Educational Programmes

CEDPA TRAINING MANUAL ON PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP 

OBJECTIVES OF A PROPOSAL WRITING WORKSHOP

For participants to:

    (1)        Understand the purpose and process of proposal writing
    (2)        Be able to write good proposals.

 The First "Rule" in proposal writing is to be very clear (in your own mind) about the development project for which you are seeking funding assistance. You must be adequately prepared to answer relevant questions on such issues as the problem you are trying to address, the methodology, the benefits- especially to the host community as well as the monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment strategies. You must also be clear about financial implications (the budget) and your plans for future funding.

After accomplishing the foregoing, it is equally important that you obtain as much information as possible about your potential funding partner.

·                    What type of projects do they fund?  

·                    What amount of money (or range) do they give?

·                    Over what period of time?

·                    Do they have a specific proposal format?

·                    What other features are peculiar to them?

The above statements have been provided as opening remarks. We will now discuss proposal writing by looking at the basic elements.

   PROPOSAL SUMMARY

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DESCRIPTION OF YOUR ORGANISATION

This is the section of the proposal where you:

·        Tell who you are

·        Build your credibility with the donor, especially in particular problem area addressed by the project.

·        Reinforce connection between the interests of your organizations, the aims of your program and priorities of the funding source.

Include some or all of the following :

  ·        How the organisation got started

  ·        How your field office got started

  ·        How long  you have been in operation

  ·        Anything unique or significant about the way you got started, or that you’ve been in business a long time.

  ·        Some of your most significant accomplishments (if you are a new organization, some of the significant accomplishments of your staff in their previous roles) 

·        Your organizational goals

  ·        What support you have received from other organizations or prominent individuals (accompanied by letter of endorsement which can be in an appendix)

  -                     Letters of support from other agencies or your clients

  -                     Documentation of other public or volunteer support

 STATEMENT OF NEED

·        Document the problem.  Support the existence of the problem by evidence.  Describe how you know the problem really exists

·        Carefully demonstrate your knowledge of the problem.  Use some key statistics to support your case, especially from baseline data

·        Make a logical connection between the experience of your organization and the problems and needs with which you plan to work.  Convince people you are the best organization to tackle the problem

·        Narrow your definition of the problem.  Make sure that what you want to do can be done in a reasonable time by your organization with the specified amount of funding.

PROGRAM GOALS AND MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES

  A goal is a general, long-term aim, which gives direction of the project or program.  We usually list one (1) overall goal, or at most 2-3 goals.

  An objective is:

• specific

• short-term

• measurable

  It relates to the strategy you choose to reach your goal.

  For example:

  Goal:  To improve women managerial skills in child care in Tanga

   Objective:   Help women establish and successfully manage 3 preschools and a clinic within the coming years.

  The goals and objectives of a program should improve the problem conditions you have described for the target population in the section II.

  ·        It may help to clarify your thinking about the proposal’s logic by making a very simple chart: 

Examples

 STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

  This section is critical.  It usually has two parts and explains both why you have chosen a particular strategy and set of objectives and exactly how you will implement your strategy.

  1.                  Rationale:  Why Will This Strategy Work?

  Why have you chosen this strategy or activities, among others, to change the problem conditions?  There are probably a variety of strategies which might work – why this one?

  You may include:

  ·        History of your field office (or others) in addressing this problem; track record or lessons learned which lead you to choose this strategy.

  ·        Review of other “state-of-the-art” projects in same field, their successes and failures from which you’ve learned; how they influenced your program design.

  2.                  Activities:  Your Exact Implementation Plans

  ·        Clearly describe program activities:

What will be done?

By whom?

When?

Where?

How?

·        Describe staffing of program (plus qualifications and resumes of staff when available and impressive!).

  ·        Describe community beneficiaries and participants both their selection and involvement

  ·        The sequence of activities and projected schedule

  ·        Be realistic:  Present a reasonable scope of activities that can be accomplished within time available for the program and within resources of the applicant.

  EVALUATION

  What is the final Impact of Your Program Activities on the Problem Condition?

  1.    Why Evaluate?

  There are two primary reasons for evaluation:

  ·        Analysis of Program Results – To determine how effective your program has been in reaching the objectives you have established – and in solving the problems described in your need statement in part II.

  (Note:  You can only evaluate if you have already have clearly defined goals and objectives).

Provide Information For Ongoing Re-design of the Program – To make appropriate changes and adjustments in your program as you implement it.

  2.     What Does A Typical Evaluation Include?

  Evaluation includes both an analysis of your results or “product” and an analysis of the “process”.

  ·        Product (results) evaluation uses procedures that determine:

  Extent to which a program has achieved its stated objectives such as:

1. change in unemployment rate

2. change in infant mortality rate

·        Process evaluation utilizes procedures that determine:

Whether program activities have been conducted according to schedule (i.e. number of people trained, school built, home visits conducted, etc.)

  Degree of involvement by community in designing, managing or matching resources needed to implement program.

3. The Evaluation Plan

  ·        Tell who  will be performing evaluation (inside or outside agency) and how evaluators will be selected

  ·        Mention what indicators the project will use in evaluation.  The indicators should be directly related to the objectives stated in section II

  ·        Define data gathering methods

  ·        Explain any questionnaires/test instruments to be used

  ·        Show how evaluation will be used for program improvements

  ·        Describe evaluation reports to be produced

  ·        Don’t make the evaluation too difficult to implement but do make it useful

  4.  Reporting to the Donor

  The frequency and type of the report, which usually includes an evaluation, depends on the requirements of the donor.  Some donors require both:

            ----narrative reports and

            ----financial reports

  If you don’t know what the donor wants, write that an annual report will be submitted.  This usually means that reports are submitted on the anniversary of the awarding of the grant.

  FUTURE FUNDING

(Sustainability)

  The funding source needs reassurance that the program will not stop when term of grant ends.

  ·        Describe plan for continuation beyond the grant and/or availability of other resources necessary to implement the grant

  ·        Or, how program will be absorbed by local government service department or local private voluntary organization

  ·        Or, how fees for program services will cover program costs

  ·        Or, how project will become self-supporting.  When?

CONCLUSION:    short, one or two paragraphs

  1.                  Ask for the funds you are seeking from that particular source.

Example” “A three-year grant of X dollars from the Y foundation is sought in support of this innovation program”.  Or, “Total program costs are X of which Y is requested from the Z foundation.  The remaining funds will be donated by the Q and R foundations”.

  2.         Repeat any particularly compelling points about the need, the program or the organization capability.  Stress urgency again if applicable.

  BUDGET  - Be specific and realistic

  Donors frequently look to the budget and the executive summary first.  If they like what they see, then they will look at the rest of your proposal.  In fact, by looking at the budget, a donor should get a clear idea of what the program is all about, even before reading any text.  Do spend time presenting it clearly.

Attachments

  Consider adding any of the following as appendices to make your document lively and appealing:            

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All the materials in this write-up have been compiled from various relevant sources; particularly from the Institute of Cultural Affairs resource materials, some anonymous authors and from the writer's work experience.

Macaulay Abiodun Olagoke Kaduna, Nigeria. August 1999.