Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA)

Applications should be completed using the following methods:

1. By e-mail to: grantproposals@osisa.org
2. By Mail to: Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, PO Box 678, Wits 2050
3. By Fax: +27115875099
    

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There is no deadline for grant awards more than $50,000. Your application should at least be two months prior to the start date of your intended activities. Application deadlines are detailed for grant awards over $50,000. We cannot guarantee applications consideration of applications received after the deadline.

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1.    The Cover letter: This letter may be brief, and must include:

• a brief description of the project,
• amount requested in US Dollars,
• proposed start and grant end date, and
• the cover letter must be on an official letterhead and signed by the Executive Director of the organisation.

2.    Executive Summary: The executive summary should also be very brief, covering not more than 2 pages. It should include the following:

• Summary statement of the problem to be addressed
• Brief description of the purpose of proposed grant
• Proposed grant activities and the type of impact it hopes to achieve.  
• The level of funding requested and the total budget for the activities described in the text of the proposal. If you are looking for resources to cover core costs, please provide an overview of the organization’s work, and a motivation as to why your institution requires direct support.  
• An overview of your organisation and why it is qualified to carry out what is being proposed. We are particularly concerned with the extent to which your organization espoused open society values and ideals in a manner that is locally relevant, and with how you have achieved impact in the past.

3.    Grant Proposal: The proposal should be clear and concise and cover the following elements:

• PROJECT NAME
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • (A statement of the problem that the project seeks to address)
• GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
  • (Specify the goals and objectives of the project)
• ACTIVITIES
  • (Specify the activities to be undertaken during the project period)
• INDICATORS OF SUCCESS
  • (Give SMART indicators which in your view could be used to measure the success of the project)
• IMPLEMENTING ORGANISATION
  • Provide details of the organization that will implement the project, including both is governance and management structures and perhaps, senior personnel and expertise available to it. You may also wish to include other similar and relevant projects/activities that the implementation organization has undertaken in the past. You should also reflect on the governance structure and the expertise available to the organization.
• GENDER ANALYSIS
  • That is, do provide an analysis of the difference(s) in access that men and women will have to the programme/project; the activities they will perform; and constraints they will face relative to each other across the gender line. Also, how will each gender group benefit from this project?
• YOUTH PARTICIPATION
  • How will youth participation be addressed in the project? Also, how will the youth benefit from the project?
• NEED AND RATIONALE FOR THE PROJECT
  • Justify why you think there is a need for this project and provide the rationale for its existence.
• SUSTAINABILITY
  • How do you hope to sustain this project? Access the project’s sustainability from all angles
• RATIONALE FOR SUPPORT
• Provide an analysis of you think OSISA should support this project; your analysis should refer to the objectives of OSISA.
• CONCERNS AND CONDITIONS
  • Are there any anticipated but specific concerns with this project or its implementation, which you may wish OSISA to know in advance as OSISA prepares to assess your project?
• LOCAL AND OTHER PARTNERS
  • Who are you going to partner with in the project –especially in the SADC? Please provide complete information including responsible persons and their contacts. Also include the roles and support that these partners will play or provide to the project. If available, provide copies of the written commitments, or agreements that you may already have with the named partners
• DETAILED BUDGET
  • This should reflect the planned activities as outlined in C (iv) above.
  • If need be, you should provide some explanation on the implications – or at least justification – of the budget items (costs) that you propose
• OTHER FUNDING PARTNERS APPROACHED
  • Give an indication of partners you will work with in the project. In doing so, you should include the contact persons and details of responsible persons at those organisations
     

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The relevant grant unit will e-mail you once a decision has been made. It is very important that you tell us about any changes to your contact details, including changes to your e-mail address. Please email any changes to: noncebar@osisa.org

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Policy grants will be awarded to support efforts aimed at long-terms systemic change at the policy or legal level.

An anchor grantee is an institutional partner, with whom OSISA has a high degree of shared values.  It is an organisation that has strong capacity, and plays a unique role in the region.  

Capacity-building grants can be awarded to individual organisations that seek to work with a large cross section of a community, but the strong preference is that they be awarded to groups, networks or alliances of NGOs, or to institutions of higher education.  

Primarily, core grants are awarded as seed or operational funding to support grantees with missions and programmes that are aligned with OSISA aims and objectives. Core grants may be given to two primary categories of grantees: those that have achieved a high degree of professional development, are strong players in a given field, and need very little guidance or support General Support Grants). A core grant to such an institution would ensure that work around opening societies is taking place in a manner that we agree with, but do not need to be prescriptive around.

Due to a number of applications we receive and the limited resources we have, we award only one grant per calendar year to an organization, but occasionally will make exceptions for projects we solicit.

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Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications we receive, we cannot provide feedback on each specific proposal.

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Rejected proposal cannot be considered the second time.

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You will receive an e-mail immediately after receipt of your application. In addition, all applications will be posted on the website.

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An application cannot no longer be edited once submitted. If any information needs to be added or changed, contact us.
 

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You may save a partially completed application and finish it later. To do so, you will need to re-enter the online portal with the e-mail address and password used to create the application. When you log back in, you will see a list of applications associated with your organization. Click on the application you would like to continue with. Luc please advise if this is correct.

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Award notification will be made via e-mail within 180 days after the close of an application cycle.

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Once a grant is approved, we send a grant agreement and a covering letter detailing the terms of the grant and what is required for payment to be made. Payments are remitted into the organisation’s bank account through an electronic funds transfer. Please make sure that the bank account details you provide in your application are those of your organisation’s main operating account.

OSISA requires that you implement grant activities in accordance with the approved budget, as stipulated in the grant agreement and within a given time frame. It is therefore important to read and understand the terms of the grant agreement thoroughly.

OSISA grantees are expected to indicate the impact of their work through:

• Measurement and evaluation
• Communication and dissemination of results
• Sharing of best practices

This includes submission of progress and financial reports, and participation in activities to disseminate work sponsored by OSISA. Specific reporting deadlines and additional responsibilities will be included in the contract letter that accompanies all grant awards.

 

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