantitative or qualitative as appropriate.

With regard to situation analysis, how much do you expect us to have done before the application is submitted and how much further work can be part of our bid?

We need to be sure that your project is based on a clear understanding of the current situation of your target group and the issues underlying their poverty and marginalisation. Your situation analysis should therefore identify the needs for the project, the outcomes you will work towards to address those needs and enough detail on the planned activities to formulate a comprehensive budget. If you are awarded a grant, you may wish to carry out further consultation and participation activities to plan the finer details of the project and how you are going to work with particular groups. You may also start your project with work to identify baseline information against which you can measure the project's impact.

Can you give some examples of how HIV/AIDS impacts on all projects? I don't think my project is affected by it.

HIV/AIDS will not have an impact in every situation but we do expect organisations to have considered whether or not there is an impact and if so, how you have taken this into account when planning your project.

Do we have to have to have a written partnership agreement?

Yes. A partnership agreement which clearly states each partners' roles and responsibilities and how they will change over the life of the grant will help avoid any misunderstandings and contribute over time to greater transparency, equality and mutual governance. See page 25 of the Guide for further details.

What if the partnership is not clearly established yet?

We expect partners to be involved in situation analysis, project and budget development. If this has not happened yet, you are unlikely to be ready to apply for a grant.

The £60k minimum is far too much for us. Are you not discriminating against smaller projects and organisations?

We have undertaken an analysis of past grants awarded and very few were for projects less than £60k. Projects abroad normally take place over a number of years and require realistic budgets. In addition, in our new grants programme we are looking to fund projects that are not just delivering services but are working towards long term changes and so the project must consider building capacity, alliances and networks, consider 'hard to reach' groups that are most disadvantaged, actively involve the stakeholders at all levels and also be involved in advocating for change. These types of activities also informed the minimum grant size. It is possible for smaller groups to be awarded grants that significantly increase their usual income however, we will carefully consider whether the organisation has the skills and experience to manage a project of this size and complexity.

What is the preferred format for the budget breakdown?

The budget information you submit with your application should provide additional detail clearly showing how you worked out each of the individual figures that you have listed in question C1 of the application form.

Does the new organisational overheads policy apply to both UK and Overseas partner and accommodation costs?

The policy applies to your organisational overheads in the UK.

Under part funding (p.21), it states that organisations with income greater than £5m need to provide or secure other contributions of at least 25 per cent. Does this have to be secured at time of application?

Not necessarily but you will need to clearly show a viable plan to raise the other funds. If you are successful we will require that the additional funding is in place before we release the grant funds

If I am contacted by you during the second stage of assessment and we discuss the project outcomes in detail does this mean that I will get a grant?

Not necessarily. Details of the assessment together with all information concerning your application will be considered during the decision making process.

Our organisation has submitted an application in our name (not a consortium bid) to the international grants programme. Can I submit another application before I hear the outcome of the current application?

You could submit a 'consortium' application but you could only make another application in your name after you have heard the result of the current application.

If I am unsuccessful and apply again for the same project, having addressed the reasons why I previously failed, will I definitely get a grant the next time?

Not necessarily. We consider each application on its own merits. If you have addressed the reasons why a previous application was unsuccessful your new application should be strengthened. However, there is a limited grant budget and there will be many competing applications. We may not have sufficient budget to fund everything that is recommended for funding. If this is the case we will tell you.

Can you check my organisation's legal eligibility before I apply?

Yes we can. If your organisation is a registered charity you are legally eligible to hold a grant but you should read our guidance on organisations outside our funding policy. If you are not a registered charity and you are not sure if you are eligible you can send a copy of your organisation's constitution to the International Grants Office and we will check it for you.

I have some queries about filling out the application form for my project, where can I get help?

You should refer to the Guide and the Help Notes when completing your application, this should contain all the information you need. If you have a specific question you can direct your query to [email protected] and we will email our response. We cannot work with individual organisations to help them complete their application forms, however, there are agencies that provide support to voluntary organisations, they include British Overseas NGO Development (BOND), or your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS).