The Scottish Government

Malawi Development Programme: Assessment of Applications

LEVEL 1

Applications which do not meet all of the essential criteria below will not progress any further in the assessment process.

• The main applicant organisation must have a presence in Scotland.
• The project grant claim must be less than the maximum level of £400,000.
• The applicant must submit written evidence of support from partners in Malawi.
• The applicant must submit written evidence of consultation with the Government of Malawi at local, district and/or national level, or justification of why this was not submitted as part of the application by the deadline of 18th August. (The written evidence can be sent later, but the last date to submit this will be 7th September.)

LEVEL 2

Applications which meet all of the essential criteria will be assessed against the criteria below, receiving a grading on a five point scale with regard to how well they meet each criteria (A+ being excellent, D being poor). No one criterion has a greater weight than any other.

1. How well the proposed project fits within the Scottish Government's International Development Policy and with the terms of the Scotland-Malawi Co-operation Agreement, and the cross cutting themes.*

2. How well the applicant demonstrates their knowledge and understanding of the development needs and priorities identified by the Government of Malawi, and how well the proposed project meets the development priorities of Malawi.*

* With regard to criteria one and two the assessor will look at the alignment of results to objectives, i.e. will the results as outlined be sufficient to achieve the project objectives, and do the objectives contribute to the project aim?

3. The applicant must demonstrate the capacity of their organisation/consortium to deliver development projects in Malawi.

4. The applicant must provide evidence that they have the relevant expertise to deliver proposed projects in Malawi.

5. The applicant must provide evidence of a strong and ongoing relationship with their delivery partners in-country; this will include evidence of local partners' involvement in the design of the project as well as setting its aims and objectives.

6. The applicant must show evidence of inclusivity throughout all stages of design and delivery of the project, and where possible demonstrate that girls and women are encouraged to participate in and benefit from the project.

7. The proposal must demonstrate an efficient use of funds to achieve the proposed Objective(s). As part of this criterion the assessor should be able to evaluate the mode, method and approach of the project; whether the methodology is technically sound and the most efficient and effective approach to delivering the service/solution required.

8. The applicant must provide evidence of their commitment to thorough and rigorous Monitoring and Evaluation procedures to lead to effective project and programme management. As part of this, the assessor should check whether the applicant has considered properly the risks to project success and whether assumptions are being made that are likely to create high risk of project failure.

9. The applicant must describe their proposals for addressing the sustainability of the project after Scottish Government funding comes to an end.

LEVEL 3

Based on the above assessment of each individual criterion applications will receive an overall mark according to the 5 point scale as set out in the table below.

In addition assessors will complete a brief narrative assessment indicating the rationale for the grading above.

DECISION MAKING

LTSI will then submit the applications with the marking, the recommendation and the rationale to the Scottish Government. Final funding decisions will be made by Scottish Ministers based on recommendations from officials.