Seed Funding for New Collaborative Partnerships

ELRHA has between £25 - £30,000 to provide seed funding that will foster links between all stakeholders. It is especially keen to unleash creative initiatives between academics and humanitarian practitioners or communities living through humanitarian crisis.

The recently launched UK Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR) highlights a lack of research capacity, particularly within those countries who are most affected by disasters; it also points out that, whilst the science is often in place, “Disaster managers do not make enough use of such science and scientists do not routinely produce information for this audience”.

We welcome applications that initiate discussions for collaborations and partnerships with a longer term aim of seeking to overcome the two areas outlined above. We provide the above as examples, not as exclusive activities. Proposals exploring ways to bridge the now fully recognised gap between longer term development assistance and disaster risk reduction will also be welcome.

These small grants of up to £3000 are designed to facilitate discussions and kick start a new partnership that might not ordinarily be able to happen due to funding constraints elsewhere. They could be used to host a workshop, pay for a key prospective partner to travel and take a discussion to the next level, to help set up a web portal to bring a community together in a community vulnerable to disaster risk, conduct some baseline research in order to inform a larger research proposal. These grants are open to organisations globally who can demonstrate a previous track record and it will be down to the organisation to prove that track record.

Budget

The application form includes a table for anticipated costs up to £3,000. Please itemise costs. As part of your reporting requirements, you will need to provide an account of how funds are spent. We will need receipts, boarding passes etc. as proof of expenditure and travel.

This table shows what this grant can and cannot fund:

The grant can fund:

• economy travel
• accommodation and subsistence during visits
• communications e.g. virtual meetings or other means of communication
• visas and vaccinations
• workshops and meetings

This grant cannot fund:

• Premium Economy, Business or First Class travel
• University overheads
• equipment
• consumables
• any salary costs

Successful applicants are required to submit a report within one month of completion of activities. This will cover:

• Activities undertaken, contacts made and plans for the future of the partnership
• A description of any lessons learnt during the process of establishing the partnership
• A summary of expenditure

Applicants will also be required to participate in an annual survey, to track how relationships have developed since the funding (even if the immediate outcome is apparently not that successful), as well as in other ELRHA monitoring and evaluation activities.

Assessment Criteria

• Is the partnership relevant for the Humanitarian effort?
• Is there more than one organisation involved in the application?
• Is there a research partner and a practitioner/policy partner?
• Is this a new Partnership?
• Is the need clearly defined?
• Are the organisations complementary?
• Are the activities clearly defined and realistic within the budget/time frame?
• Do the outcomes / outputs fit within ELRHA’s overall aims and objectives?
• Are the next steps well thought out and articulated?
• How will lessons learned from this funding be shared?

More information

Please download the funding guidelines and application form: