Alumni Support Grant - From Theory to Practice: Establishing a Community of Practice to support Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion

The Australian Government is committed to partnering with Bangladesh in Health Security, Stability and Economic Recovery, placing a strong emphasis on protecting the most vulnerable, especially women and girls and people with disability.

Gender equality and empowering women and girls is one of the priorities and cornerstones of alumni engagement in Bangladesh.

The grant on offer is designed to encourage and support initiatives that promote ‘practicing’ the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) theory, learnt through Australian education and lived experience in Australia. The overall purpose of the grant is to promote ‘commit, connect and collaborate’ through the practice of GEDSI.

The grant aims to support innovative practices that promote the practice of GEDSI at the workplaces in public, private and NGO sectors.

The intended outcomes of the grant are:

  • To support initiatives by alumni promoting GEDSI practices
  • To establish a GEDSI Community of Practice (COP)
  • To establish GEDSI COP across public, private and NGO sectors
  • To share best practices with other grantees, alumni and the wider network

Eligible applicants must be:

Individual Australia Awards alumnus/alumna

OR

Group of Australia Awards alumni

Defined eligibility assessment criteria:

To be considered for this grant, applicants must:

  • Be Australia Awards alumni of the DFAT-funded Australia Awards Scholarships, Fellowships, or Short Courses.
  • Be Bangladeshi citizens, residing in Bangladesh, and intending to use the grant in Bangladesh.
  • Be applying to use the grant to:
    • Try an innovative GEDSI related approach on a small scale, within an existing project/intervention or a stand-alone activity.
    • Establish a small ‘Community of Practice’ committed to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
  • Agree to participate in required trainings/orientations on fraud management, GEDSI, child protection and preventing sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), prior to receiving the grant.
  • Use and acquit the grant according to DFAT and Program guidelines.

 

The maximum grant amount that can be provided for each activity is AUD3,000.

Applicants must complete the application form and required attachments (below) and submit them online by 21 May 2022.

All the relevant documents (application and attachments) need to be converted into a PDF file and upload it to the online application portal.

Incomplete applications or applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Please download the application and and other relevant documents from the section below.

Application Form – Individual

Application Form – Group

Attachment 1 – Risk-Assessment

Attachment 2 – Certification

Attachment 3 – Detailed-Budget

Attachment 4 – Scholar Alumni Member Details

 

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

  • Applications must align with strategies included in DFAT’s gender equality and women’s empowerment strategy and Australia Awards – South Asia’s GEDSI Approach and Action Plan 2021-22.
  • Applications should clearly outline how the proposed activity will lead to establish a small ‘Community of Practice’ committed to implement GEDSI.
  • Applications should clearly outline how the proposed activity will build the capacity to promote GEDSI in their respective workplace, sector or network.
  • Applications should clearly outline outputs/deliverables and a timeline that is realistic and practical.
  • Applications should clearly outline how the proposed activity will ensure:
    • Equal opportunity for people with disability; and/or
    • reducing and/or removing barriers for people with disability.
  • Applications must identify the activity’s intended primary beneficiaries, providing estimates of numbers.

A shortlist of applicants will be provided to the Australian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh to finalise the selection process.

A maximum of fifteen grant recipients and two reserve applicants will be identified and informed by 29 May 2022. Should any recipient(s) decline the grant offer, a reserve applicant(s) will be offered the grant in ranked order.

Date Milestone
24 April 2022 Call for grant proposals
21 May 2022 Deadline for submissions of grant proposals
29 May 2022 Announcement of results
2 June 2022 Sign grant agreement
5 June 2022 Training on fraud control; GEDSI; PSEAH and child protection  
12 June 2022 Grant project implementation
31 August 2022 Grant progress/ interim report due
31 December 2022 Grant project completion date
31 January 2023 Final report and acquittal submission

 

GEDSI Approach and Action Plan 2021-22

For further information, contact the Australia Awards office in Bangladesh:
+880 9611 699 934 or +8801730338495
alumni@australiaawardsbangladesh.org