KINGSTON, Jamaica – Some 40 civil society organisations have benefitted from a series of workshops on grant proposal writing to help them to craft stronger proposals to secure funding from donors, both local and internationally, to improve the lives of Jamaicans.

The workshops were facilitated by the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) and funded by the European Union (EU) through a grant under the 13 th European Development Fund through the initiative Advocate, Innovate and Mobilise (AIM), a 30-month project to build the capacity of more than 135 Jamaican civil society organisations.

Nancy Pinchas, executive director of the CVSS, said the workshops were critical to its members because grant funding proposal writing is vital for accessing resources, ensuring project viability, building credibility, gaining a competitive advantage, fostering collaboration, ensuring long-term sustainability, and developing essential skills.

“It is a cornerstone of successful project implementation and organisational growth. Grant funding is often essential for organisations, researchers, and individuals to access the resources necessary to carry out their projects,” she said.

Sandrina Davis, chief executive officer of the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation, commended the workshop.

“It has been very useful. One of the things that stood out about the workshop was that it was an interactive type of workshop. The facilitator allowed the participants to ask questions. For me, every week that I have gone, I have been able to leave with something that I can go back to and work on,” she said.

Andrea Graham of Women’s Media Watch said the workshop was very informative.

“It is beyond just writing your project. It also gets you to understand the stakeholders that you work with, and some of the projects you take on look at sustainability and what happens to people afterwards, which are things that we sometimes don’t think about,” she pointed out.

“It is mind blowing in terms of the things that you have to think about to improve their circumstances and even how you tell your story to create an impact on the donors, sponsors, and people you are trying to help because if you don’t, you might give them a project that they don’t know how to care for,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sannia Sutherland, trainer and facilitator of the workshops, said that the training is timely, given the environment where budgets to fund civil society activities have been dwindling worldwide.

“It is therefore important that civil society build their capacity for proposal writing so that they can solicit funds to support the work they do. In many cases, they are supporting beneficiaries who are marginalised and vulnerable,” she explained.

The workshops also focused on the areas of budgeting; developing log frames, and how to design interventions and theories behind these interventions, which are evidence based.

The council will be rolling out its advocacy training on Tuesday, March 12,2024.