How to win funding through DFAT's Business Partnerships Platform

The Business Partnerships Platform is the latest foray of Australia’s aid program into promoting private sector engagement in development. The program offers to match funds from businesses for projects that are both commercially viable and socially impactful. If the results of the first funding round are anything to go by, there is a high demand for this strategic funding amongst the development sector. A total of 184 projects were submitted seeking joint funding, with 10 projects receiving a total of 3.8 million Australian dollars ($2.9 million). Geographically and thematically, funded projects cover diverse regions and development matters, from banking for the poor to sugar supply chain improvements to child nutrition. And with BPP funding open to Australian, multinational and local organizations, a range of expertise and new ideas were brought to the table for the implementation of Australia’s new aid strategy. “The partnerships selected in Round 1 are all examples of non-traditional partners coming together to solve development problems in new and innovative ways,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade explained to Devex. Applications for the second round of funding close on Oct. 7. With strong competition again expected, Devex took an inside look at the strategies of last round’s winning projects and partnerships to offer tips for NGOs seeking to be among the next successful group. Tips for success 1. Be familiar with DFAT’s priorities and guidance. DFAT assesses submitted applications based on clear criteria, which makes the selection process “reasonably straightforward”, a spokesperson for DFAT told Devex. Their advice to applicants is to thoroughly review the guidelines for Round 2 as well as taking note of the ten partnership profiles from winners in Round 1. “This will provide applicants with a good understanding of what the BPP is aiming for,” the DFAT spokesperson said. Applicants should also check BPP’s list of priority sectors to establish which bilateral or regional programs are accepting proposals and in what areas. 2. Partnership is the key. Winning projects from Round 1 were able to clearly communicate the partnership between NGOs and the private sector as well as their shared goals. “It’s important to bring in your partners at the very beginning and co-design the proposal, to be very clear on the value you bring individually as well as collectively, to be aware of the expectations you have and what success looks like for everyone involved,” said Clare Verberne, executive manager of communications with nonprofit AVI, whose winning joint project with travel company Intrepid Group will help support small and medium-sized tourism businesses in Myanmar. Submitting a proposal as an extension of an existing partnership makes this process easier according to Mark Ingram, CEO of the Business for Development, which partnered with Base Titanium and the Cotton On Group for their successful submission. “For our project supporting ethical cotton production in Kenya, the partnership was formed in 2013, pilot initiated in 2014 and the program is now expanding,” he said. “The fact that the partnership was already in existence positioned us well to put forward the application and helped us in being clear in terms of what we were asking DFAT for.” 3. The development objectives also needs to be front and center. The partnership needs to deliver development objectives (social, environmental, economic and other) which should be clearly defined in the proposal. For the WWF, being able to articulate how their project would cover multiple objectives was key to their successful funding. Their project is in partnership with Intrepid Group. “Our project to restore and rehabilitate communities in Nepal included multiple social and environmental benefits that made our project attractive,” Darren Grover, head of Species Conservation with WWF Australia, explained. “It’s important to have multiple benefits. Try to couple community and social benefits with environmental or other types of benefits to tick as many boxes as you can.” 4. Projects should be able to operate long-term without government funding Long-term, sustainable outcomes are a key objective of all projects funded by DFAT. Michael DiGregorio, Vietnam country representative for The Asia Foundation, told Devex that treating their mobile banking for the poor in Vietnam project as a business plan resulted in them being marked highly. The foundation is working jointly with Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and MasterCard. “Proposals need to show sustainable options which cannot be ‘we will find funding from another donor,’” he said. It needs to be a business proposition to make the project sustainable and operate without any additional funding.” Ingram agrees that long-term sustainability is important in successfully receiving funding. “Ultimately shared value and inclusive business initiatives need to be commercially viable without long-term dependence on donor funding,” he said. “Our advice to future applicants is to ensure that their initiative is not reliant on DFAT funding, but rather is able to use requested funding to accelerate, multiply or amplify the development impact.” 5. Get in touch with DFAT, its associates or its country posts A common strategy amongst successful proposals was to contact DFAT or its partners to test proposals against the requirements of the BPP. “We liaised with a consultant contracted by DFAT when developing the concept note who provided us with useful guidance,” Ravi Menon, country director for Indonesia with The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, told Devex. GAIN’s project with DKT Indonesia will encourage midwives to offer better nutritional counseling. DFAT’s grant-manager, consultancy group Palladium, were an important contact for GAIN in answering questions, providing clarifications, and giving general guidance while developing the full application and business plan to improve child nutrition in Indonesia. Other NGOs sought feedback and support from DFAT in-country posts to better understand specific country objectives. The Better Cotton Initiative even submitted a first draft to DFAT to strengthen their proposal to support cotton farmers in Pakistan. “Some important feedback provided by DFAT was to give quantitative examples backing up all of our statements,” Lena Staafgard, COO for Better Cotton Initiative, said. “Our resulting proposal included many tables and charts that visually demonstrated data that supported our narrative.” Learning from mistakes In assessing Round 1 applications, DFAT identified a few common errors that resulted in rejection. According to DFAT, four common mistakes were: 1. A poorly articulated case for commercial viability and financial sustainability. 2. Lack of clarity on who the partners are and their roles within the partnership. 3. An unstructured or unclear development impact. 4. Submitting multiple, poor quality applications. Following feedback from Round 1, DFAT will be making slight changes to Round 2 of the BPP. Applicants will be asked to develop a more detailed initial application and have been given more time to prepare proposals. “Shortlisted applicants will also have more time to develop their full business plans and will be given an opportunity to pitch their proposals and answer panel questions at the initial shortlisting point,” the DFAT spokesperson told Devex. According to the winning project participants, BPP funding provides a fantastic opportunity to expand upon existing work and increase the reach of development outcomes. “Such a coalition of public and private partners, bringing together business, civil society and governmental bodies, is what underpins successful, durable and positive change in the sector,” Alan McClay, CEO for Better Cotton Initiative, said. The message from the successful NGOs is to give it a go and don’t fear the unknown — the bigger your impact can be, the better. 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