Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) has announced a fourth round of grants under the Africa Grants Programme (AGP) with support from Johnson & Johnson.
The AGP supports the training of health workers in low- and middle-income countries, through engaging partnerships between health organisations in the UK and Ireland and their counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Themes
Projects under the AGP 2020-21 Call for Applications must operate within LMICs in sub-Saharan Africa and, in a change to previous AGP rounds, will focus solely on strengthening the essential surgery and anaesthesia workforce directly impacting on mothers and children.
This round of the AGP will focus on reducing morbidity and mortality of mothers and/or children from conditions requiring essential surgical intervention and/or enhancing patient safety as a result of improved anaesthetic care through the training of relevant health workers. The aim of this stream is to improve the access to, and availability of, quality essential surgery and anaesthetic care for maternal, neonatal or paediatric surgical conditions. Projects which focus on surgery rather than anaesthesia should also demonstrate that they have considered how their work will impact on, or be impacted by, anaesthesia services in their focus country, and vice versa.
Although Johnson & Johnson are interested in targeting each stage of the surgical pathway, along with all cadres involved in ensuring that patients receive quality surgical care, this programme will fund projects which specifically focus on the delivery of surgical interventions targeting maternal, neonatal and paediatric conditions.
All training should be targeted across cadres who are involved in the delivery of surgical interventions, including doctors, nurses, anaesthetists (both physician and non-physician) and clinical officers.
Size and Duration
Grants are available for periods of between twelve and fifteen months and will begin from 1st May 2020. All project activity must be completed by 31st July 2021. Grants are available from £30,000 up to £75,000. THET does not guarantee that partnerships will be awarded the exact amount that they have applied for and there may be a period of negotiation around budgets once the grant has been preliminarily awarded.
Geographic Focus
There are 8 eligible countries for this round of the AGP:
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
Unfortunately, THET is unable to accept applications from partnerships working in any other countries.
Eligibility Criteria
Core Requirements and Country Eligibility
The core requirements for the AGP 2020-21 are as follows:
Applications must be made by eligible organisations and partnerships under this programme.
Projects must fit within the parameters of the scope of the Call.
Project budgets cannot exceed £75,000.
Projects must operate within one of the Sub-Saharan African countries listed above.
Applications must be submitted in English.
Project and Partnership Requirements
If the core requirements and country eligibility are met, applications will then be judged throughout the application process against the following criteria:
The project is single, coherent and time-bound, and deliverable within the budget and timeline proposed and agreed with THET.
The project contributes to the overall purpose of the Africa Mother and Child Grants Programme.
The project is aligned with overseas country policies and plans.
The approach to the project is appropriate and relevant to the local context.
The project is based on recognised good practice.
The project considers how it will benefit women, children and underserved communities.
The project considers how it will engage health workers working at all levels within the surgical ecosystem, in particular nurses, midwives, and clinical officers.
The project aims are clear and logical with a focus on measurable outcomes.
The project demonstrates value for money.
The partnership has the capacity to deliver the project, demonstrated through past successes.
The project effectively engages short- and/or long-term volunteers in order to deliver project activities.
The project impact will be sustained once the life cycle of the project has come to an end.
Applications that are clearly rooted in a sustainable partnership which promotes multi-disciplinary team working will be regarded favourably.
Partnerships may submit more than one application. However, applicants should be aware that there is a limited amount of funding available and as such THET is unlikely to fund more than one project per partnership. Applicants are encouraged to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Funding Restrictions
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AGP will fund:
Training and workshop costs, e.g. venue costs, refreshments and training materials.
National and International economy class travel only. For environmental reasons, travel for international trips of 3 days or less will not be funded.
Travel and associated costs, e.g. travel insurance (if not already covered by a central institution policy), accommodation, subsistence, visas and vaccinations.
Activity communication costs (cost related to activity overseas) e.g. teleconferencing, telephone and eLearning.
Publications and the development of web pages.
Equipment up to a maximum of 20% of the total grant budget (this includes both medical and office equipment).
Project management costs. This can include project staff salary contributions for part or full time posts required to deliver the project within the set project period. THET would not expect this to ever exceed 20% of the total budget and this will form a key component of the value for money assessment of grant applications. Communication around management, e.g. telephone and internet costs, office costs and administrative support is included here.
Consultancy costs up to 5% of the total budget. THET would expect technical expertise to be delivered by volunteers.
Monitoring and evaluation costs. THET would expect this to form 5 – 20% of the budget.
Contingency up to 1.5% of the total budget, to factor in exchange rate variances and/or bank charges.
AGP will not fund:
Entertainment costs (costs associated with entertaining individuals and/or groups of people, usually involving eating, drinking and other hospitality).
Costs relating to the delivery of health services outside of the scope of the project.
Capital costs (costs which cover the building or construction of new facilities or infrastructure).
Per diems (travel expenses such as accommodation and subsistence should be claimed as per expenditure rather than as a daily rate). While travel and food costs can be refunded to training participants, THET does not support per diems being paid to training participants solely for attending the training.