NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Partner and project selection  >  Project design and selection 

Project selection

Project selection is a process for awarding grants to existing or potential partner organisations to implement projects. Ideally, as with partner selection, this process should be transparent and technically sound.

Selection of projects requires clear criteria for selection and these may include:

• relevance to the NGO/CBO support provider’s (NSP) programme objectives and priorities
• geographical coverage
• suitability of approach
• appropriateness of budget
• feasibility
• potential impact
• epidemiological relevance.

In addition to project selection criteria, it is also necessary to develop mechanisms for the selection of projects that ensure fairness and avoid conflicts of interest. For example, a selection committee should comprise individuals – both from within and outside the organisation – who have expertise and knowledge but no vested interests. Committee members should be provided with explicit terms of reference so that they are clear in their role and responsibilities.

Project selection policies need to also include criteria for renewal of grants. Although some projects may require longer-term support, limited resources dictate that a balance between support to new projects and existing ones should be achieved.

The process of selection can vary and different organisation may use more than one method depending on the countries and the people involved. One common approach is a multi-stage system for selection, where an advisory committee is involved in identifying proposals with strong potential and an executive committee makes the final decision. This decision should also consider the technical support needs of the project and the ability of the NSP to meet these needs.

Issues to consider

• In selecting projects, NSPs may want to consider how each individual project relates to the others and contributes to the balance of their portfolio.
• The selection of the project may be a secondary step following an initial process of selecting NGO/CBO partners. Depending on the partner selection approach that is used, the project selection process itself can be a way for NSPs to work with partner organisations to improve the quality of project design and proposals. This not only provides an opportunity for technical support but also encourages and includes in the process NGOs and CBOs that are less confident about project design.
• NSPs may want to consider submission of concept papers or expressions of interest prior to a full proposal in order to save time and resources on the part of the NGOs/CBOs and NSP.
• NSPs should consider providing assistance in the preparation of the proposal document, recognising that project design demands a wide range of skills that may disadvantage some organisations.
• NSPs should be aware that the selection process may cause unconstructive competition among NGOs and CBOs. NSPs need to consider ways of reducing or mitigating this.
• Repetitive renewal of projects can encourage dependency of partner organisations. However this problem can be reduced by gradual phasing out of support or requiring increasing amounts of contributions from other sources.
• Lengthening the time-scales of project cycles helps reduce the administration burden involved in project renewal. Additionally longer term projects allow for attention to process, rather than focusing on short term results. However, incorporating mid term or periodic reviews in longer projects is essential to review the impact and relevance of a project.

Related themes

Selecting NGOs & CBOs

Solicitations & RFPs

Project & profile review

Capacity & credibility assessment

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