Title:	Proposal Writing as a Consultancy Skill
Keywords:	Planning and programming Communication
Country:	Germany
Institution:	Germany - Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg
Course coordinator:	Peter Campbell
Date start:	2025-04-07
Date end:	2025-04-11
About duration and dates:	One week (application deadline: Friday before the course starts).
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Face to face
Course location: Institute of Public Health Im Neuenheimer Feld 365 D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
ECTS credit points:	2 ECTS credits
SIT: 60 hours in total: - 15 hours: preparation for the course with team communication leading to collaborative individual study including pre-reading and collection of relevant informational material. - 15 hours: lectures - 30 hours: group work
Language:	English
Description: The overall objective of this course is to enable health professionals, managers, and students to understand and apply the concepts and principles of proposal writing in the field of international health and to improve their personal and technical skills in proposal writing. At the end of the course the participants will be able to: - Develop and write a proposal targeting international health donors / clients - Apply the principles of effective proposal writing using analytical and design tools. - Utilise the team approach to developing a proposal - Use criteria for assessment of proposals
Assessment Procedures: Groups of 3-5 participants are assigned by the coordinator of the course to collaboratively develop and write a proposal on selected international health topics in different low-middle income countries. Each group member is responsible for at least one component of the project write up to ensure individual contribution. The proposal has a minimum length of 1000 words. The proposal deadline is early afternoon on Day 4 of the course. Criteria specific for the type of international donor are used as a grading tool for evaluating the corresponding group proposals. The Course facilitators (teachers) evaluate all the written group proposals individually and then agree on a final score for each project proposal. Similarly, the members of each group (peers) individually grade and then agree on a final score for the project proposal of another group and are not reciprocally grading their proposal. Finally, the two sets of scores are combined into one score for each proposal, with a weighting ratio of 70% for facilitators and 30% for peers. Failure requires a 2000 word proposal on a second topic negotiated between the student and the coordinator. It should be submitted 2 weeks after the second topic is agreed on.
Content: The course includes the following sessions: • Current trends and expectations of consultants in Cooperation in International Health • Effective proposal writing techniques • Essential elements of proposal development • Proposal formulation according to the rules of an International Donor (e.g. Global Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, bilateral development initiatives etc.). • Practical hands-on training sessions during groupwork proposal development (topics to be agreed with participants) on: -Diagrams -Indicators -Log Frame -Basic budgeting • Criteria used by international donors for evaluating International Health proposal applications, and used in the participant assessment procedure
Methods: (a) preparation work that is facilitated by team communications through email and/or teleconferencing (Skype/ Whatsapp etc). This is coordinated by the assigned preliminary group coordinator (identified by the course coordinator and agreed by the person - with preference for existing Heidelberg Master’s students from LMIC countries) who contacts his/her team members and explains to each their potential role and responsibilities for the preparation work. Each team member then undertakes relevant background reading and collection of informational materials related to their team‘s developing country/health topic (15 hrs). (b) lectures with participatory question and answer/discussion time (15 hrs); (c) plenary discussions and group exercises (4 hrs); (d) facilitated proposal writing exercise (20 hrs.); (e) final peer assessment of the Project Proposal documents (6 hrs.).
Prerequisites: English: TOEFL test 5.5 or IELTS 6.5 or equivalent language skills.
Attendance: Maximum number of students (including tropEd students): 25
Selection: First come, first served
Fees: 750 EUR for tropEd students, 1000 EUR for others
Scholarships: None available
Major changes since initial accreditation: Peter Campbell MBBS MScIH has now taken over the responsibilities of Course Coordinator. He has been teaching the course with the previous coordinator, Sylvia Sax, for the past 10 years and knows the module and materials in detail. In response to participant feedback, there is now increased time for the teams to write their proposals since the facilitators now ensure that the participants choose their main topic by midday on the 2nd day. We have also increased group facilitation during their use of logframe and situational analysis tools.
Student evaluation: Participants appreciate the practical focus on skills and the facilitation of their learning. Some participants suggested to extend the course to 2 weeks, the 2nd week to be spent writing a proposal for a different donor; however, others indicate they would not attend a longer proposal writing course.
Lessons learned: Intensive facilitation is provided early on so that the groups can rapidly decide and agree on a topic for their proposal. There is generally a low level of knowledge and skills in proposal writing. Participants themselves are often surprised to discover the breadth of skills needed for writing proposals.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in Heidelberg, September 2003. Re-accredited in Paris, May 2008 and in Shanghai, May 2013. This accreditation is valid until May 2018. Re-accredited in June 2018 in Edinburgh and in June 2023 in Witten. This accreditation is valid until June 2028.
Remarks: Fagan B; 2014 and updated 2023; How to write a grant proposal: a step-by-step guide; Available at https://www.pandadoc.com/blog/grant-proposal/ Civicus 2001; Writing a Funding Proposal. Available at https://www.civicus.org/documents/toolkits/Writing%20a%20funding%20proposal.pdf Brooks J; Apr 1998; How to Write A Winning Proposal - Knowing what funders want and how to deliver it. Available at https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/8070154/how-to-write-a-winning-proposal-knowing-what-ecdc-cariorg
Email Address:	anne-kathrin.fabricius@uni-heidelberg.de
Date Of Record Creation:	2012-01-09 23:04:40 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2012-01-10 05:17:14 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2019-04-09 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2024-10-16 07:23:51 (W3C-DTF)