| Title: |
Proposal Writing as a Consultancy Skill |
| Keywords: |
Planning and programming (incl.. budgeting and evaluation)
Communication (oral, written)
|
| Country: |
Germany
|
| Institution: |
Germany - Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg
|
| Course coordinator: |
Peter Campbell
|
| Date start: |
2021-04-26 |
| Date end: |
2021-04-30 |
| About duration and dates: |
15 hours preparation including team coordination, background reading and collation of relevant data; 45 hours on-site (1 week). |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
|
| Mode of delivery: |
Face to face
|
Course location:
Institute of Public Health
Im Neuenheimer Feld 365, Room 007
D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany |
|
| ECTS credit points: |
2 ECTS credits
|
SIT:
60 hours in total:
- 15 hours: preparation for the course with team communication leading to collaborative individual study including pre-reading and collection of relevant informational material.
- 15 hours: lectures
- 30 hours: group work |
|
| Language: |
English
|
Description:
The overall objective of this course is to enable health professionals and managers and students to understand and apply the concepts and principles of proposal writing within international health and to improve their personal and technical skills for in proposal writing.
At the end of the course the participants will be able to:
- Develop and write a proposal targeting international health donors / clients
-Apply the principles of effective proposal writing using analytical and design tools.
- Utilise the team approach to developing a proposal
- Use criteria for assessment of proposals |
|
Assessment Procedures:
Groups of 4-5 participants are assigned by the coordinator of the course to collaboratively develop and write a proposal on selected global health topics in different low-middle income countries.
Each group member is responsible for at least one component of the project write up to ensure individual contribution.
The proposal has a minimum length of 1000 words, and in the case of the Global Fund proposal, should be no longer than 15 pages.
The proposal deadline is early afternoon on Day 4 of the course.
Criteria specific for the type of global donor (ie Global Fund and the BMGF) are used as a grading tool for evaluating the corresponding group proposals.
The Course Facilitators (teachers) evaluate all the written group proposals individually and then agree on a final score for each project proposal. Equally, the members of each group (peers) individually grade and then agree on a final score for the project proposal of another group and are not reciprocally grading their proposal. Finally, the two sets of scores are combined into one score for each proposal, with a weighting ratio of 70% for facilitators and 30% for peers.
Failure requires a 2000 word proposal on a second topic negotiated between the student and the coordinator. It should be submitted 2 weeks after the second topic is agreed. |
|
Content:
The course includes the following topics:
• Current trends and expectations of consultants in International Cooperation in Global Health
• Effective Proposal Writing Techniques
• Essential Elements of Proposal Development
• Proposal Formulation According to the Rules of an International Donor
• Analytical and Design Tools (such as Situational Analysis and Log Frame), basic budgeting.
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation criteria for submitting proposals on Global Health Topics
• Global Fund Proposal criteria for submitting proposals on Global Health Topics
• Criteria used by international donors for evaluating Global Health proposal applications |
|
Methods:
The course is based on (a) individual preparation work facilitated by team communications through email and/or teleconferencing (Skype/Whatsapp/telephone etc). This is coordinated by the assigned preliminary group coordinator who contacts his/her team members and explains to each their potential role and responsibilities for the preparation work. Each team member then undertakes relevant background reading and collection of informational materials related to their team‘s developing country/health topic (15 hrs).
It continues as (b) lectures with participatory question and answer/discussion time (15 hrs); plenary discussions and group exercises (4 hrs); facilitated proposal writing exercise (20 hrs.); and final peer assessment of the Project Proposal documents (6 hrs.). |
|
Prerequisites:
English: TOEFL test 5.5 or IELTS 6.5 or equivalent language skills |
|
|
Attendance:
Maximum number of students (including tropEd students): 25 |
|
Selection:
First come, first served |
|
Fees:
500 EUR for tropEd students, 750 EUR for others |
|
|
Scholarships:
None available |
|
Major changes since initial accreditation:
Peter Campbell MBBS MScIH has now taken over the responsibilities of Course Coordinator. He has been teaching the course with the previous coordinator, Sylvia Sax, for the past 5 years and knows the module and materials in detail.
In response to participant feedback, there is now increased time for the teams to write their proposals since the facilitators now ensure that the participants choose their main topic by midday on the 2nd day. We have also increased group facilitation during their use of logframe and situational analysis tools.
Inclusion as mandatory course in MScIH Heidelberg. |
|
Student evaluation:
Positive participant feedback highlighted how challenging the course is but they particularly appreciate the practical focus on skills and the facilitation of their learning. Some participants suggested to extend the course to 2 weeks, the 2nd week to be spent writing a proposal for a different donor; however, others indicate they would not attend a longer proposal writing course. |
|
Lessons learned:
The need to provide stronger facilitation early on so that the groups can rapidly decide and agree on a topic for their proposal. There is generally low level of knowledge and skills in proposal writing. Participants themselves are often surprised to discover the breadth of skills needed for writing proposals. |
|
tropEd accreditation:
Accredited in Heidelberg, September 2003. Re-accredited in Paris, May 2008 and in Shanghai, May 2013. This accreditation is valid until May 2018. Re-accredited in June 2018 in Edinburgh, this accreditation is valid until June 2023. |
|
| Email Address: |
grys@uni-heidelberg.de |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2012-01-09 23:04:40 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2012-01-10 05:17:14 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2019-04-09 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2020-09-16 10:48:35 (W3C-DTF) |
