Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) Guidance Webinar MannionDaniels | Bath | March 2018

UK Aid Direct Consortium Partners:

What is UK Aid Direct? UK Aid Direct is the UK government’s funding mechanism to support small and medium sized civil society organisations to work towards achieving the Global Goals It has been running since 2010 and was previously the Global Poverty Action Fund It is multi-sectoral in nature and reflects DFID priorities 5 grant types currently: Community Partnership, Impact, Jo Cox Memorial Strengthening, Jo Cox Memorial Network and Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)

What is the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)? SCCF has been set up to target small, British grassroots organisations not currently eligible under the regular funding rounds of UK Aid Direct Organisations must have an average annual income of <£250k Multi-sectoral in nature and reflects DFID priorities Grants of up to £50k will be available for projects lasting up to 2 years

What is the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)? Open funding round and applications will be reviewed every 6 months Second cut-off date is 29 March 2018 Successful applicants are expected to be announced in the summer Limited payment in advance: grant holders will receive an initial payment covering six months of their forecasted spend, plus 10% for 2 year projects and 20% for 1 year projects. Financial reports and claims are to be made every 6 months

Application process: All applications must be completed and submitted online The 2nd review of applications will take place after 29 March 2018 Allocation is £4m over a 2-year period Financial management assessment (FMA) and due diligence (dd) will be carried out to ensure eligibility criteria is fully met

Review process: All proposals will be assessed by experts The experts selected have significant experience in working with DFID, on supporting projects, and on assessing proposals They will be provided with guidance on scoring and reviewing proposals to ensure a consistent approach There will be a QA process to ensure fair assessment of each application Reviews to be carried out by the fund manager DFID moderation of reviews and successful applicants chosen

Findings from last SCCF funding round Experience: Project design and capability to deliver are key especially if a new organisation Identifying need: Understanding of local context, meaningful consultations with beneficiary groups, and co-ordination with relevant local government departments or other organisations. Why (and by whom) a beneficiary group had been selected Logic lack of logical linkage between the “need identified” and the “intervention proposed”

Findings from last SCCF funding round Evidence The inclusion of evidence at each stage of the proposal Scale and realism: Unrealistic and inflated number of estimated beneficiaries Value for money Demonstrate the rationale and define the long term developmental impact

Findings from recent research and previous UK Aid Direct funding rounds: Project design Sustainability Context sensitive Building capacity

Project design section: Download the ‘top tips for applicants’ document in ‘Guidance’ on website Download the general project design presentation Read about DFID’s strategic objectives and focus and then consider which of these strategic objectives your project contributes to Note that projects may contribute to more than one Look at what the fund is trying to achieve – read the fund level theory of change Think about how your project will contribute to the objectives of the fund Consider which UK Aid Direct approaches best fits with your approach

Project design section: Think about and detail who you consulted with during the design of your project; beneficiaries, government, other NGOs Consider and demonstrate why your project is needed Consider and show what it is you want to achieve with the project and how you will do it Show how are you working with others; e.g. is government involved? How many people will benefit from the project? Those benefiting directly and those benefitting indirectly. Measure unique individuals. How have you identified them? Ensure a logical linkage - clear understanding of how the intervention addresses the problem and how it will deliver impact. Show how you can address gender and disability issues

Leave no one behind – recommended reading: Policy papers from DFID Stepping up a gear for girls and women: updates to DFID’s Strategic Vision for Girls and Women, to 2020 and beyond Read here (opens in a new window). Disability Framework – One Year On: Leaving No One Behind Leaving no one behind: Our promise (updated 10 January 2017) Read here (opens in a new window)

Results section: Think about and demonstrate what a successful outcome of the project would look like. What would the change you are expecting to happen look like? Consider and show how you will monitor your results to show whether you have been successful. How will you monitor how your project is doing? How will you collect information and data? Reflect on how the project will continue once UK Aid Direct funding ends? Are you building capacity? Can the local community take over elements?

Results framework: Read the specific guidance on how to develop a results framework and use the results framework template Each stage of the results framework should form a logical flow and link to each other What you do at each stage helps lead to the success of the next stage Outline the outcomes of the project – what you expect to change Choose 2 indicators – ways of measuring the change Develop output indicators – what you need to do to contribute to the outcome Outline activities – what activities the project will do to meet the output indicators

Value for money (VFM) – things to consider: Consider VFM across your project when designing it Are you reaching the right target group? Are you reaching the right number of beneficiaries to make it worthwhile? Are you using the best way of reaching them? Are there examples of how this has been successful before? Are you considering how to keep your costs down? What are your main ‘cost drivers’? Are you being as effective as you can be? What is the cost per beneficiary? Are there any economies of scale you can take? What would this grant enable you to do that you can’t currently do?

Risks: You won’t be penalised for putting all risks down Be realistic! Think about the risks the project faces: security, financial, environmental or political risks Explain what they are, what impact they would have on your project and what you will do to either prevent them from happening or dealing with them if they do happen

Overview of timings Stage Anticipated time Application window 26 weeks Application Review and Moderation 10 weeks DFID Approval 3 weeks Due Diligence 7 weeks Grant Set Up

Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) Guidance Webinar MannionDaniels | Bath | March 2018