Comment on this page Promoting Knowledge Management through Learning Communities Program |
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Guidelines for submitting project proposals
The purpose of the Promoting Knowledge Management through Learning Communities Program is to contribute to the development of strong MIF partner institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean by leveraging the wealth of knowledge accumulated by MIF executing agency partners in the region. The specific goal is to support learning communities of MIF partner executing agencies to share knowledge through the financing of up to 20 pilot projects, over a four year period, which are aimed at replication and scaling up of MIF successes.
Project proposals should therefore support the objectives of the Program by seeking to:
- Foster knowledge-sharing, inter-institutional collaboration and capacity-building among MIF partner executing agencies.
- Enhance the probability of taking MIF projects to scale and/or replicating them in other contexts.
PROPOSAL DEADLINE
There is no deadline for project proposals. Submissions can be made any time of year, on a “first-come, first served” basis, ending in the 3rd year of the Program to allow time for project implementation and disbursements.
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE
Projects should be national or regional.
ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS
- Non-profit private sector institutions including non-governmental organizations, industry associations, chambers of commerce, etc.
- Projects should involve at least three institutions, at least one of which must have successfully executed a MIF project. (A successful project is defined as one that achieved its development objectives.)
- One of these institutions that has successfully executed a MIF project must be the provider of the services required by the requesting institutions (beneficiaries), and be pre-selected by them.
ACTIVITIES TO BE FINANCED
Proposals must include at least two activities/components, in addition to a dissemination plan, i.e. how the knowledge gained will be disseminated and utilized within the beneficiary institutions(s), as well as a plan for disseminating project results to the other members of the learning community.
- Learning materials (i.e. learning guides, manuals, best practices, research studies and other publications);
- Training (i.e. courses, seminars, conferences on specific topics);
- Inter-institutional internships, focusing on mentoring i.e. one-on-one training (in new methodologies or new product development);
- Communication tools (website, online discussion forums), using MIF guidelines and/or platform;
- Technology transfer among participating institutions;
- Development of databases (projects/consultants/available resources);
- Competitions to highlight best practices and lessons learned in successful MIF projects.
EXCLUDED ACTIVITIES
The following activities will not be financed:
- Investments in physical infrastructure (construction, purchase of land/property or durable equipment such as heavy machinery);
- Direct credit to beneficiaries;
- Debt repayment;
- Purchase of raw materials (agricultural and industrial);
- Purchase of motor vehicles;
- Salaries of employees of the executing agency;
- Consultants that assist in the design of the project are generally ineligible to be financed by MIF funds for project execution;
- Overhead expenses – instead, these types of expenses can be recognized as part of the counterpart contribution;
- Generally MIF/IDB resources are not to be used to cover any sales or import taxes associated with the purchase of goods or contracting of services;
- MIF resources cannot be used to cover any expenditures incurred prior to project approval by the MIF.
FINANCING
MIF financing for each approved project will be US$75,000, up to a maximum amount of US$150,000, depending on the activities proposed.
Services for each project will be sole sourced to service providers. Sub-contracts must in keeping with IDB procurement rules. (Services will be sole sourced because service providers will be pre-selected by the project beneficiaries.)
COUNTERPART RESOURCES
Beneficiary institutions are responsible for counterpart contributions of at least 30% of the total amount of each project and one half of all local contributions must be in cash.
Apart from its own resources, the executing agency may obtain resources for the project from other sources, such as government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, bilateral and multilateral institutions, among others.
HOW TO APPLY
**There is no deadline for project proposals**
Proposals should be submitted to the MIF by one of the institutions benefitting from the project. Submissions can be made any time of year, on a “first-come, first served” basis, ending in the 3rd year of the Program to allow time for project implementation and disbursements.
See Project Proposal Template >>
Proposals should be sent via e-mail to KMprogram@iadb.org
SELECTION PROCESS
Pre-selection:
Each proposal is first pre-screened to determine whether it is consistent with the objectives of the Program and if the document is submitted in the required format (See Project Proposal Template).
Selection by the Advisory Group:
Each project will be selected for funding by a 5-person Advisory Group comprising: a) an operations specialist from the MIF; b) a representative of the Office of Knowledge and Learning of the Bank; c) the MIF Specialist in the country of the service provider for the project; d) an external expert in the project’s thematic area, such as the existing cluster coordinator or consultant; and e) the Program coordinator.
The Advisory Group will evaluate each project based on a common set of guidelines (See Evaluation Guidelines). Proposals will be selected based on the “value-added” in terms of SME development, institutional capacity-building and benefits to the institutions, and the extent to which they are in line with the goals of the Program and the broader knowledge-management goals of the MIF, as outlined in the MIF’s K2Practice Initiative. The Group will meet virtually to discuss and approve the proposals.
Multiple proposals from the same institution will not be funded.
Donors Committee:
Once a year (November), a document listing the projects selected for funding together, with their profiles will be sent by the MIF team to the Donors’ Committee for information.
EXECUTION AND DISBURSEMENT PERIOD
The execution period for each approved project will be to 12-18 months. The disbursement period will be up to 20 months.