Developing Grant-Competitive Proposals

Developing Grant-Competitive Proposals

• Some basic imperatives include information gathering, adhering to funder guidelines, expanding networks for team work, joining bids, literature research, cross-disciplinary work, and using feedback.
• Resilience, improving on failed bids, proactive partnerships, and innovative titles are essential.
• Securing grants strengthens CVs through reading, writing, and publishing.
• A grant of $100,000 by MacArthur Foundation was awarded for a two-year research and problem-solving intervention projection on widow inheritance and the spread of HIV/AIDS in 3 local communities in Nyanza Province.
• Grant requires consideration for effective management over two years, granted to a team of 4 action researchers.

Grant Management Tips

• Budgets should be activity-based and exhaustive with realistic expense time plans.
• All expenses must be budget-informed and systematically receipted.
• Submit narrative reports to substantiate project activities alongside receipts.
• Generate cash receipts for stipends and miscellaneous expenses.
• Mid-term reports can be used for budget and time plan revisions.
• Custody of grants and overseas disbursement is project-specific with management implications.
• Expenditure and accounting must align with the approved grant budget.
• Accounts must be audit-ready, and management should prioritize integrity and discipline.
• Efficient and transparent management of a grant helps open doors for getting another in the future.

Action Research (AR)

• Action Research (AR) was defined by Kurt Lewin, a German Social Psychologist, in 1933.
• Action research is social research carried out by a team encompassing a professional action researcher and members of an organization or community
• Aims to study and solve real problems with the people being researched.
• It is problem-solving and transformative, emphasizing stakeholder participation.
• It is also known as "participatory action research".

Empirical Component of (AR)

• There's no scholars agreement on how the empirical research component of action research should be conducted.
• There is a division on whether the research should be positivistic or post-positivistic in terms of conceptual and methodological approach.
  • Empirically grounded understanding and conceptualization of the research problem.
  • Examining how the problem/similar problems have been conceptualized, researched, and solved.
  • Fieldwork-based research with a robust design on how to engage the people being studied.
  • Longitudinal understanding of the experiential structure of the participants from their subjective perspectives, aka phenomenology.
  • Meaning and reality established by the people, based on their conditions & experience- ethnomethodology & phenomenology.
  • Awareness of research influence on the process & outcome.

Continued...

• Critical interrogation of reality from a multi-faceted perspective that produces change: (data analysis)
• The interface between theory & practice; theory informs practice, practice refines theory (in a dialectical way).
• Ethical issues are involved in the research & intervention plan.

Problem-Solving Component of AR

• AR engages/challenges power relations between groups.
• AR engages social groups in problem-ridden research settings where transformative change is deemed essential.
• AR focuses on empowering the disempowered and underprivileged.
• AR focuses on restructuring social structures causing power imbalances, exclusion, repression and disempowerment.
• AR focuses on resolving conflict, building peace/strengthening social & human institutions.

Key Elements in Action Research Proposals:

• Abstract or executive summary.
• Problem statement, study background, etc.
• Objectives
• Project rationale and significance.
• Literature review.
• Hypotheses.
• Methodology for research and intervention.
• Tentative post-research intervention plan.
• Expected outputs.
• Ethical issues.
• Project evaluation.
• Activity time plan.
• Budget.

Project Abstract/Executive Summary

• Should be a summary of the proposed/completed study.
• Like a project title, an abstract sells the work & should flexibly comprise:
  • Central argument/objective(s)/problem.
  • Driving rationale/motivation – link to knowledge, policy and gaps.
  • Methods, data and case study.
  • Core (or expected) findings.
  • Highlight of project intervention plan and activities.

Problem Statement/Project Background

• Can also be titled Introduction or Project Background.
• Problems can use simple declarative and/or question formats.
• Best practice is to state research problems in the narrative's first paragraph.
• Stated research problems should be clearly identifiable. Include the importance of literature in stating a research problem.
• There must be a practical dimension to a problem statement in AR.

Project Objectives

• Objectives must be related to research problems, but may shed light on related research problems
• Objectives can assist in breaking down research problems, as long as they do not contradict them
• Number research objectives, stated simply, in declarative form.
• Objectives must have an applied, practical dimension.

Literature Review & Hyphothesis

• Determine structure the literature review and its importance
• Identify important skills
• Structure a hypothesis
• Determine how many are needed on the project

Methodology

• Methodology is a key component
• Includes important elements
• Includes structuring using action research
• Includes Phases to Methodology, and Problem-Solving Intervention

Tentative Post-Research Intervention Plan

• Has to subsume in specific concrete terms, such as the number of activities for participants for a specific duration

Risks and Ethical Considerations

• Nature concerns its sensitivity, regarding: human subjects & participants, institutions, norms and traditions
• Potential risks must be associated or derived.
• Management plans must also be laid out for vulnerable populations.
• This section has to be presented in narrative form.

Expected Outputs and Outcomes

• These are potential outcomes.
• Outputs are the effects from research and interventions.
• Outputs can also be both quantitive and qualitative
• Itemized and briefly explained with highlights
• Project evaluation includes a clear and concise strategy
• Expected outputs can be wide-ranging with cascading direct impact within project location.

Budget & Financial Responsibility

• Budgets has to be activity based
• Includes a manager to guide for accounting
• Needs to determine for Financial Accountability
• Project budget must be based on all the identified activities involved

Budgeting & Financial Accountabilty continued...

• It has to be as detailed as possible with limited qualitative narrative.
• Budget items must be justifiable; some funders will require a separate or added narrative.
• Decision on currency/currencies when preparing the project budget and any applicable conversion rates can be added.
• Currency conversion rates must be genuine and verifiable.
• This is further be arranged by systematically informing thematic heads and sub-heads.
• Strictly follow the funder's structured budgeting framework.
• Contingency vote should be accommodated if the grant framework permits.

More on Budget

• Indirect costs, like grant management and administration, can also be accommodated, depending on framework flexibility
• It is not advisable to exceed fundable amount
• Project implementation and financial accountability must align with project contracts and financial policies.
• Financial accountability must be done at intervals captured by activity plan and contract.
• A statement of income and expenditure account is most basic requirements.
• It must be systematically structured.
• Follow procedures to adjust or revise a budget
• Budgets need to also include statement of some funders earned interest

Reporting

• Financial accountability must be supported by reporting, receipts with a statement of income and expenditure.
• Receipts need also be structured in line with the budget and statements.
• Maintain duplicates
• When project manager, know technical management following given guidelines
• Ensure participants are inducted on fund disbursements, tracking, payments, filing, etc..

Additional Issues in Project Implementation/Management.

• Projects vary with funders who maintain varying expectations
• Flexible approaches can be sensitive nuanced
• Organizations can employ project managers for project with a technical expert
• A Director as CEO maintains responsibility for project manager of finance.
• Identify any helpful steps of project management.
• Considerations should be included for numerical & technical needs of staff
• Followed with internal oversight, report on project performance

Explore the creation of grant-winning proposals. Covering essentials like research, funder guidelines, and teamwork. Also learn about strategies for resilience and proactive partnerships. Securing grants enhances CVs through research and publishing.