Scottish Government International Development Small Grants Program 2018

Application Deadline:  13^th November 2017

About the Award: Applications for grants are invited from incorporated not-for-profit organisations which have a presence in Scotland and an annual turnover of less than £200 thousand. Project grants should focus on any of Malawi, Rwanda, or Zambia in themes of food security; renewable energy; climate change; water; and others. Grants for capacity building and feasibility studies will be accepted in relation to any country designated as medium/low on the UN’s Human Development Index — but with priority for Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. Awards are a maximum of £60 thousand for project grants over three years, or a maximum of £10 thousand for feasibility and capacity building grants over one year.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: The Programme is targeted at small international development organisations, and the following eligibility criteria apply:

• applicant organisations must satisfy two conditions : 1) they must be established as not for profit and 2) constitute a “legal person”, meaning it is legally constituted and can enter into a contract. Ideally, applicants will be Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“SCIOs”) or companies that have charitable status. Unincorporated organisations, even with charitable status, are not eligible to apply. However, if you are in the process of becoming incorporated you may submit an
  application by the closing date of Noon on 13th November and, providing that incorporation is in place by 31st December 2017 the application will be accepted for consideration.
• applicants must be able to evidence in their application a presence in Scotland;
• Applicants must have an annual expenditure of £200,000 or less (upper limit in each of the last 2 years);
• organisations applying must have been in existence for a minimum of 12 months at the time of applying and have audited/examined accounts available.;
• applicants may only apply for one type of grant (project grant / feasibility / capacity building grant) in each annual funding call;
• project grant applicants may only apply for grants that fit within the Scottish Government’s current ID Strategy: specifically this means that applications will only be eligible if they relate to the Scottish Government’s 3 SubSaharan partner countries which form the SG’s project base (Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia), with current priority themes/areas as described earlier (Education; Health; Sustainable Economic Development; Civic Governance and Society; Food Security; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; and Water);
• Capacity Building and Feasibility Study grant applicants will be accepted in relation to any country designated as having Medium/Low Human Development on the current UNHD Index, however weighting will be given to the Scottish Government partner countries of Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda, and
  • normally applicants may only apply for a grant where the Scottish Government will be the sole funder of such project; the exception to this is where the application is for joint or match funding, where the funding split may be up to a maximum of 50:50 with another funder, but in that event the other external funder must be identified by the applicant in their application and approved by the Scottish Government as part of the application assessment.

Selection Criteria: The Scottish Government particularly welcomes applications:

• from currently under-represented groups such as Diaspora;
• in the area of civic governance, which is currently less well represented under its IDF; and projects which are of themselves innovative or support innovations.
• for projects which will (a) work with other organisations currently in receipt of funding through the IDF and running projects under its larger Zambia, Rwanda or Malawi Development programmes; and/or (b) wrap around/dovetail/support such existing larger projects in those countries, to provide added value to the larger projects. Details of existing larger projects in those three countries can be found on the SG’s website.

Value of Award: With awards of up to a maximum of £60,000 for project grants over a three year period or a maximum of £10,000 for feasibility and capacity building grants, over one year, the Programme is specifically intended to accommodate smaller requests for funding to contribute to current IDS and outcomes and to overarching Scottish Government outcomes. Although there are maximum grant levels in place, it is envisaged that a range of project sizes will be supported through the Program.

How To Apply

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: The Scottish Government