How to renew your AmplifyChange grant
Our organisation was in a state of dilemma. The initial project we received funding for was going well and we had reached over 26,682 beneficiaries, including survivors of sexual violence. However, despite this reach and the fact that many cases of sexual violence were now being reported, we knew that to further address the problem of sexual violence we needed to start work on policy engagement, educating communities and provide support and counselling to survivors of sexual violence. To start these new areas of work, we required extra funding and resources.
Furthermore, ActionAid is a member of the Network Against Gender Based Violence (NAGBV) and at the time of the original grant was being implemented, the capacity of the network members was weak. Most members did not have adequate institutional systems, particularly related to governance, finance and internal controls and training and skills strengthening was only provided on ad-hoc basis.
A renewal grant would allow us to start working on policy, education and support to survivors. It would consolidate gains made in our anti-FGM work and expand and strengthen the youth engagement and relationship with new allies, such as religious leaders.
The renewal would also enable us to conduct research to develop a better understanding of the complex dynamics of sexual violence, which would further guide our policy and advocacy work.
We changed the project title, indicators and milestones to reflect the additional issues we wanted to address.
We suggested a move away from providing short-term capacity building for the NAGBV members to instead putting in place long-term sustainable systems. For example, instead of ad-hoc financial training we now have implemented a financial system, which produces reliable financial reports. As such, even if trained staff members decide to leave the organisation, the system remains in the organisations.
We introduced a peer-to-peer capacity-building initiative – we involve survivors as active stakeholders, rather than just providing support to them. The initiative brings together all the members of the NGBV and recipients of AmplifyChange funds to skills share workshops where each organisation presents their work and experiences as well as challenges and how they tackle them. This has created linkages for ongoing networking and collaboration, and enabled the empowerment of survivors to lead on advocacy activities.
- Evidence-based proposal writing makes successful proposals. Evidence can either come through observation and experiments (empirical data) or from routinely collected data.
- When developing proposals, there needs to be consultation with the partners who will be involved in the project implementation. Partners should also be regularly updated on project progress, spend and key information from the donor. This builds close partnerships, which facilitates good project planning and proposal writing for other grants.
- Good performance on an initial project gives the donor confidence that you can do it.
- Perform well in the initial project and demonstrate good financial management
- If implementing through partners – be transparent with them, let them have access to all the project documents
- Keep track of emerging issues related to the initial project
- Do not develop and submit a completely different proposal from the initial project
Before we renewed our grant, COVAW experienced a stall in our influencing work on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Narok County. Whilst we had limited resources to implement further activities, there was pressure from the communities that we worked with to continue with our engagement in order to address the existing need. We realised that the continuity of access to resources is critical for maintaining the momentum created through a project. So, despite the stall, it was also a positive time for COVAW, as it allowed for us to reflect on how to manage the funding portfolio strategically.
There were a number of issues that, if addressed with continued support, could create the change and generate the impact we aimed for. For example:
- The risk of losing gains already made towards ending FGM/C called for intensified interaction with the community. Continued support would allow us to engage, continuously meet and communicate with the communities, while at the same time build the communication capacities of the key influencers (community leaders) to help combat this practice.
- Reporting of GBV cases was still low, especially on FGC, early marriages and teenage pregnancies. Through increased funding, linkages with the law enforcement agencies as well as the county government departments would be enhanced to enforce existing laws. We would also be able to raise awareness within the communities on the existing legalization, encouraging a change in the culture of not reporting the violence.
- Men had proved to be vital in bringing societal and cultural change in the community – with continued funding we would increase the involvement of men in the project by engage male champions.
- Low literacy levels among the communities meant many still did not value education for their children. Education is a big catalyst in bringing about change in the community. Therefore, there was a need for us to encourage them to embrace education as well as create information, education and communication (IEC) materials that worked for this type of audience, for example using pictorials as opposed to written words.
- The harmonization of CSO’s working on the same issue would go a long way in achieving impact – there is as existing network of CSO’s that was formed in the former grant and increased funding would support their deliberations when they needed to meet.
By investing in our direct work in the communities, by for example building the capacity of key influencers as well as identifying and train community activists, and by increasing our collaboration and coordination with law enforcement agencies as well as other like-minded organisations, through for example the formation of a CSO network called NACCSNET (Narok County Children Support Network) and the Gender Technical Working Group – we created opportunities for GBV to be discussed openly. This created an appetite to involve more community members, including more men, in identifying solutions and realising change. A change in attitude on issues of FGM/C, early marriages, unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortion was also beginning to take place.
These achievements from our original grant proved that our tactics and project was working, we were coordinating with other organisations and becoming a stronger organisation ourselves. This gave us a good case for a renewal grant as it was clear how our first grant had made an impact, but we had also made a strong case about how much work we still had to do.
- Identifying and building the capacities of change agents (CAs) who are part of the target communities is an integral part of securing sustainable results.
- Continuous monitoring and reflection are important during the entire project cycle. COVAW continues to do this, in partnership with other partners, networks and government agencies. FGM/C is a sensitive subject and therefore conventional approaches to monitoring and evaluation may not work. Actual numbers of survivors are difficult to come by, However, through processes similar to outcome harvesting or gathering most significant change stories, COVAW has been able to track and document progress, both at policy and practice levels.
- By sharing what we had been able to achieve, COVAW became a reference organisation for anti-FGM/C work in Narok and this increased our commitment to deliver quality work. Community demand for continued intervention led to the second AmplifyChange proposal, as a scale-up to the first grant.
- Invest in the communities you are working in – close involvement and open communication will create a sense of ownership of the project within the community, facilitating strong support and encouraging positive change.
- Track, document and demonstrate progress – throughout the entire project.
- Keep the communication between your organisation and AmplifyChange open – do not be afraid to share successes as well as challenges.
In the original grant, the overall project objectives and aims were to, through a survey, gauge the perceptions of women at grassroots level about FGM/C as well as to understand their opinion regarding a prohibition of the practice. The project also reached out to school girls and boys to sensitise them on GBV and harmful traditional practices that affect them.
At the end of the initial phase of the project, we realised that the survey report had not generated sufficient data and analysis to be used as a national reference and that the target number reached through the project was too few to effect the change we wanted to see. By expanding the geographical coverage of the survey as well as increasing the number of people reached, we would be able to widening our impact, and thus, we decided to apply for a renewal grant.
The challenges we faced related to the project itself but also to the application process for a renewal grant. For example, to generate support for a survey that included national data and not just regional data on GBV required close communication with the chairs of the Regional Youth Committees in all regions of the country. These discussions took a lot of time and effort.
Due to the electricity scarcity in the Gambia, completing and submitting the application online was difficult for us. When there was a power cut, we lost information which meant that we had to retype sections that had already been completed in the application.
In the application for a renewal grant, we attached the activity reports, the findings of the baseline survey and brief footages of the activities to illustrate project achievements so far. We highlighted the importance of expanding the project to the other regions of The Gambia. We demonstrated that the overall project aims and objectives had not been fully attained due to neither the largest region or the region with the second highest rate of GBV in the country had not been covered in the project activities.
Thus, in our application, we highlighted the success of the first phase of the project but also modified the project aims and objectives to present a strong case of the importance of continuing and even expanding the project activities and reach.
We learnt that for donors to fund a continuation of a project, the organisation must demonstrate that they implemented the project according to the workplan, submitted their reports according to deadline and that the expected objective and targets have been met.
We also learnt that honesty is key. If a target has been unable to be met, this must be reported to the donor with a justification as to why and commitment to ensure that target is met.
- Adhere to reporting deadline and procedures.
- Implement your project according to your workplan.
- Create innovative and sustainable project ideas.
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