The Scottish Government
Information Day
Malawi Funding Round (2015-18)
Timetable
5th August 2014 – Malawi Funding Round 2015-18 officially
opened.
3rd October 2014 – Call for applications closes (2 pm)
January 2015 – Notification of outcome
March 2015 - Awarding of grants/feedback to applicants
1st April 2015 – Project start date
Frequently Asked Questions
Round 1
Questions to be submitted by cop 29th August 2014 (2
days after Information Day) Answers to be posted by cop
5th September 2014
Round 2
Questions to be submitted by cop 12th September 2014
Answers to be posted by cop 19th September 2014
Project Budgets 2015-18
Malawi 2012 -15
Round
Malawi 2013 -16
Round
-----
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
£1,860,187
£1,656,408
-----
-----
-----
£3,175,113
£2,689,964
£2,245,711
-----
-----
---
£3,230,000
£5,330,000
£5,330,000
----Malawi 2015 -18
Round
-----
• Projects now allocated up to Maximum £600,000 per year (as opposed to
£400,000 in previous years).
Year 1 = 23.4% (max £140,400)
Year 2 = 38.3% (max £229,800)
Year 3 = 38.3% (max £229,800)
N.B. Year 1 = for building strong structures and effective partnerships.
• Projects may last 1 or 2 years, but should fall within the latter two years
of the Funding Round (i.e. 2016/17 and/or 2017/18).
Why Malawi?
• Scotland/Malawi: special link, dating back to c19th work
of Church of Scotland missionaries & Dr David
Livingstone
• 150 years of Scots working with Malawians, helping
develop education & health systems
• Benefit to both nations – spirit of partnership/reciprocity
• 2005: Scotland/Malawi Governments signed historic
Co-operation Agreement on ID
Malawi Key Facts:
• Population: 16,777,547 (2013) (26M by 2030)
• Poverty: increased: now 40.4% population in
severe multi-dimensional poverty; 20% at risk of
multiple deprivations
• Serious challenges: water borne diseases
(malaria), HIV/AIDs, (low) educational attainment,
maternal health, infant/child mortality
• UN Human Development Index stats (2013):
–
–
–
–
–
Malawi ranked 170 countries: (UK 26) – of 176
life expectancy 54.2 years: (UK 80.3)
mean yrs schooling 4.2 years; (UK 9.4)
GNI per capita 753 (PPP$)
9% electrification rate (UK 99.7%)
The Scottish Government’s
approach to development
• To harness the people-to-people links that Scots
have forged with Malawians over more than 150
years as a catalyst for development
• To use Scottish expertise to address Malawian
priorities
• To put gender equality, sustainability, and worldclass M and E at the heart of our development
work
The Scottish Government’s
current work in Malawi
• 2012-15 Malawi Funding Round (19 projects)
• 2013-16 Malawi Funding Round (24 projects)
• Small Grants Programme (7 grants awarded)
• MREAP (The Malawi Renewables Acceleration
Programme)
Malawi Development Programme
• Scottish Government committed to spend at least £3m
per year
• Malawi Development Programme worth a total of
approximately £34m since 2005
• Currently spend approximately £5m p.a. to support 40+
projects in Malawi under the 4 strands of the 2005
Cooperation Agreement
• New Malawi Funding Round 2015-18 worth nearly £14m
Malawi Development Programme
Essential Eligibility Criteria
• Legal Person – Legally constituted and can enter into contracts in
their own right
• Presence in Scotland:
- Scottish Charitable Organisation or
- Company registered (under the Companies Act 2006) with
their Head Office in Scotland or
- Charity registered in Scotland or
- Occupy offices or premises in Scotland (in connection to the
project)
The Four Cooperation Strands
(2005 Cooperation Agreement SG/GoM)
• Health - Dr Rabson Kachala mbewekachala@gmail.com
• Education - Rebecca Phwitiko rebeccaphwitiko@gmail.com;
• Civic governance - Ms Grace Varela
grace.varela@democracy.mw
• Economic development - Mr Adwell Zembele
zembeleadwell@yahoo.com
About our Strands
• The four strands have been agreed upon by the
Government of Malawi and the Scottish
Government in the 2005 Co-op Agreement.
• The Government of Malawi identifies their
development priorities according to need.
• The Scottish Government identifies areas where
we can offer Scottish expertise.
Overall GoM Priorities for 2015-18
• GoM expressed specific desire to see more ‘Sustainable Economic
Development’ and ‘Civil Society and Governance’ projects.
• At present there are 13 ‘Sustainable Economic Development’ and
just 5 ‘Civil Society and Governance’ projects within the Malawi
Development Programme (out of 41 projects).
• MFR 2013-16 – no ‘Civic Society and Governance’ projects.
• GoM have emphasised income generation.
• For assessment purposes of applications received, all four strands
remain equally weighted.
Overall GoM Priorities for 2015-18
• Ownership of ID Priorities rests with GoM
• Potential applicants must communicate
with GoM to ensure projects align with
GoM priorities – at the design stage and
during the life of the project Strand Leads
are to be kept involved
Cooperation Agreement:
Sustainable Economic Development
• Initiate discussion on how best to stimulate enterprise by
facilitating the exchange of skills and business expertise
in relevant sectors;
• Explore opportunities to stimulate tourism, including
between the two countries, by encouraging links;
• Investigate potential collaboration between agricultural
bodies.
Priorities for
Sustainable Economic Development
2015-18
• Agricultural Development & Value Addition
• Tourism
• Energy (Renewable Energy)
• Environment & Natural Resources Management
• Finance and Investment Promotion
Cooperation Agreement:
Civil Society and Governance
• Aim to strengthen governance by working with others to develop
schemes for sharing parliamentary experience, and for sharing legal
and financial expertise by engaging with national bodies and civil
society;
• Share experiences of addressing inequality and the needs of
vulnerable groups in society by supporting mechanisms for
exchanging expertise and mentoring initiatives;
• Develop key mechanisms for strengthening the media by facilitating
links between key partners;
• Investigate innovative ways of developing and using technology,
with particular reference to remote and rural communities.
Priorities for
Civil Society and Governance
2015-18
• Capacity building for the new Parliament i.e. Committee
work etc.
• Institutional capacity building for the Malawi Prison
Service
• Support towards the fight against Corruption
• Support organisations advocating for good governance
and human rights
• Support organisations advocating for gender equality
• Support for free Paralegal services
Cooperation Agreement:
Health
•
Contribute to the improvement of maternal health by supporting the
increase in the number of trained midwives and facilitating the exchange of
knowledge and skills required for dealing with obstetric and gynaecological
emergencies, as detailed above;
•
Increase the capacity of Health Colleges (GoM and CHAM) by developing
in-country teaching support for trainee clinical officers, nurses, midwives,
nurse technicians and allied health professionals;
•
Support the College of Medicine in the development of specialist medical
training for health professionals and facilitate mechanisms for the exchange
of medical and health management expertise;
•
Support HIV/ AIDS prevention, treatment and care by developing
partnerships for sharing expertise (especially around health education) and
assisting in addressing human resource capacity in services.
Priorities for Health 2015-18
• Human resources for health system
strengthening
• Universal coverage of essential health
services
• Addressing conventional and traditional
determinants of health in Malawi
• Quality Assurance and Quality
Improvement of Essential Health Services
Cooperation Agreement:
Education
•
Help build capacity in education by further developing teacher exchange
programmes and supporting the development of training of trainers for local
delivery;
•
Support the exchange of knowledge and skills by facilitating academic links
and twinning initiatives between local government, schools and higher
education institutions;
•
Explore how best to address access to and availability of quality education,
with particular attention to remote and rural communities;
•
Initiate discussion on the provision of vocational education and training by
encouraging the sharing of best practice and expertise and the
development of links with further education;
•
Encourage equality in the participation of education by supporting the
development of initiatives to empower vulnerable groups.
Priorities for Education 2015-18
General
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Teacher training
Internal efficiency of the Primarily school structure
Decentralisation of education management
School infrastructure (new classrooms, teachers houses and latrines)
Provision of teaching and learning materials
Inclusive education
Curriculum strengthening at all levels
Bursaries to support vulnerable students (particularly Secondary school)
Up scaling of school feeding programme (particularly Primary school)
Upgrading of Community Day Secondary Schools
Introduction of more double shift schools
Priorities for Education 2015-18
Higher Education
•
•
•
•
•
•
Access to Higher education
Training of Higher education staff
Curriculum strengthening in Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational
Education and Training (“TEVET”) institutions
Cost recovery mechanisms and finance mobilisation in public universities
Public Private Partnerships
Support for capacity to strengthen procurement, financial management,
planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation systems.
Renewable Energy-Related Projects
Background on SG & RE
• Renewable energy sits within the economic development strand
under the 2005 Cooperation Agreement
• Community Rural Electrification and Development (CRED) Project
(2008-11): Strathclyde University: led a Scoping Study
commissioned by SG: on Supporting Community Energy
Development in Malawi
• CRED Report outcomes pointed to different programme activities
that SG might support
• CRED recommendations taken forward through the Malawi
Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme (MREAP), again
partnered with Strathclyde University, to promote sustainable
energy and providing access to reliable electricity in rural areas of
Malawi.
MREAP
£1.7M Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme
(MREAP) (2011-14 + 2014-15):
• seeks to improve energy access in Malawi through 4 inter-related
workstreams:
– institutional support
– community energy development (PV solar; biomass; wind;
microhydro; cookstoves)
– wind energy preparation (wind masts)
– renewable energy capacity building
• single biggest ID programme ever funded by SG: shows
importance we accredit to energy access in developing world
• January 2014: 1 yr extension announced, to 2015.
• MREAP funding sits outwith main Malawi Development
Programme, but still funded from our ID Fund
• SG has also funded some smaller RE projects within the MDP
RE Key Points for 2015-18: What’s new?
• MREAP ends March 2015.
• Monies projected by SG for the “MREAP successor” now
wrapped into overall Malawi Round 2015-18.
• This is new additional funding (£1m over 3 years)
which is being added into the Malawi Development
Programme pot for 2015-18.
• In keeping with the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All
global initiative, SG recognises that renewable energy
access supports the four development strands of health,
education, economic development and civic governance
• Malawi Call doc: “we would be keen to see more
innovative renewable energy projects, which link
across the four strands”
RE 2015-18 key points contd
• Priority - new energy access for off-grid
communities, be it through mini-grids, or standalone
systems such as solar panels or individual solar
lanterns. Successful projects will be those that can be
seen to provide energy at the level of the household,
community or public institution.
• We will particularly welcome applications from projects
that support the theme of the first two years of the UN
Decade of Sustainable Energy for All; Energy for
Women and Children’s Health.
• Long-term viability/sustainability absolutely crucial.
Renewable Energy-Related
Projects
Role of Malawi Partner Organisations
• To be fully involved in the planning and
implementation of the Project
• Have mutual accountability for the
outcomes and results of the Project
• Joint responsibility to keep Strand Leads
informed and involved
Needs Assessments
• Essential that applicants know what is needed on the ground prior to
designing and submitting project proposals.
• Needs Assessment to be used to produce a Baseline Report
• Needs Assessment may reference published papers, partner
organisations, or primary research in-country.
• Vital that the Needs Assessment fully involves the Malawi partner
organisation.
• Must engage with the local context – i.e. local communities,
stakeholders, other development projects in the area.
Final Key Points
• SG funds are not to be paid direct to GoM
• SG funds are not to be used to pay Per Diems or meet
any costs associated with Strand Leads
• Maximum grant - £600k
• Consider budget profiles carefully (i.e. Year 1
partnership building, project proper Years 2 & 3)
PART 2
• IOD PARC LED SESSION ON:
APPLICATIONS, BUDGETING,
LOGFRAMES & NEW REPORTING
TEMPLATES
MALAWI 2015 FUNDING ROUND
KEY GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS
Sheelagh O’Reilly
Kristin Olsen
Laura McCall
malawifund@iodparc.com
Important Changes to Note
• Three part application form:
– Word application form
– Excel budget
– Excel logframe
– NOTE: STRUCTURE HAS CHANGED
• Applications by email only by 3rd October with any ‘hard copy
only’ supporting documents for 6th October.
• NO HARD COPY APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED
• Letters of support from ALL partners required
• Clarity on financial issues provided including capital,
underspend process etc
• Significant changes to the indicators to support IDF
accountability and learning
APPLICATION
DOCUMENTATION
Eligibility
IF YOU FAIL TO ADHERE TO ALL REQUIREMENTS YOUR
APPLICATION WILL NOT BE READ.
Two elements:
1. Are you eligible to apply e.g. Scottish presence?
2. Have you submitted all required documentation?
Application form: page 2
Guidance document for more detailed explanation: page 9 – 11
Guidance
• GUIDANCE AND FURTHER INFORMATION ON COMPLETING
AN APPLICATION FOR THE MALAWI DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME 2015 – 2018
This will be supplemented by answers to any additional
responses to Frequently Asked Questions.
PLEASE READ ALL DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY BEFORE
BEGINNING APPLICATION PROCESS AND DURING COMPLETION
AND A FINAL CHECK BEFORE PRESSING SEND.
APPLICATION FORM REVIEW
1 – Re-ordering the Application Form
More efficient for applicants and administrative purposes
• A: Project & Application Information:
– Key contact and administrative information
• B: Project Narrative:
– About the project: what, why, how, who (including women & the
poorest), when (in line with logframe)
• C: Project Delivery:
– Partnerships, Communications, Climate Change
• D: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning:
– More detail and new programme indicators
• E: Budget:
– More detail
2 - Revised Programme Indicators
To enable the Governments of Scotland and Malawi, and the Scottish
Public to understand what the Malawi Development Programme has
achieved, and how:
a) Poverty & Vulnerability Indicators (Compulsory)
b) Sector-level Indicators (Optional)
• It is not necessary to address every indicator but to be realistic in
what you can measure.
• All monitoring and evaluation MUST be gender disaggregated
(further disaggregation optional).
• Programme indicators to be incorporated into logframe
• Guidance provided to enable robust use of data (including
avoidance of double counting & provision of methods)
• No standard methodologies at this point
2 - Revised Programme Indicators
Table 1: Malawi IDF Programme Indicators (COMPULSORY)
1. IDF Programme - Poverty and Vulnerability
Indicator
Total number of
people directly
1.1
benefitting from the
project
Total number of
people indirectly
1.2
benefitting from the
project
Criteria
Record the numbers of
people that are benefitting
through their direct
engagement with the
project e.g. through
training, capacity building,
awareness raising
Record the numbers of
people that are benefitting
from the project indirectly
e.g. household members,
wider community
members etc
Notes on Data
Numbers should be
provided for women/
girls and men/ boys
Individuals should
only be counted
once even if they
have benefitted from
the project in several
ways
2 - Revised Programme Indicators
Malawi IDF Programme Indicators (OPTIONAL)
2. IDF Programme – Civic Governance and Society
Indicators around citizens’ access to judicial and legal services,
2.1 – 2.5 good governance, and human rights through support to
institutions & individuals
3. IDF Programme - Education
3.1 – 3.7
Indicators around improved and equitable access to quality
education
4. IDF Programme - Health
4.1 – 4.7
Indicators around improved access to and provision of
essential, maternal and neonatal health services
5. IDF Programme – Sustainable Economic Development
5.1 – 5.5
Indicators around economic opportunities and benefits
6. IDF Programme – Renewable Energy
6.1 – 6.4
Indicators around access to renewable energy services
DESIGNING GOOD
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
A good development project - 1
Relevant and Needed (Needs Analysis)
• Scottish & National Governments
– Alignment with Scotland –Malawi Co-operation Agreement,
National Development Strategies for respective Governments
and Scottish Government priority areas
– Targeted at delivering MDGs
– Addressing Cross-cutting Issues: Climate Change & Inclusion
• Beneficiaries
– Clear understanding of the context
– Needs analysis
A good development project - 2
Strong Partnerships
• What does ‘ownership’ by local partners mean in the
relationship between the Scottish organisation and their
partners? Examples to demonstrate this include:
– Previous collaboration (evidence of this)
– Engagement of partners with project planning and development
– Clear roles and responsibilities in implementation (including
engagement with stakeholders), M&E, communication and
finance
– Opportunities for ongoing capacity building within the project
itself
A good development project - 3
A coherent project builds on knowledge and
expertise – in country and in delivering development
results
•
•
•
•
Experience of partners and applicants
Expertise of personnel
Drawing on best practice – including Scottish expertise
Knowledge of (and links with) other development
initiatives
A good development project - 4
Well-designed
• Clear how project intends to deliver development
outcomes
• ‘Intervention logic’ reflected in planned activities, outputs
and budget
• Realistic timeframe
• Roles of partners & stakeholders
• Inclusive – strategy for enabling women & the poorest to
benefit
• Sensible risk assessment
A good development project - 5
Focus on learning and development results
• Clear ‘monitoring and evaluation’ system integrated into
project design – based on the logical framework
• Enables monitoring of progress – outputs and outcomes
• Enables learning and dissemination
• Clear roles and responsibilities
• Gender disaggregation
• Enables Scottish Government accountability
A good development project - 6
Financially viable
• Budget and costs are realistic (and information
presented clearly)
• Use of funds is efficient e.g. international travel
requirements as opposed to use of national staff
• Applicants have capacity to manage the funds
• Consistency with logframe and the narrative text
including staff costs, capital costs, flights and
implementation costs.
A good development project - 7
Sustainable – Exit Strategy describes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sustainable outcomes
Ownership and responsibility
Financial sustainability
Consideration of climate change
Links to other national and local initiatives
Long term management of any capital items
BUDGET DOCUMENT
Using the Excel Template
• Designed to provide you with a simple approach to laying out your
detailed and summary budget;
• Series of linked spreadsheets clearly labelled to cover the elements
of the budget required by the SG;
• In some cases you will need to link with the narrative text as well.
• Budgets should be phased
• Capital items require specific attention in budget and in narrative.
This includes longer term hand over for longer term operations and
maintenance.
• Salary and other costs – views are taken on the level of costs that
are appropriate in Malawi and will give value for money.
• Maximum budget £600,000 over the 3 years.
Phasing your budget
• Budget needs to be phased in line with the guidance (page 7)
i.e. for a full £600K proposal (pro-rata for smaller grants):
Year
%
Maximum permitted per year
1 (15/16)
23.4
£140,400
£93,600
£46,800
2 (16/17)
38.3
£229,800
£153,200
£76,600
3 (17/18)
38.3
£229,800
£153,200
£76,600
TOTAL
100
£600,000
£400,000
£200,000
Capital expenditure
• Important to the SG
• Two elements:
– Capital costs associated with project management e.g. computer
– Capital costs associated with project implementation e.g. a
borehole.
• See in detail Question 51 page 39 of guidance
• The maximum that may be spend on capital costs is 15% of the
overall project budget; for renewable energy projects, the
maximum that may be spent on capital costs is 50% of the
overall project budget. Capital items in a budget will be
carefully scrutinised.
Financial Management
• The SG have set regulations concerning management of issues
such as currency fluctuations – see guidance;
• The SG have set a new process regarding ‘underspend’ either from
the above or from slow disbursement. Grant holders will be
required to submit to the SG an application to carry forward
money to the subsequent year.
• This will require ‘re-budgeting’ for the following year with
detailed explanation of how the money will be used.
• Once grants are approved a budget reporting template will be
set up based on the final approved budget.
IF IN DOUBT CONTACT YOUR GRANT MANAGER AT THE
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
LOGFRAME DOCUMENT
Why logframes?
• The use of a logical framework as a management tool can help the
applicant (and subsequent grant holder) to lay out the logic i.e. a
simplified ‘Theory of Change’ the project along with key progress
indicators.
• Logframes can be amended through the life of the project BUT
this needs to be done systematically and to be agreed by the
SG.
• The logframe indicators should include those you have selected
from the SG indicator list for your programme to report on.
• You will report on your milestones (set for each year) and this will be
linked to the narrative report which explains the key issues around
your achievement (positive and negative). This helps to support
learning alongside issues of accountability.
Some points for consideration
• For projects the size of the SG funding 4 outputs is usually
sufficient;
• Consider what is actually achievable within the time frame
given recurrent issues such as:
– Slow start ups (financial phasing through this round)
– Weather (flood / drought / agricultural seasons)
– Recruitment / retention of staff
– Effective capacity building?
– Your baseline / end line?
– Milestones to coincide with financial years
– Assumptions around what you cannot control and which would
affect the project negatively.
REPORTING DOCUMENTS
Key reporting processes
• End of September: Mid-year report which for the first 6 month
report will include your baseline. Light touch report providing SG
with ‘status’ and early notice of issues.
• End of January: Application for carry-over of underspend.
• End of March: End of year detailed report which will include:
– Narrative report (on template)
– Report against approved budget and updated if required (using
excel template)
– Updated logframe completed under appropriate milestone and
amendment request (if appropriate)
Key Changes to Reporting
•
•
•
•
Stream-lined for internal administration purposes
Greater focus on outputs & outcomes; less on activities
Greater emphasis on baselines
Grant holders can communicate their achievements more explicitly
– and Scottish Government can better understand what the
programme is achieving around:
– Gender/ social inclusion
– Sustainability/ wider influence
– Innovation
– Cost effectiveness
Baseline reporting
• Each project will prepare a baseline for the ‘site specific’ changes
that the project will be tracking (linked to logframe indicators);
• This can be qualitative and quantitative but must be replicable to
enable tracking of results and hence ‘contribution’ from the project
at the end of the intervention;
• Can be linked to wider Government of Malawi data or other data
sets within the District(s);
• Enables both contribution of change to be assigned to the project as
there may be other actors working in the locality, as well as
supporting learning. Focus on outputs and outcome level indicators.
• Report submitted with the first 6 month report.
Key links / dates
All application material available from
• http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/International/intdev/Maps/Malawi/2015fundinground
Frequently Asked Questions process:
Material can be submitted TODAY on cards available
Round / close date
SG Answers by
1: 29th August
5th September
2: 12 September
19th September
FUNDING ROUND CLOSES : 3RD OCTOBER AT 1400HRS
PART 3
• OPEN PANEL SESSION
(SG/IOD/NIDOS/SMP): ON “LIVE
ISSUES” FOR MALAWI PROJECTS
PART 4
• NIDOS/SMP LED SESSION ON WHAT
SUPPORT THEY CAN OFFER
APPLICANTS