Preparing proposals for funding

RIMC Research Capacity Enhancement Workshops Series : “Achieving Research Impact”

Preparing proposals for funding

• Have a clear idea of your project• Collaborate• Know the donor

– Match your project with their interests– Follow their instructions to the letter

• Be persuasive rather than descriptive– Convince the donor benefits will arise for them;

• Impact, knowledge, influence, ‘announcables’

• Provide evidence that you’re a good risk;– Previous results and impact.– Project management competence.– Financial management skills.– Technical competence in your field.

Logical Framework

• Describes the causal (linear) relationship between inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.

• Dominates planning, design, implementation, evaluation and management of development projects.

• Criticized;– Inflexible, reductionist and unable to capture unexpected outcomes

or changes. – Simplifies complex social processes – Non-participatory; evades the importance of process – Squeezes out data related to local culture and context – Understates the role of informal interactions and external influences– Grounded in a worldview largely associated with Western positivist

thinking, which is alien to the rest of the world

Logframe matrix

Project Structure Indicators ofAchievement

Means of Verification

Assumptions and Risks

GoalWhat are the wider objectiveswhich the activity will helpachieve? Longer termprogramme impact

What are the quantitativemeasures or qualitativejudgements, whether thesebroad objectives have beenachieved?

What sources of informationexist or can be provided toallow the goal to be measured?

What external factors arenecessary to sustain theobjectives in the long run?

PurposeWhat are the intendedimmediate effects of theprogramme or project, what are the benefits, to whom?

What are the quantitativemeasures or qualitativejudgements, by whichachievement of the purpose can be judged?

What sources of informationexist or can be provided toallow the achievement of thepurpose to be measured?

What external factors arenecessary if the purpose is tocontribute to achievement of the goal?

OutputsWhat outputs (deliverables) are to be produced in order toachieve the purpose?

What kind and quality of outputs and by when will they be produced? (QQT: Quantity,Quality, Time)

What are the sources ofinformation to verify theachievement of the outputs?

What are the factors not incontrol of the project which are liable to restrict the outputs achieving the purpose?

ActivitiesWhat activities must beachieved to accomplish theoutputs?

What kind and quality ofactivities and by when will they be produced?

What are the sources ofinformation to verify theachievement of the activities?

What factors will restrict theactivities from creating theoutputs?

AND

AND

THEN

AND

THEN

THENIF

IF

IF

What donors like

• Impact• Problem solving• A good story• Timeliness• Value for money• Ethical research• Bibliography• Gender bias• Dissemination strategy• Participation of beneficiaries• Co-funding• Attention to detail

Project Structure

Indicators ofAchievement

Means of Verification

Assumptions and Risks

GoalWhat are the wider objectives which the activity will helpachieve? Longer term programme impact

What are the quantitative measures or qualitativejudgements, whether thesebroad objectives have been achieved?

What sources of informationexist or can be provided to allow the goal to be measured?

What external factors arenecessary to sustain theobjectives in the long run?

PurposeWhat are the intended immediate effects of the programme or project, what are the benefits, to whom?

What are the quantitativemeasures or qualitativejudgements, by whichachievement of the purpose can be judged?

What sources of information exist or can be provided toallow the achievement of thepurpose to be measured?

What external factors arenecessary if the purpose is tocontribute to achievement of the goal?

OutputsWhat outputs (deliverables) are to be produced in order to achieve the purpose?

What kind and quality of outputs and by when will they be produced? (QQT: Quantity,Quality, Time)

What are the sources ofinformation to verify theachievement of the outputs?

What are the factors not incontrol of the project which are liable to restrict the outputs achieving the purpose?

ActivitiesWhat activities must be achieved to accomplish theoutputs?

What kind and quality of activities and by when will they be produced?

What are the sources ofinformation to verify theachievement of the activities?

What factors will restrict theactivities from creating theoutputs?