Research and Capacity Building Projects

All proposals for both research and capacity building project approval require Institutional Authorization by AUA Executive Leadership prior to submission to the Donor.

Institutional authorization will only be granted after Internal Approval has been confirmed. Internal approval is initiated by the Principal Investigator submitting the proposal. The PI is usually responsible for the intellectual leadership of the research project and for the overall management of the research.

Internal Approval is confirmation from the Head of School/ College of the viability and acceptability of a proposal in terms of: capacity & infrastructure; financial recovery and strategic vision.

The Institutional authorization is a confirmation by AUA Executive Leadership that the proposed activity does not pose reputational or financial risk to AUA.

In accordance with AUA Financial Regulations, no application should be submitted to the donor organization without prior approval from Executive Leadership.  Furthermore, all research and capacity building project agreements must be signed by the AUA President.

What does Executive leadership check?

• Assess the financial integrity of the costing and application
• Review the terms and conditions of funding
• Consider third party requirements and agreements

How long will approval take for grant applications?

For standard applications, PI should submit proposals for approval at least two weeks before the funder’s deadline; allowing 5 working days for school/college approval and 5 working days for Executive Leadership approval.

Capacity Building projects

Grant Proposal Review Board

A. Purpose

The Grant Proposals’ Review Board (RB) is to:

• Serve as a central point for the vetting of inquiries and invitations from outside entities for AUA participation in grants from various funding agencies.
• Serve as a central point for receiving, evaluating and recommending grant application proposals to be submitted to various funding agencies, based on AUA institutional and departmental development strategies/priorities;
• Ensure synergy among departments in developing grant applications;
• Ensure effectiveness and efficiency in grant application preparation process and;
• Assure organizational capacity is in place for project implementation in case of successful grant applications.

B. Membership

The President appoints the RB members including field specialists.

The RB will meet based on need with prior notification of one week. Proposals become viable once approved by RB; see Section II: Grant Proposal Information form.

C. Grant Application Proposal Evaluation Criteria

1. Relevance

To what extent is the project suggested suited to the context and needs of AUA strategic development priorities?

2. Composition of the team for application preparation

Is there a team in place qualified for preparation?

3. Organizational capacity for project implementation

Can the Department/College/School carry out the implementation?

• as a coordinator
• as a partner

4. Value added and Impact

What value added will the project bring to AUA? What impact can the project have at departmental, institutional and national levels?

5. The RB members will evaluate each proposal according to above mentioned criteria on the scale of 1-10.