Writing a Proposal Jürgen Carls University for Peace P.O. Box: 138 – 6100 San José, Costa Rica E-mail: jcarls@upeace.org Tel.: (00506) 205 90 75 San José,

Writing a Proposal

Jürgen CarlsUniversity for PeaceP.O. Box: 138 – 6100San José, Costa Rica

E-mail: jcarls@upeace.orgTel.: (00506) 205 90 75

San José, Costa Rica

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Definition of a Project

A project is a combination of inputs, managed in a certain way, to achieve one or more

desired ouptuts, and ultimately one or more

desired impacts

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Project Duration

• The objectives of a project are always limited in time

• Most donors are used to projects that last between 2 to 4 years

• To accomodate donor needs, longer projects are usually divided into phases of 2-3 years

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Types of projects

• Experiment or study• Strategic or applied• Simple or complex• Small or large

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Programs and Projects

• A program consists of several projects

• A project is more specific than a program

• A project has one or more objectives

• A project promises outputs within a given time

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A Program Consists of Several Projects

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Donor Questions on First Looking at a Project

• What is new about this project?

• As a result of this project, who will be better off and in what way?

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Selecting a Topic with Right Balance of Risk and

Returns• Donors are looking for projects that have

low risks and high potential returns /impacts.

• When considering a new project, estimate the size of the risk and of the potential returns. Reject topics that bear high risks with low returns.

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Topics that Attract Donor Support will:

• be sufficiently important to be worth doing• be useful, and seen as priority by project

beneficiaries• be “manageable” i.e. have a reasonable

chance of achieving results within a limited amount of time, with a reasonable quantity of available inputs

• show the right balance of risk and returns• attract partners that have a comparative

advantage to carry out the project

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Writing to inform – Writing to persuade

Write to convey information

Write clearly and logically

Example: exams

Write to persuade your reader to do something

Write with urgency and passion

Example: advertisements

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The most important thing about writing to persuade

Appeal to the self-interest of your readers!

This means

you need to know as much as you can about them

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Donors are the Readers of Your Proposal

• Finding out their agency’s priorities• Finding out individual likes and dislikes of

the donor´s representatives

You need to identify their self-interest, by:

You can find out these things from your Donor Intelligence Unit, from researching donor sites, and by meeting donor staff face-to-face

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Tips on Writing with Passion

Use strong words like: urgent, vital, essential, new

Avoid vague words like: possibly, under certain circumstances, ceteris paribus

Use short and sharp sentences to push your message along

Use arresting words or phrases Use the active voice as much as possible Put statements in a positive form Use definite, specific, and concrete

language

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Characteristics of Project Objectives

• Correspond to a core problem• Achieve the objective to

overcome the problem• Contribute to the achievement of

development goals

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Core Problem - Objective

• Core Problem: low maize yields• Objective: increased maize

yields

Note: The objective is often a positive re-formulation of the core problem

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How to prepare well-elaborated budgets for proposals

• Use a budget format that will be consistent for all proposals, except in those cases where the donor already has a prepared format

• Each budget position should have a foot note indicating the costs per unit

• Generally speaking, budgets should show figures that are rounded to the closest $000

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How to prepare well-elaborated budgets for proposals

• The budget should be realistic • Avoid calculating too low or too high• Overheads are legitimate costs and

must be included in all budgets• Each budget should have a budget

summary

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Budget formats

Each donor organization has different formats

Example: Illustrative budget format1. Coordination of the project (salaries, administration, operational costs, travel)2. Costs of Components/Results/Products3. Subtotal coordination and results4. Unforeseen expenses 5%5. Subtotal coordination and results6. Overheads(10 – 25%)9. Total

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Qualities of a well-elaborated Budget

• A well elaborated budget should be clear, transparent and easy to read

• When looking at the budget anybody should be able to read and understand it without the necessity of your presence to explain it

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Rounding to the closest 000

Costs for positionPersonalPanel speakerWorkerHonoraries

1st year

42,58024,50017,000

2nd year

42,58024,50017,550

1st and

432417

2nd year

432418

Operation CostsCommissions and ServicesOthers

15,5252,000

16,7502,000

162

172

AdministrationCosts Others

12,2413,103

12,2022,920

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Column B

Column A

Column B is much easier to read than column A!

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Rules for the presentation of a well-elaborated Budget

• A project which disposes of a too low budget is frustrating

• Do not promise a lot based on the money you have• If a donor reduces his budget then adapt your

objectives and activities accordingly and make sure that your donor will understand that less results will be achieved

• An inflated budget and ambitious will completely disappoint your donor

• Resist the temptation to rise salaries and travel expenses

• Offer a moderate and realistic budget which allows you to be certain that you will reach the promised results

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Indirect costs (overheads)

• Every project has direct costs for achieving the results/objectives

• Besides, every project has indirect costs (rent, electricity of your offices, library of your institute, accounting services, etc.)

• These indirect costs are necessary to maintain the institution, infrastructure, etc.

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