Australian Alumni Grants Fund
AAGF – Round 3, 2020
The Australian Alumni Grants Fund (AAGF), formerly known as the Small Grants Fund (SGF) is an activity under the Australian Alumni in Vietnam Strategy administered by Aus4Skills. The AAGF has been established to fund proposals from Vietnamese alumni of Australian education institutions to consolidate their professional knowledge and skills and strengthen linkages between Australia and Vietnam through undertaking applied research, organising training courses and workshops and improving their workplace systems and processes. Under Aus4Skills to date, two grant rounds open for Australia Awards and broader alumni and one pilot round open to only Aus4Skills non-scholarships human resource development (HRD) alumni have been implemented.
These guidelines apply to the AAGF Round 3 which targets the following alumni cohorts/categories:
Cohort / Category | Eligible applicants | Project proposals |
Broader alumni |
|
Contribution to the selected priority areas/sectors including:
|
HRD Alumni |
Only alumni of Aus4Skills Australia Awards Short Courses (AASC) and Informal Learning Opportunities (ILOs). Other alumni of Australian education institutions can be part of an eligible team of alumni under an HRD cohort, with the condition that the team is led by an HRD alumnus.
HRD Alumni are strongly encouraged to apply under the HRD Alumni Cohort/Category (unless their project is targeting Disability Inclusion when it must be submitted under the Disability Inclusion Cohort/Category) |
Contributions to HRD component targets |
Disability Inclusion |
Alumni must either be a person with disability and/or working at a Disabled People’s Organisation(s)1 (DPO) and/or partnering with a DPO(s) to undertake proposed projects, in line with ‘nothing about us, without us’ principle – to provide perspectives based on their experiences of living with disabilities, to inform effective inclusion efforts.
Other alumni of Australian education institutions can be part of an eligible team of alumni under the Disability Inclusion cohort, with the condition that the team is led by a Disability Inclusion alumnus. |
Contributions to Disability Inclusion targets (promoting accessibility for people with disabilities in Vietnam to: physical environments; and/or assistive technology; and/or education; and/or employment; and/or health care) |
1 “Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) are defined as organisations that represent or support people with disabilities; they can be global, regional, national or local organisations. Generally, the main common feature is that their membership comprises, and they are run by and for, people with disabilities in line with the ‘nothing about us without us’ principle. They must be registered as a DPO or as an NGO with the government.
Proposals under AAGF Round 3-2020 will be given special consideration if they assist Vietnam’s response to Covid-19 in the areas detailed under the Project Proposals column in the table above.
AAGF proposals must be completed in English and submitted online at https://vietnam.smartygrants.com.au/AAGFRound3 by midnight (Hanoi time) Saturday 20 June 2020.
NOTE: Access to the SmartyGrants link will be ready from 20 April 2020.
Any AAGF project must contribute to one or more of the following three Aus4Skills Program Outcomes:
- Outcome 1: Male and female alumni use new skills and knowledge to make positive contributions to selected priority areas
- Outcome 2: Selected Vietnamese government, private sector and civil society organisations, and other partners, demonstrate organisational change as program-facilitated improvement(s) in policies, practices and/or performance standards
- Outcome 3: Australia and Vietnam have stronger, sustainable links in selected sectors/agencies
Eligible project categories for a grant
The following categories of projects are eligible for AAGF funding:
Category 1. Development and conduct of a training program or training course(s), workshop(s), seminar(s), or conference(s) (proposals only to attend one of these events are not eligible), or public awareness campaigns or advocacy activities.
Category 2. Applied research. Proposals only to present papers or posters at conferences are not eligible.
Category 3. Organisational and Institutional Change. This category provides scope for innovative activities that contribute to changes/improvements in an organisation and to a better workplace enabling environment, including for the advancement of women. The improvements may be in the form of policy, practice and/or performance standards.
Category 4. HRD application projects/action plans. This category refers to a single or group application project or action plan or the extension or upscaling of these projects/plans that have been or are being applied as a result of participation in Aus4Skills HRD activities. This category also includes a project which involves the application of learning more generally from participation in Aus4Skills HRD activities.
Funding
The value of a grant is based on the following table.
Number of alumni applicants |
Maximum Grant |
One or two alumni |
VND 150 million |
Three alumni |
VND 220 million |
Four alumni and more |
VND 300 million |
Any project that has the involvement of an alumni team must clearly demonstrate that it is a team project with specified roles for each alumnus. It should show the added value in submitting a team proposal as compared to individual submissions.
Additional funding: Co-funding
Aus4Skills will provide matching funds of 100% of a contribution by the applicant, employer or other relevant Vietnamese/ Australian organisation (e.g. DPO; industry association) to a maximum of VND50,000,000. The co-funding must be in the form of cash (not ‘in kind’ contribution) and be shown as part of the budget in the AAGF application including the timing of the provision of the co-funding. Such a co-funding arrangement will increase the amount of funds available for a proposal as well as strengthen the commitment of the applicant/ employer/ organisation to the proposal. Aus4Skills will assess in its sole discretion whether ‘matching funds’ are available.
Example 1: |
Example 2: |
|
AAGF project grant |
VND 150,000,000 |
VND 150,000,000 |
Co-funding (i.e. from employer) |
VND 50,000,000 |
VND 100,000,000 |
AAGF matching funds |
VND 50,000,000 |
VND 50,000,000 |
Total | VND 250,000,000 | VND 300,000,000 |
The maximum matching funds are VND50,000,000 regardless of the amount of co-funding amount. Aus4Skills will not match funds sourced from loans.
Duration of grant
The maximum duration for implementing a grant project is 12 months. Grant implementation should commence within 3 months of the notification of grant approval.
Proposal evaluation criteria
Each application is to be evaluated against six key criteria: 1) Strategic Purpose, 2) Methodology/Approaches, 3) Gender, Disability and Social Inclusion, 4) Financial and Risk Management, 5) Ownership, Sustainability and Communications and 6) Monitoring & Evaluation.
Equity of Access Fund
For alumni with disability and rural disadvantaged alumni (including rural disadvantaged ethnic minority alumni) wishing to participate in AAGF events organised by the Australian Embassy or Aus4Skills, alumni may seek the support from the Aus4Skills Equity of Access Fund.
Recognition of Successful Grant Completion
When a grant has been successfully implemented and both the completion and final financial reports have been received and accepted by Aus4Skills, a Certificate of Grant Completion will be awarded to the respective alumnus/alumni team.
AAGF Guidelines
Full details about applying for a AAGF can be found in the AAGF Guidelines for Applicants.
The AAGF Financial Guidelines and Communications Guidelines will be applied for successful applications during the grant implementation.
AAGF Results
- List of Alumni and Projects awarded AAGF Round 1 (2017); Round 2 (2018); Pilot Round 2.1 (2019)
- AAGF Round 2-2018 Completion Video
- AAGF Round 2-2018 Storyboards:
- Research and practice on climate change, air pollution and health impacts: from scientific evidence to policy development
- Market opportunities in Australia for Vietnam arising from the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and related free trade agreements
- Strengthening the Australia - Vietnam partnership through organic agriculture
- Enhancing the capacity of local agricultural officers to support the sustainable development of ethnic minority communities in Tuan Giao, Dien Bien
- Supporting vulnerable women’s agribusiness start-ups
- Promoting dialogical social and gender impact assessment for sustainable hydropower development in the Central and Central Highlands regions of Vietnam
- Professional development for prosecutors handling criminal cases involving violence against women and children
- Developing exploratory practice for lecturers in Vietnam
- Combating domestic violence in young Vietnamese families amid social transformation
- Investigating the relationship between coastal erosion and human activities in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
- Improving sexual and reproductive health rights for the Deaf in Vietnam