Training and Coaching on Proposal Writing and Fundraising Skills For organizations working for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)
From April to August 2015
Location: Hanoi
A. Background
USAID has recently launched the Partner Capacity Development (PCD) Program to build institutional capacity of Vietnamese agencies, organizations and individuals in a wide range of issues that USAID is working on, including economic growth and inclusion, private sector partnerships and innovation, HIV/AIDS, climate change and disaster risk reduction, disability and vulnerable populations, avian and pandemic influenza, education, and environmental remediation. The implementer of this effort is the Institute of International Education (IIE), a US NGO with extensive experience in education and capacity building sector.
PCD conducted an outreach workshop and rapid training needs assessment with participation of 26 local organizations and international organizations working for persons with disabilities in Novembers 2014. The participants identified difficulties regarding fundraising and proposal writing as follows:
- Organizational staff lack of capacity in proposal writing
- Shortage of funding opportunities, especially those come from national / local government sources.
- Lack of experience in management of DPOs, especially those who are PWDs as they are busy with different tasks.
- Sign language (and also capacity to turn the sign language into written Vietnamese, then translation of Vietnamese into English or other languages). It’s often the case that the sign language cannot convey or bring out all the contents or ideas from the thoughts of the people. So that is difficult for them to develop proposal or implement fundraising activities.
- Language capacity, especially English, i.e. translation and writing in English. PWDs often face difficulties in language capacity as they may have limited access to training and education.
- Some organizations are social enterprises, but they face difficulties in shortage of capital (investment), developing the outputs and finding markets for their products.
- Corporations may give money, but usually in the type of donation or charity which is not always preferred by the organizations. In the other cases, the corporations may be skeptical about the capacity and/or interventions of the NGOs who work with and for the PWDs.
- Funds managed by governmental agencies are very difficult to approach by the DPOs.
Based on the findings and recommendations of the organizations working for PWDs, PCD is planning to provide training and coaching on proposal writing and fundraising skills to key members of local organizations working for PWDs.
The work should be carried out as identified in the objectives and tasks below. To do so, PCD is looking for one consultant to carry out this intervention with the selected staff of local organizations working with PWDs to assist them to improve the ability of proposal writing and fundraising skills.
One of the expected results of the project is to provide the capacity building and technical assistance to selected local organizations working for PWDs in management, administration, or additional areas and enable them to mobilize diverse funding resources, especially resources from international donors.
B. Objective
Proposal writing and fundraising skills of key staff who are working for disabilities organizations will be strengthened to enable them access more diverse funding resources and gain more winning proposals.
C. Statement of Work
Responsibilities of consultant:
The selected consultants will work closely with PCD team and other relevant stakeholders to provide training and coaching to selected local organizations staff working for PWDs. The Consultant will be expected to perform the following duties:
1. Meet with PCD team and Performance Advisor to clarify this TOR and further understanding of the requirements for local organizations working for PWDs;
2. Conduct pre-training assessment with selected DPO/NGOs and rapid survey on successful and unsuccessful proposals which were prepared by the selected local organizations working for PWDs in recent years to ensure that issues and weaknesses of proposal writing skills and fundraising will be identified and evaluated.
3. Based on the results of pre-training assessment, rapid survey and analyzing of existing proposals, the consultant will develop an action plan to implement this TOR. This should include key tasks and a schedule.
4. Prepare a design of the program. The design should be detail the participatory combination training program and on-the-job coaching on project proposal writing and fundraising skills for the selected staff who are working with PWDs. Training and coaching program design should be focused on all steps of proposal writing including structured review of request for proposals (when appropriate), idea development for unsolicited proposals, participatory needs assessment with targeted groups to identify goals, objectives and expected results. Special emphasis should be on the content of a project description and its focused activities. This should include project location and time schedule of activities, resources for carrying out the project, cost and income sources, description of the implementing organizations and partners, project team and management, monitoring and evaluation, follow up risk assessment, assumptions and internal monitoring of progress.
The training will involve participant’s discussion of actual individual ‘proposal concept notes” or active RFPs for funding for the VNGOs. These will be used as examples and strengthened through the training and coaching. These concept notes and/or RFPs will be prepared by individuals prior to the training. Follow-up coaching with selected participants will focus on developing these concept notes into proposals or advising them on responses to current RFPs.
The training design must be reviewed and approved by the PCD prior to implementation.
5. Prepare all participant materials as required by the approved design to include a fund-raising guideline handout, proposal writing techniques handout, and copies of visual aids.
6. Providing multi-day training program (number of training days will be identified during the pre-training assessment) to the selected leaders and staff (25 - 30 people) who are taking responsibility for proposal writing and fundraising at the selected organizations working for PWDs. Use participatory and practical approaches, as detailed in the program design, to ensure that participants are able to absorb the knowledge sufficiently and apply into project proposal writing skills, fundraising and fund management.
7. The Consultant will be required to provide follow up coaching technical assistance to the selected staff as they work on proposals, with the method of on the job training to ensure that the selected staff will practice proposal writing in a specific topic. The proposal topic will be discussed and decided by each local organization during the training. Together with the selected staff, the Consultant will draft an assignment schedule to ensure that the selected staff will complete each proposal writing step.
8. Writing final training and coaching report which reflect results of the training, coaching, recommendations of participants and proposed follow up work plan for each selected staff.
D. Time and rate
Length of time for this assignment will be from April 2015 to July 2015; the training will be organized at third week of April 2015 and follow up coaching until July 2015. Rate will be based on consultant working experience and negotiation.
E. Supervision
The Consultant will be expected to perform the duties under the overall supervision of PCD Program Manager. He/She will coordinate and cooperate with Performance Advisor and PCD staff to implement the duties as mentioned in the TORs.
F. Evaluation criteria
Training Program Design
- Training programs have clear objectives written in the form: “At the conclusion of this training, the participant will be able to…”
- Training programs must have complete agenda design and timelines 2 weeks in advance; slide decks and handouts provided 5 days in advance to International Advisor
- Training program design should include an evaluation plan annex; training programs must include a pre and post-test evaluation using quizzes, criteria referenced role plays or practicums, or other forms of evidence to measure Level 2 knowledge / skill transfer
- Training providers should work closely with PCD technical staff as requested to provide orientation of the training program for workplace managers prior to delivery and to enlisted their support the learning objectives when participants return to the job.
- Training design should include clear links to follow-up coaching and a plan to monitor use of new knowledge / skills back on the job
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Training Programs
- Level 1: Reaction evaluations used to collect participant data on most important new knowledge, intended use of the knowledge/skills, and further development needs
- Level 2: Post-Testing quiz (or criteria-based observation for role-plays) indicates training objectives have been met
- Level 2: Action plans are prepared by participants (where appropriate) for introducing the new skills, job aids, and methods into the work place.
- Level 3: Coaches (when a portion of follow-up) report periodically on participants’ application on the job of transferred new skills during the training - based on relevant criteria
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Coaching
- In advance of the coaching assignment, the Coach will prepare and present a Coaching Plan that includes major components, # of individuals (coachees) to receive the coaching, timelines and/or deadlines for each component, and illustrative indicators of success for evaluation.
- The Coach will provide periodic evaluations of the effectiveness of each of the coachee applying their new skills on the job. These assessments may be made by observation in role playing sessions, by observation in real on-the-job situations, and/or by observation in a combination of both. This feedback should be provided both to the coachee and PCD following each evaluation.
- PCD will collect written evaluations of the Coach from the coachees. These evaluations should be done anonymously by each coachee, and any other significant individuals involved in the coaching effort (i.e. supervisors). The evaluations may be requested several times throughout the coach’s assignment, using the timeline and components of the Coaching Plan to determine specifically when they should be conducted.
- Conduct a final evaluation of the coaching success at the end of the assignment.
G. Deliverables (both English and Vietnamese)
- Pre-training assessment report including approved training program and working schedule and a guideline for proposal writing.
- Final approved training / coaching design
- Final training documents and materials in Microsoft World
- Final training course report
- Final follow up technical assistance report
H. Required Qualifications
The Local Consultant have demonstrated experience in proposal writing skills and fundraising with a successful track record of working with non-profit organizations in Vietnam. He/she will possess:
- At least Bachelor degree (or equivalent experience) in a related field
- Demonstrated ten (10) years’ experience in successful winning of proposals and raising-funds in VNGO environment
- Minimum five (5) years of professional experience in designing and delivering capacity building training / coaching programs, with an experience working with NGOs as advantage
- Previous working experience with USAID funded project is an advantage
- Fluent in written and spoken Vietnamese and English.
I. Application procedure
Interested candidates should send application to the following address: [email protected] [1]. The application attached with CV should explain the understanding of the assignment; short methodology; anticipated work-plan; evidence of technical capacity and relevant experience; three references, including contact details.
Please place “Training on proposal writing skills” in the subject box.
The closing date for proposals is 5p.m. on Monday Mar 25, 2015
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview.