Blog by Emmanuel & Ruthie

The just concluded two day ‘open clinic’ on Tanzania calls for proposals attracted at least representation from 57 organisations from all over Tanzania. Open candid conversations on the recent Calls for Proposals (Cfps) happened both online and offline. With a huge appetite for more information on the calls, folks started streaming physically at the Twaweza Office where Voice Tanzania is hosted currently, and for those who couldn’t make it physically they joined via VoiceTz Q&A Session-WhatsApp Group – thank you technology!

Alongside the Voice country team based in Tanzania, the Voice Regional Roving Grants Coordinator for Africa also joined, through WhatsApp, to answer some of the queries raised.

“Who is Voice?”

“How do we apply for the Mtandao huru proposal?”

“What does the 50% rule mean?”

“Is our organization eligible to apply?”

“How do we fill in the budget template form? And the online application form?”

These were some of the questions that the team responded to in detail to the participants’ satisfaction. One of the questions that came on ever so frequently was;

“Why did you reject our last proposal, and why did we not receive detailed feedback from you guys?”

The team responded to this by explaining the criteria in which Voice awards grants to applicants and the process it takes to review the applications. The team also highlighted that the grant manual usually provides more details of the process as well.

We do appreciate the time and efforts applicants put in their proposals and therefore we always endeavour to provide feedback. However much this may not be conclusive, there are opportunities and avenues for follow-up!

Voice was not the only one in the hot seat, most of the participants explicitly admitted that they had not been thoroughly and carefully reading the details of the CFPs. Some even requested to resend their proposals again for consideration! The Voice team was happy to disregard the previous proposals sent and go through what would be submitted after this very interactive meeting; leaving everyone more satisfied.

Call to action: ‘Make sure you understand the requirements of all the grant types and the type of proposals Voice is calling for!’ Hoping that point got home…..