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The Wales and Africa grants scheme is a grant fund for community groups and organisations throughout Wales who work with partnerships in Sub Saharan Africa.
The Wales and Africa grant scheme is a flagship initiative of Welsh Government’s Wales and Africa programme. The scheme enables community groups and organisations in Wales to access funding for small-scale projects that contribute to Wales’ delivery of UN Sustainable Development Goals and deliver benefits to Wales and Africa.
The Wales and Africa programme supports and encourages civil society, business and public bodies in Wales to take action on poverty in Africa through active global citizenship, skills exchanges a and mutual learning, partnership working, and climate change action.
Welsh Government’s Wales Africa Grants Scheme Report – 2018-2022
APPLICATION PROCESS
In order to apply to the Wales and Africa Grant, you will need to register with WCVA’s Multipurpose Application Portal (MAP). If you have previously registered with MAP, you can log in by entering your username and password on the home screen.
Organisations can register by visiting the website: map.wcva.cymru
You will be asked to complete the online application and to upload a completed project profile spreadsheet.
For more information please read the full scheme guidance here
GRANTS AVAILABLE
Applicants can apply for funding between £1,000-£25,000 and must make a tangible contribution to at least 1 of the 4 themes described below:
- Health
We seek to contribute to protecting the mental and physical health and wellbeing of communities in Africa through our grants. Examples of this could include:
- Supporting knowledge and skills sharing between health institutions in Wales and Africa for mutual learning and benefit;
- Supporting healthcare professionals in Africa to access small scale training and support from Wales; and
- Supporting communities in Wales and Africa to access to more equitable, quality healthcare
- Lifelong Learning
Under Lifelong Learning we will support individuals or groups of young people or adults in Wales and/or Africa to gain skills and knowledge. Examples of this could include:
- Linking communities in Wales with African partners to develop mutual understanding of global development and international issues;
- Supporting the educational needs of disadvantaged children in Africa and sharing that experience with school pupils in Wales, contributing to their global citizenship education; and
- Supporting people in Africa to learn practical/vocational/artistic skills to improve their livelihoods.
- Climate Change and Environment
Under our climate change and environment grant stream, we will support initiatives that reduce environmental degradation and biodiversity loss in Africa as well as strategic and practical work to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to protect people from the impacts of climate change on food supplies, water availability or safety. Examples of this could include:
- Activities which support African farmers to adapt to a changing climate;
- Projects which enable the use of renewable energy in Africa;
- Projects engaging people in Wales with climate change issues as they affect Africa; or
- Work aiming to support African partners in implementing sustainable development practices.
- Sustainable livelihoods
We seek to promote realistic and sustainable livelihood opportunities in Wales and Africa, ensuring that marginalized individuals are included in grassroots economic and social development. Initiatives that we support include:
- Community-led, income generating cooperatives that have benefit to Wales and Africa;
- Engaging the public through Fair Trade campaigns, advocacy or policy;
- Activities that bring the consumer closer to the producer in a sustainable way;
- Support to small-scale agricultural projects and activities; and
- Support to grassroots income generating activities.
TIMESCALE & PROCESS FOR AWARDS
| Stage | Date | Detail |
| Grant scheme open for requests | 2 May 2023 | The process for funding requests is live on WCVA’s bespoke Multipurpose Application Portal (MAP) |
| First deadline for submissions | 21 July 2023 | Applications will not be able to be submitted after this deadline |
| Panel meeting | August 2023 | Formal approval of requests which will be funded |
| Applicants informed | 1 September 2023 | Grant offer letters sent to successful requests |
| Earliest projects start date | 11 September 2023 |
SAFEGUARDING
Safeguarding considerations will form a part of the assessment process, we encourage you to join Hub Cymru Africa’s training, to help you identify all safeguarding considerations before you submit an application. However, if this is not possible, all grant recipients will be required to attend training upon grant award.
Hub Cymru Africa offers three levels of training:
- Safeguarding Essentials: for all staff, volunteers, and partner staff who have not yet completed training, or completed training over 2 years ago
- Safeguarding for Focal Points and Trustees: Safeguarding Essentials is a prerequisite
- Safeguarding Refresher: for anyone who has completed training in the past 2 years who would like to refresh their practice through discussion of case studies.
Hub Cymru Africa and WCVA also offer 1:1 Safeguarding surgeries to discuss any aspect of your practice.
Book next training date here:
https://hubcymruafrica.wales/events/
SAFEGUARDING ESSENTIALS TRAINING
Who is this training for?
- Staff, and volunteers of organisations working in partnership in Wales and Africa, who want to improve their safeguarding policy and practices.
- Staff, volunteers or trustees who are travelling, or engaged in programme activity that carries any safeguarding risk (for whom this training is a requirement under the WCVA grant scheme).
- Partner staff in Africa are also encouraged to attend if this is possible.
- People who have not yet completed a Safeguarding training with Hub Cymru Africa, or who have completed a training more than two years ago and want to refresh their knowledge.
Designated Safeguarding Focal points will need to complete this training as a prerequisite for the Safeguarding Focal Point training (see below).
What will you learn?
This training will take participants through the essential Safeguarding practices and requirements for organisations working in global solidarity with partners in Africa. The training will:
- Define Safeguarding within an international context, and within the context in Wales
- Explain global safeguarding standards and how to meet them
- Discuss situations and behaviours of safeguarding concern
- Explain the Safeguarding cycle, and the three pillars of prevention, reporting and response and how to apply these in your organisation taking a survivor centred approach
- Share tools to assess risk, and identify gaps in practice
- Share templates for key documents that you will need to have in place to underpin best practice in prevention, response and reporting
This training will take place online via Zoom, and is a participatory training.
Book next training date here:
https://hubcymruafrica.wales/events/
SAFEGUARDING REFRESHER TRAINING
Who is this training for?
- Staff, and volunteers of organisations working in partnership in Wales and Africa, who want to improve their safeguarding policy and practices.
- Staff, volunteers or trustees who are travelling, or engaged in programme activity that carries any safeguarding risk.
- Partner staff in Africa are also encouraged to attend if this is possible.
Training level
- People who have already attended Hub Cymru Africa Safeguarding training in the past two years, but who want to refresh their knowledge of Safeguarding.
- People who have had Safeguarding training in the past two years from another provider, who want to refresh their knowledge of Safeguarding.
What will you learn?
This training will briefly refresh on the key areas of Safeguarding good practice, including key terms and definitions, Safeguarding standards, and the Safeguarding cycle.
We will then use discussion of case studies to apply this knowledge to scenarios.
Participants are welcome to submit their own case studies for discussion if they would like to discuss a particular area of practice (email to advice@hubcymruafrica.org.uk)
There will be time for questions and discussion.
We will share resources and templates to underpin best practice in prevention, response and reporting.
This training will take place online via Zoom, and is a participatory training.
Book next training date here:
https://hubcymruafrica.wales/events/
SAFEGUARDING SURGERIES FOR 1:1 SUPPORT
Do you have any questions or need advice and support on any aspect of your safeguarding practice?
We’re offering 1:1 advice sessions for organisations in the Wales Africa community to discuss concerns, give feedback on your risk assessments, policies, and other key documents, and give best practice advice on any aspect of the safeguarding cycle.
Please use the Safeguarding Self- Assessment Tool – Third Sector Support Hub to identify gaps in practice, and once your space is confirmed, share any key documents with us in advance to make the best use of the time.
You are encouraged to work on your safeguarding practice with your partner and to attend the meeting together if this is practical.
Spaces are limited and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. We will hold a waiting list for future sessions if demand exceeds available spaces.
Book next training date here:
https://hubcymruafrica.wales/events/
SAFEGUARDING TRAINING FOR TRUSTEES AND FOCAL POINTS
Who is this training for?
- This is mandatory training for designated Safeguarding focal points of organisations working in partnership in Wales and Africa, including Safeguarding focal points of partners in Africa, if this is possible
- Safeguarding Essentials is a pre-requisite for this training, unless you have completed an equivalent training within the last 2 years.
What will you learn?
This training will build on the Essentials training, focusing on:
- Roles and responsibilities of the Safeguarding Focal Point
- Roles and responsibilities of Trustees in relation to Safeguarding, including the specific responsibilities of the Safeguarding Trustee
- Leadership, and facilitating a safe organisational culture
- Responding to an incident, including managing investigations
- Reporting, including reporting to the Charity Commission
- Donor requirements in relation to Safeguarding
- Share templates for key documents that you will need to have in place to underpin best practice in prevention, response and reporting.
This training will take place online via Zoom, and is a participatory training.
Book next training date here:
https://hubcymruafrica.wales/events/
FURTHER SOURCES OF SUPPORT
For general queries on the request process please email walesafricagrants@wcva.cymru or call 0300 111 0124.
For support on the development of your request please contact enquiries@hubcymruafrica.org.uk.
If you’ve not already, please sign up to our funding mailing list to receive notifications of funding rounds.
WHO WE’VE FUNDED
Here’s a list of successful grant scheme applicants: