Can your organisation apply?

• You must be an organisation, not an individual, to apply to SGP.
• Your organisation can be a state body, including a school, an NGO or a partnership. A private sector organisation can only apply in partnership with an NGO or a state body.
• We aim to fund organisations with experience of working with deaf children. If you do not have any experience of working with deaf children, you should only apply in partnership with an organisation or individual with demonstrable experience.
• You should be able to demonstrate that you have the necessary capacity to manage the grant funds and provide us with the necessary financial and narrative reports.
• You should also show how you will influence the practice of other organisations, service providers and stakeholders working with children and young people to make sure they take their needs into account.

Deaf Child Worldwide is focusing its activities in (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru). You must be based in these countries to apply to SGP.

Find out more about our work in these regions.

Deaf Child Worldwide aims to improve the quality of life of deaf children and their families. We only support work which is sustainable. Your project needs to address our strategic focus and cross-cutting themes. We will therefore not:

• fund income generation activities or provide starting funds for micro-finance schemes. Our role is to support the organisational capacity of our partners to access local mainstream services and facilities. However, we may consider supporting community saving schemes where these are only one element of a project that meets our strategic aims.
• fund vocational projects unless these show clear links to advocacy or aim to influence the training provided by other vocational training programmes to include deaf children and young people. Vocational training projects must be clearly linked to families and communities and show how they will work with service providers in the community.
• pay for activities which have no prospect of sustainability.
• replace or maintain existing activities or other donor funded activities unless applicatns can show a clear propsect for ongoing sustainability.
• fund professional-led projects which do not involve the beneficiaries in project identification, design, implementation or monitoring
• fund projects which do not recognise that there is more than one communication option for deaf children
• fund travel, professional fees and other costs for professionals who do not have a long-term presence in the country where the project is based
• fund the supply of hearing aids or audiological or technical equipment when these are the only elements of the proposal
• fund the set-up of audiology centres when this is the only element of the proposal
• fund building, equipment and capital costs where these are the only elements of the proposal
• fund sign language projects when these do not use the country's native sign language or do not involve native sign language users
• fund emergency aid or humanitarian relief projects
• accept applications from individuals or for individual benefits
• fund projects where there is no clear benefit to deaf children and young people
• fund the promotion of a specific religion or sectarian belief
• fund activities which discriminate against people on the basis of gender, language, religion, political opinion, sexual orientation, ehtnic or social origin, disability or other status.

We accept applications for projects lasting up to three years. If you apply for one year, and the project is approved, we cannot extend the project length. You will have to reapply for further funds through the competitive process. We want our partners to have a long-term strategic view of their work and to think about what will happen once SGP funding has finished. We will evaluate project progress and outcomes as well as partnerships on a yearly basis to decide whether we will continue to fund an organisation.

• Project costs should be up to £30,000 per year. 
• Project costs should not exceed your organisation’s previous year’s annual expenditure, unless you can provide evidence of your ability to manage grant funds.
• Any capital items must be clearly justified and supported by two quotations from suppliers. (SGP funds are not intended for the purchase of large items of equipment or technology - unless these items can be shown to be essential to the project and offer clear, long-term benefits and/or sustainability) 
• Project management and administration staff costs must not exceed 10% of the total budget. However, SGP funds can be used to meet the cost of limited project management and administration staff (people who manage or support the overall project); implementation staff (people such as trainers, experts, or advisers who perform specific tasks); transport, seminars and workshops, publications, reasonable proportions of rent or other office running costs.

Please note that this is merely a guide and not an exhaustive list. Remember that any expenditure predicted in your budget should be reasonable, realistic, in line with local staff costs and prices. Expenditure must be strictly necessary to the project.

If your organisation does not qualify for SGP, we would still like to hear from you and learn more about your work and the situation for deaf children and their families in your country. For more information, please join our network www.deafchildworldwide.info/network