PRE-AWARD SUPPORT

Pre-award covers all the activities that take place before obtaining a grant. It begins with the identification of a funding opportunity to submission of a proposal. While different grant calls require diverse approaches, below is a set of services a PI at Makerere can leverage from the GAMSU secretariat.

Registration to funder platforms

GAMSU identifies and register’s the University on funder platforms. A number of funders require that institutions register on their grants platforms before allowing electronic access or submission of proposals.

Makerere is registered with over 10 fundered platforms, all managed by the Grants Administration and Management Support Unit. In cases where registration is initiated by the Grants Offices at college, login credentials are shared with the Central Grants unit.

Registrations peculiar to a given college may be maintained at the college Grants Office in the know of the Grants Administration and Management Support Unit needs to be informed.

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Grant Opportunity Search

Our Office provides support right from pre-proposal contact with donors where applicable to submission of the proposal. We search and share appropriate funding opportunities with students, faculty and other staff through emails, workshops and telephone calls.

Faculty and authorized affiliated persons submit proposals to sponsors including Government, private institutions, foundations, non- profits, educational institutions and other organizations for support (even

when there is no call) we have needs based lobbying.

Intending applicants are obliged to notify their immediate Grants Office of their intention to respond to a given funding opportunity or to participate in any sponsored partnership. The immediate Grants Office then informs the Central Grants Office of this intent to apply. This allows GAMSU to mediate multiple applications from the institution where they are not acceptable to the donor.

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Proposal Development

Once a grant is identified and the requirements are met, on behalf of the institution, an individual is designated as the Principal Investigator (PI)/(PD) – responsible for preparation of the proposal following University policies and procedures as well as proposal guidelines issued by the anticipated funding agency.

The PI shall be assisted by a team composed of internal and external participants during the development.

The PI is con be responsible for ensuring and completeness of the proposal as well as appropriateness of the proposed project team. Quality.

The Grants Office supports PIs in proposal development in various ways including developing a checklist for proposal development, editing proposal documents, compiling relevant support documents, providing the required templates, budget, and budget justification development.

We also guide on why grant project budgets should be made to include all appropriate costs, as direct project costs as well as institutional facilities and administrative costs (indirect costs). Any cost sharing commitments are only made with approval of the University Council.

In tally, the Grants Office coordinates with procurement, legal offices and other offices for a complete grants puzzle at MAK.

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Proposal submission

Applicants prior to proposal submission to the funder, will receive support from GAMSU.

The support is in areas such as administrative and budgetary review proposals for completeness, accuracy of information, legal appropriateness, inclusion of the appropriate institutional administrative costs and adherence to the sponsor’s/FOA guidelines and the laws of Uganda.

Partnerships and Sub-contracting

When necessary, University staff or students may be required and it is allowed to apply for funding in collaboration with other institutions. The Unit does support in identifying potential partnerships with pertinent and complimentary organizations. In addition to making sure that teaming agreements are established and approved by the appropriate university administrators, the GAMSU is required to do due diligence on potential partners.