Rotary Club of Gawler Light Global Grant Presenter :Robert Eley CSC

Background Currently have an International Project in location Saw a need to improve existing facilities in location Spoke to Sister Club about concept Engaged Local Village Bangar on concept Obtained approval from village and support from Rotary Club of Bali Sanur

Project Refurbish a burnt out library storage area and convert it to a Library for the school children in the Village of Bontihing Provide new books and furniture for the library to accommodate 30 students at each visit, Provide four online stand alone computers, printers and WiFi connection to the Balinese wireless network for student use, and Provide an E-learning centre for villagers to enable them to develop new skills and enhance already achieved skills for the benefit of the village

Process for application Lobbied District for access to District Distributed Funds (DDF) Gained support for $USD 10,000 from DDF Volunteered to head application team Went online and registered with Rotary Foundation for Global Grant under Pilot Scheme Spent weeks online with TRF website learning how to use their system and understand the Grant process

Application Very easy to fill in (once you understood the jargon) Lots of liaison with Sister Club in Bali working out costs and areas of responsibility for project Immense difficulty with language barriers between clubs (spoken English good, but written language quite difficult to understand) Spent a long time talking on the phone to Bali and TRF working out the finer details of the application

Success !!! The entire process from concept to application approval was around three years. One year of procrastinating on what we would do to help One year of procrastinating about how we would start this process One year of frantic work getting data together and working our way through the TRF website and application process

Cost Total cost of the project was: $35,302 USD Breakdown of funding $10,000 USD District Distributed Funds (DDF) $10,000 USD Rotary Club of Gawler Light through a project called Bricks for Bontihing $15,302 USD TRF Global Grant

Lessons learned Talk to everyone ( this includes District Grants Committee) Use their planning tools as part of the preparation, whilst they might seem difficult they are essential as the application builds This process is not onerous, but you need to have clear plans from the beginning and a dedicated person just concentrating on the application, and Let the process flow, it does seem slow at times but it works ( I learnt that over the last year) You need to engage all of the players in the process, keep in contact with TRF staff, they speak funny but they know the system well and will critique your application on the way

Reports Requirement to submit a report within one year of the application being approved, In our case we will submit one on completion of the project in early 2014 and then two more annual reports after that to comply with the sustainability requirement of TRF

Progress so far