Presentation Given by Dr. Sharda Maharaj at the 2nd General meeting for the Caribbean Youth environment Network - Trinidad and Tobago Chapter.

1. HOW TO WRITE A
PROPOSAL
Sharda Surujdeo-Maharaj

2. PROPOSAL
 Is a written expression of, and proposed
solution to, a problem
 What is your organisations goals and objectives?
 What is the problem?
 Why is your organisation the best one to deal with
this problem?
 How will you efficiently solve the problem? (Time
and money)

3. ORGANIZING WORK
 Involve your team (one person shouldn‟t write
a proposal)
 Create a checklist – divide up the work
 Prepare all preliminary information
 Don‟t bother the funder too much during the
preparation process
 Think of the structure

4. START-UP WORK
 Identifying a project idea
 Looking for a potential funder
 Studying priorities, guidelines and application
forms / previously funded projects
 Establishing initial contact (organization‟s
mission and vision, strategy, structure, team)
 Creating partnerships

5. COVER LETTER
 First thing the funder reads
 Must engage the reader so (s)he reads the
rest of the proposal
 Personal, to the point, concise
 Structure: project title, goals and objectives,
total amount requested, duration of the project

6. SUMMARY
 A succinct, clear synopsis of the project
 Not more than a page
 Description of the organization
 Statement of problem and / or need
 Project objectives
 Outline of proposed activities
 The amount requested

7. INTRODUCTION
 Description of the applicant (mission,
vision, values, strategic objectives,
structure, team)
 Short list of organization‟s achievements
 Who are you beneficiaries and partners
 Why do you apply to this funder?

8. NEEDS ASSESSMENT
 What is the problem or need?
 Describe the problem in relation to your target group
 Place the problem in a larger context your
organizations works in
 Use figures and concrete examples (case studies)
 Relate it to the funders guidelines and priorities

9. OBJECTIVES
 All objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
 Specific - Be precise about what you are going to achieve
 Measurable - Quantify you objectives
 Achievable - Are you attempting too much?
 Realistic - Do you have the resource to make the objective
happen (human resources, financial, the right context
and opportunities)?
 Timed - State when you will achieve the objective (within a
month? By February 2010?)

10. METHODS / ACTIVITIES
 Answer to the question “HOW?”
 Right place to give details and figures
 Put activities in a timeline
 Give reasons why you selected this method
 Be consistent with overall project goal,
objectives and the context
 Make references to previous use of the
method by you or other organizations

11. OUTCOMES / OUTPUTS
 Know the difference
 Outcome: long term result / effect (hard to
measure)
 Output is a very concrete result / product
(easily measurable)
 Provide both outcomes and outputs in a clear
structure

12. EVALUATION PLAN
 Strategy to measure the success
 Explanation of the criteria used to measure
the success
 Includes:
- quantitative indicators (numbers)
- qualitative indicators (contents)
- vision of success (what you want to achieve

13. BUDGET
 Structure: human resources, purchases,
operational costs, activities
 Clear budget items (how did you come up with
the amount you‟ve indicated in the budget line)
 Explanations to the budget in annex (why you
need a particular amount, offers, etc.)

14. GENERAL FEATURES OF A
GOOD PROPOSAL
 Has clear and itemized objectives: shows clear vision
 Generally need a bullet list in bold font of 1-sentence
objectives (1 to 4) early in the proposal.
 Some solicitations require you to deliver a specific product;
this „deliverable‟ is then an objective
 Explicitly state how your objectives respond to the solicitation
(if appropriate & non-obvious)
 Mention tools that you may use, options if things don‟t work,
etc.

15. GENERAL FEATURES OF A
GOOD PROPOSAL
 Has clear and itemized description of tasks, i.e., the work to be
done to achieve these objectives
 There should normally be a „Task‟ section mapped to each
objective
 Describe your research tools and how you will apply them.
Reviewers want to know what work will actually be done to
justify the budget
 Have enough technical detail to convey competence, not so
much as to lose reviewer or invite pickiness.
 Mention tools that you may use, options if things don‟t work,
etc.

16. GENERAL FEATURES OF A
GOOD PROPOSAL
 Oozes with competence: you need to convince reviewer that
you‟re the right person for the job
 Proposal should include mini-review of literature on research
topic, including discussion of your own previous
accomplishments; this is usually the material that the
reviewer enjoys reading most
 Nothing beats having relevant publications to show (1) that
you know what you‟re doing, (2) that you can publish.
Advertise your publications.
 Most proposals are tied to general professional development
and reviewers will want to see this. Talk about how the
proposed work fits into your larger-scale research plans and
interests, your career development, your teaching/outreach
objectives, etc. A proposal should be intensely personal.

17. TARGETING THE
REVIEWER
 As with a presentation, it is crucial that you know your audience and
pitch your message accordingly
 Expect the reviewer to be a specialist in your field, so write to a very
high level of expertise (you must convince the expert that what you‟re
proposing is new and worthwhile); if reviewer can‟t follow the
technical content they will recognize it as their problem.
 At the same time, you need to put your work in perspective and show
broad vision
 A non-expert reviewer will expect to at least understand why you
want to do your work, how it fits in the broader future of the field,
and the general lines of what you want to do
 An expert reviewer will also expect that you place your work in
perspective

18. TARGETING THE
REVIEWER
 Have enough technical detail to convince reviewer that you
know what you‟re doing and that your tasks make sense.
 Avoid controversy; don‟t give rope to hang yourself.
 Avoid vague statements not backed up by evidence; reviewer
will conclude you don‟t know what you‟re talking about.
Proposal should ooze expertise!
 Your tasks should be clear about the first steps of your
proposed research. Beyond that, it‟s perfectly OK to be
intelligently tentative. If plan A doesn‟t work, you will try Plan
B, etc. This is research after all.

19. TARGETING THE
REVIEWER
 Try to have a mix of objectives/tasks on which you can clearly deliver
and others that you recognize as risky
 Program managers have to account for the dollars they dole out –
a proposal with risk of zero return has little chance of funding
 Reviewers put a lot of stock on whether the proposer can actually
deliver on the work, which tends to discourage risk-taking (this is a
known problem). Fellowship and foundation funding are more
amenable to risk-taking
 It may however be a good idea for the proposal to have some
element of risk and identified as such.
 Repetitions of important points, bullet and number lists, bold text are
OK and may be important to ensure that the reviewer gets the
message you want to convey. Don‟t assume that the reviewer will
read every word in your proposal. Make sure that the important points