Proposals for knowledge transfers projects

Guidelines for submitting project proposals

Objective

The Promoting Knowledge Management through Learning Communities Program finances the transfer of knowledge between an institution that has already successfully completed a MIF project and at least two beneficiary institutions. These beneficiaries will adapt the methodology/model developed in the original MIF project to their own needs, incorporating the relevant lessons learned.

The program is designed to be demand-driven, so proposals must be submitted by the beneficiary institutions requesting the knowledge transfer from the successfully completed MIF project.

Projects to be financed through this Program will work like service contracts - MIF is essentially providing financing to institutions as "consultants" in order for them to transfer their knowledge to others via a service contract.

This Program will 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. It will support learning communities and clusters of MIF partner executing agencies in sharing knowledge through the financing of up to 20 pilot projects, over a four year period, which are aimed at the replication and scaling up of MIF successes.

Project proposals should therefore support the objectives of the Program by seeking to:

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 third year of the Program to allow time for project implementation and disbursements.

Geographic Scope

Projects should be national or regional.

Who's involved in the projects to be financed through this Program?

Service Provider:

• This is the institution that has successfully completed* a MIF project and has the knowledge to share. (A successful project is defined as one that achieved its development objectives.)

*Under certain circumstances, the Service Provider can be a MIF executing agency with a project still in execution. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis, according to the following criteria:

• The MIF project must be within 12 months of completion.
• There must be a clearly demonstrated demand for the methodology/knowledge and lessons learned from the project (letters of interest from the prospective beneficiaries).
• There must be a clear value-added in sharing this knowledge now, either on a regional and/or national level.
• The Country Office MIF specialist, project team leader and/or cluster coordinator must support the need for knowledge-sharing now, rather than after the project ends.

Beneficiary Institutions:

• These are the institutions that the service provider is transferring the knowledge to.
• Proposals must include at least two beneficiary institutions.
• The service provider must be pre-selected by the beneficiary institutions.
• The project proposal must be submitted by one of these beneficiaries on behalf of the others.

Types of eligible institutions:

• Non-profit private sector institutions including non-governmental organizations, industry associations, chambers of commerce, foundations, etc. Under certain circumstances government agencies are also eligible.

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 MIF learning community or cluster.

Considering that the proposal is focused on knowledge transfer between institutions, the components and activities must be focused on this transfer process—how they are going to transfer the methodology/model, when, where, to whom, etc.

• 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.

Example of a knowledge transfer activity: 1) A microfinance institution in Bolivia developed a new risk management model. 2) A microfinance institution in Ecuador is interested in this model and applying it to its own needs. 3) They organize an inter-institutional internship: officials from Ecuador go to Bolivia, learn the model and bring this knowledge back to Ecuador to adapt it to the local context, launching it as a pilot in a number of their branches.

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 from US$75,000 to 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.)

Projects to be financed through this Program will work like service contracts - MIF is essentially providing financing to institutions in order for them to transfer their knowledge to others via a service contract.

Counterpart Resources

Beneficiary institutions are responsible for counterpart contributions of at least 30% of the total amount of each project and half of all local contributions must be in cash.

Apart from its own resources, the institution 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 must be submitted to the MIF by one of the beneficiary institutions on behalf of the other(s). Of course, developing the project proposal is a collaborative process including all institutions involved - beneficiaries and service provider - but the actual submission must come from a beneficiary.

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 from 12-18 months. The disbursement period will be up to 20 months.