Review of the Irish Aid Programme Grant Mechanism

Tender description

Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development programme, engages in partnerships with development NGOs in order to further its policy objectives reflected in Ireland’s Policy for International Development – One World, One Future (2013) – as well as the Irish Aid Civil Society Policy (2008). The Programme Grant is managed by Irish Aid’s Civil Society and Development Education Unit (formerly the Development Education and Civil Society Section) and provides funding to 16 NGO partners over a four-year period (2012-2015). Partners receive funds from an approved total annual amount (€62.7 million in 2014), according to a percentage formula based on a performance-based appraisal. The Programme Grant has been operational since 2012, and three years of programming have now been completed. In 2014, a decision was made to extend the current cycle by one year, to end 2016. This will enable the Programme Partners to report more comprehensively on results and outcomes achieved over the lifetime of the Programme Grant. It also allows sufficient time to undertake a review of the Programme Grant mechanism that will ensure that the next phase is fully informed by lessons learned from this current cycle. These Terms of Reference set out the background, objectives and methodology of the planned review.