Truly Adaptive Grants: Is it possible?
Summary:
Our panel will cultivate breakthroughs on a topic of pressing importance to the sector: How can grants be adaptive? The aspiration of adaptive programming is easy to agree with. Its goal is continuous improvement through ongoing learning and informed experimentation. Adaptation makes programs more resilient to the complexity of the real world, and, ultimately, makes aid more effective. But many programs are funded by grants. For these programs to be adaptive, grants need to be adaptive too. Grantees can find themselves tied to plans, logframes, and budgets that inhibit course correction. The incentives built into grants can discourage frank discussions about program performance. And grants do not always build in time and budget to pause & reflect or to experiment to find the best approach. In this Blue Sky Session, we will seek breakthroughs on questions with important implications for the practice of SBCC: How can grants be designed to encourage and enable ongoing learning and adaptation? How can grants balance the need for structure, oversight, and accountability with the desire for flexibility? These questions are far from fully answered. We will share provocative perspectives from people in diverse roles (from donors to researchers to implementers to behaviour change specialists) to stimulate a vigorous audience discussion and seek a breakthrough in thinking. Best of all, Gates has provided funding for the insights from this and other sources to be synthesised into a guide that all can use.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
We have seen firsthand the level of enthusiastic interest in this topic in our sector. We will spark vigourous debate and fresh thinking by:
Sarah Brown - M&C Saatchi Group
Fenton Whelan - Acasus
Anne Palaia - USAID
Christina Synowiec - Results for Development
Kecia Bertermann - Luminate Group
Our panel will cultivate breakthroughs on a topic of pressing importance to the sector: How can grants be adaptive? The aspiration of adaptive programming is easy to agree with. Its goal is continuous improvement through ongoing learning and informed experimentation. Adaptation makes programs more resilient to the complexity of the real world, and, ultimately, makes aid more effective. But many programs are funded by grants. For these programs to be adaptive, grants need to be adaptive too. Grantees can find themselves tied to plans, logframes, and budgets that inhibit course correction. The incentives built into grants can discourage frank discussions about program performance. And grants do not always build in time and budget to pause & reflect or to experiment to find the best approach. In this Blue Sky Session, we will seek breakthroughs on questions with important implications for the practice of SBCC: How can grants be designed to encourage and enable ongoing learning and adaptation? How can grants balance the need for structure, oversight, and accountability with the desire for flexibility? These questions are far from fully answered. We will share provocative perspectives from people in diverse roles (from donors to researchers to implementers to behaviour change specialists) to stimulate a vigorous audience discussion and seek a breakthrough in thinking. Best of all, Gates has provided funding for the insights from this and other sources to be synthesised into a guide that all can use.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
We have seen firsthand the level of enthusiastic interest in this topic in our sector. We will spark vigourous debate and fresh thinking by:
- Framing the toughest unanswered 'edge questions' - and providing provocative views on them
- Highlighting cutting edge practice and experiments in adaptive grants from across the sector
- Bringing together people from both 'sides' - funders and grantees - to contrast their perspectives
- Offering fresh ideas from different sectors such as angel investing
- Synthesising the output in a free-to-all online guidance note
Sarah Brown - M&C Saatchi Group
Fenton Whelan - Acasus
Anne Palaia - USAID
Christina Synowiec - Results for Development
Kecia Bertermann - Luminate Group
Source
Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: Acasus via Twitter