Northeast SARE Webinar for Invited Professional Development Program Grant Applicants August 18,

Purpose Increase your understanding of the application process, so you can write a strong proposal. Ask questions in the ‘question box’ as we go, or at the end. Webinar will be recorded for future viewing

Adopted by Northeast SARE’s Administrative Council in Views funded projects as ‘investments’ Project framework designed to help ensure outcomes from investments. Outcomes: Measurable, positive changes in learning, action and condition Achieving outcomes benefits both the grantor and grantee! Outcome Funding

1.Beneficiaries 2.Performance target 3.Milestones 4.Engagement 5.Verification 6.Key individuals Key Components

1. Beneficiaries The people (agricultural service providers) that your project will engage and educate

2. Performance Target The specific, verifiable action(s) beneficiaries take as a result of participating in your project (and sometimes also) the benefit that results from the action. In other words: Exactly what do you expect to happen with your target audience if your project succeeds?

Recipe for Professional Development Performance Target 3 Ingredients: 1.Number of agricultural service providers who take action to teach farmers 2.Specific actions they take, i.e. educational activities and services with farmers. 3.Scale or extent of action: How many farmers they teach; How much production the farmers manage

Recipe for Professional Development Performance Target: Optional ingredient: 4.Measurable on-farm change: Number of farmers who adopt the project’s recommended solution Optional means Optional. This is not required. Some projects where agricultural service providers work closely with farmers throughout the project choose to verify and report this data. Include on-farm change in the target only if you will be able to verify it.

Example Performance Targets 20 agricultural service providers conduct educational activities and consultations about techniques, benefits, and challenges of planting cover crops in fields harvested for corn silage with 250 dairy farmers who cultivate 18,000 acres of corn for silage. Can you identify the 3 ingredients of the performance target?

Example Performance Targets 20 agricultural service providers develop and conduct education activities about techniques, benefits, and challenges of planting cover crops in fields harvested for corn silage with 250 dairy farmers who cultivate 18,000 acres of corn for silage. 1: Number of agricultural service providers 2: Specific actions 3: Scale or extent of action

8 agricultural service providers deliver education programs about the FAMACHA system of barber pole parasite management to 320 sheep farmers who raise 6,000 sheep. Example Performance Targets 1: Number of agricultural service providers 2: Specific actions 3: Scale or extent of action

This target also contains Optional ingredient 4: Measureable on-farm change Example Performance Targets 20 agricultural service providers consult intensively about value-added business planning with 35 dairy, beef, small ruminant, and/or fruit and vegetable farmers; 25 of these producers complete business plans for a value-added product; 12 educators conduct educational activities and services about value-added business planning with 100 additional farmers who manage 8,000 acres.

Considerations for Writing a Strong Performance Target a.How great is farmer need/interest in the problem/opportunity you will address? b.How great is agricultural service provider interest/ motivation to learn and to teach farmers? c.How many service provider beneficiaries will you engage? d.What time commitment are they able/willing to dedicate to the project and follow-up farmer education?

 Obtain information from agricultural service providers (and farmers if necessary) during proposal planning to helps answer these questions.

Considerations for Writing a Strong Performance Target d.What farm audience will beneficiaries work with? Is it large? Diverse? Geographically concentrated or dispersed? e.How complex is the farm problem your project is addressing? f.How complex, intensive or time consuming will educational work with farmers be for the beneficiaries?

 The number of beneficiaries who participate and take action will vary based on project content and design.  All beneficiaries may not conduct the same follow-up educational actions.  The performance target may contain different actions or amounts of action for subsets of service providers.

Considerations for Writing a Strong Performance Target Strive for an ambitious, but realistic performance target. The more information you have about: your beneficiary audience the farmers they serve the benefits for farmers from addressing the problem or opportunity in your project the risks and barriers to change that must be addressed The easier it will be to establish an ambitious and realistic performance target.

Questions about Performance Targets? Please type into ‘question box’ on your screen.

3. Milestones Logical, sequential learning steps beneficiaries take as they participate in project activities. Milestones prepare beneficiaries for the performance target (i.e. for taking action to teach farmers).

MILESTONE 2 30 enroll in project, attend workshops; learn concepts A, B, C TARGET 20 teach 250 farmers about A, B, C MILESTONE 3 25 attend field demo; learn and practice A, B, C MILESTONE 1 MILESTONE 3 PERFORMANCE TARGET MILESTONE 1 50 complete baseline survey about current knowledge and learning needs MILESTONE 2 MILESTONE 4 23 consult with PIs about farmer education plans 20 A Simplified OUTCOME FRAMEWORK

Not everyone who begins a project will complete all the milestones. Projects designed to recruit, engage and support a committed cohort of beneficiaries are often most successful.

Think about Milestones as describing the life of your project from the perspective of the beneficiaries who participate. How to Write Milestones Milestones should describe what THEY do -- Not what YOU do

4 Ingredients: 1.The number of agricultural service providers who participate 2.The project activity they participate in to learn and build skills 3.The knowledge and skills they learn 4.The timeframe when the participation and learning occur Recipe for a Milestone

Example Milestones 100 agricultural service providers attend 4-part webinar series and learn about market analysis and assessment, product development, market competition and positioning, and financial analysis and projections. June-September 2015 Can you identify the 4 ingredients of the milestone?

Example Milestones 100 agricultural service providers attend 4-part webinar series and learn about market analysis and assessment, product development, market competition and positioning, and financial analysis and projections. June-September Number of service providers 2.Activity they participate in 3.What they learn 4.Timeline – when they participate and learn

a.Articulate essential beneficiary learning and interim action steps b.Inform beneficiaries you have a clear plan to engage them c.Provide a timeline for activities and learning that helps you implement project d.Serve as monitoring tool to let you know if course corrections are needed and assure target is reached How do milestones help you? You will report against Milestones in annual progress reports.

Questions about Milestones? Please type into ‘question box’ on your screen.

4. Engagement Is what you do when you involve, teach, motivate, listen to and support beneficiaries. Is a key to success for Outcome Funded projects. Getting people to come to events is relatively easy. Obtaining commitment & Motivating action requires strong and consistent engagement.

Ways to Increase Engagement a.Involve beneficiaries in project planning b.Inform them of the performance target and information you need from them over time c.Provide learning opportunities through milestones that meet their needs d.Collect ongoing feedback about their learning, skill development and confidence to teach farmers e.Provide support – not just information… consulting, mentoring, assistance with planning and monitoring progress

Asking questions and collecting data to find out the extent to which beneficiaries: Achieved learning milestones Performed actions described in the performance target. 5. Verification

Describes: Tools and methods for collecting data about beneficiary learning and follow-up action The ingredients in milestones and performance targets are the items you need to ask questions and collect data about. Verification Plan Use the recipes as your guide.

Planned from the beginning Done throughout project: for milestones Target is verified after project activities (allow time for action to occur) Requires tracking beneficiaries – who they are and what they do as result of project Success with Verification

Tell the beneficiaries about the target and verification process -- at start of project Collect any information needed as you go Develop effective verification tools; share tools with beneficiaries ahead of time Be persistent in engaging beneficiaries Success with Verification

Questions about Verification? Please type into ‘question box’ on your screen.

The ‘leadership team’ Serve a key role in the project Provide letters of commitment 6. Key Individuals

Northeast SARE’S Review Process it is interactive… nesare.org

 Preproposal feedback; this webinar  Online materials (Guide for Applicants)  Clarity questions (if needed) from first tier review panel  Second tier panel ranks all proposals  Administrative Council decides on funding  ‘Pre-award’ conf. call with approved projects

Timeline  Full proposals due October 15, 2015  Clarity questions answered by early Dec.  AC meeting in mid February  Funding decisions announced late Feb  Pre-award conference calls in March or April  Contracts issued late summer

Questions? Find Guidance at Grant/Professional-Development-Grant Grant/Professional-Development-Grant Contact NESARE PDP Staff: