Go Digital: Sub Saharan Africa - Wales application process

Go Digital: Sub Saharan Africa – Wales application process

We are offering three grants of between £5000 and £8000 to organisations in Wales and Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) to collaborate digitally on international projects. Applications are now open and will close on Sunday 7 February 2021 at 23.59 (UK).

Submitting an application

Applications will be made through the Submittable platform.
Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials in order to submit the forms.
The platform has collaboration enabled, you will be able to invite your partner to collaborate on the form – the link is visible on the top right-hand corner named ‘Invite Collaborators’.
You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date.

Timeline

6 January 2021: Submittable platform opens
7 February 2021: application closing date
We will then work with an external panel of judges to score each application and select the successful proposals
19 March 2021: payment of grants commence/projects commence
31 December 2021: projects end date
28 February 2022: projects reports deadline

Application questions

Expect to be asked to provide the following:

A project summary
Backgrounds on all partners
A breakdown of partners roles and responsibilities during the project
A budget
How your project will make a positive contribution to the social and economic development of your partner countries and improve the welfare of the population (Official Development Assistance compliant)
What challenges you foresee and how you plan to overcome them
Equality Diversity and Inclusion policies in place

What is Official Development Assistance? (ODA)

This funding we are offering is from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget. Official Development Assistance is the UK government’s overseas aid budget to support the government’s 2015 Aid Strategy in developing countries. Therefore your project application must meet certain requirements.

An Official Development Assistance compliant project proposal should:

Demonstrate that projects will make a positive contribution to the social and economic development of the Official Development Assistance country involved;
Aim to further sustainable development (development that is likely to generate lasting benefits for the population of the country to which it is provided) or improve the welfare of the population.

How can you ensure your project is Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant:

When applying, you should consider the following questions to ensure your project is ODA compliant:

Is the project addressing the social and economic development of the country in question?
Is there a development need that my project or activity is addressing?
What is the evidence of the need?
How will this project or activity be applied in the country?
What will the impact of my project or activity be, and who will benefit?
How will my project or activity contribute to sustainable development?
How will success or impact be measured?

Eligible countries

Wales in partnership with at least one country from the following list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries:

What does a digital/virtual project mean?

The fund is designed to foster international connections at a time when international travel is restricted. In light of this, we are supporting partnership projects where organisations in the UK connect virtually with organisations overseas in order to deliver collaborative projects.

As there are global restrictions on hosting physical activity, we expect the project output to be primarily digital and presented online. As the organisations will be unable to travel to meet in person, we expect that the development of the project will also be done virtually, using online collaborative tools.

We hope that by supporting these projects in this fund, we are helping organisations to establish a climate-friendly approach to future international collaboration.

Find out more about the Go Digital: Sub Saharan Africa – Wales fund and example project types here

What costs can the grant cover?

Direct project costs include:

Staff time to deliver the project
Training costs
Professional fees
Translation and interpreter fees
Equipment and materials
Activities relating to learning, advocacy and community engagement
Evaluation
Promotion

We believe artists should be paid fairly and this should be reflected in the budget in relation to any artist costs.

How will my application be assessed?

Applications will be judged across the following areas (these areas will be clearly marked in the application form):

Activity and innovation:40%

Evidence of developed discussions and activity outline
Evidence of innovation through digital exchange

Partnership and positive contribution: 40%

Evidence of a sound partnership
Evidence of equal partner roles and responsibilities
Demonstrate that they are making a positive contribution to the social and economic development to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) country involved in the application
Usefulness of the grant to further development of the activity

Budget and timeline: 10%

Clear and realistic budget
Realistic timeline for activity

Diversity: 10%

Evidence of a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

Selection process:

Upon receipt of the applications, our assessment panel will review all applications and put forward those that meet the minimum requirements.

Eligible projects will then be assessed by a jury of British Council and cultural sector professionals (all jury members are required to sign confidentiality and conflict of interest forms). They will select three projects to receive funding.

When can I expect to hear if I am successful?

We hope to inform all applicants by March 2021.

Can I apply for a grant if I have previously received funding from the British Council?

If you have already recieved funding from the British Council for the proposed activity you are not eligible to apply for additional funding. If, however, you have received funding from the British Council for research or scoping activity to develop your proposal then you are able to apply for a collaboration grant in order to take the project forward.

Can I get feedback if my application was unsuccessful?

We will endeavour to provide feedback to all applicants, but depending on the number of applications we receive, this may take a few weeks.

Contact us
If you have any queries, please get in touch: TeamWales@britishcouncil.org

Author: Editor

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Go Digital: Sub Saharan Africa – Wales application process