2009 STARS Impact Awards
Stage 1 Application Form and Guidance Notes
Page
Background 2
2009 STARS Impact Awards 3
Is your organisation eligible to apply? 7
Glossary of terms 9
Terms and Conditions for Award recipients 11
Question specific guidance 13
2009 STARS Impact Awards – Stage 1 application form 16
Checklist for completing the application form 20
Background
The STARS Foundation (STARS) improves the well-being of disadvantaged children around the world by supporting organisations which meet their health, education and protection needs.
STARS is a registered charity with the UK Charity Commission and a registered company with Companies House. It is governed by an international Board of Trustees, chaired by its Founder, His Excellency Amr A. Al-Dabbagh.
Since its establishment in 2001, STARS has provided grants to organisations working with disadvantaged children. Building on its grant making experience, the STARS Foundation first launched the STARS Impact Awards in December 2006 in Africa.
Established as an annual award, the STARS Impact Awards support organisations committed to achieving excellence in the provision of services to disadvantaged children and encourage the replication of effective approaches and practices. Each Award provides US$100,000 of unrestricted funding as well as consultancy support tailored to meet the needs of the recipients. The Awards recognise one recipient in each category of health, education and protection. In addition, a smaller Award may be made at the discretion of the STARS Board of Trustees to recognise the work of an organisation whose application demonstrates potential as a 'rising star'.
The first recipients of the Impact Awards were:
· 2007 Health Award: Island Hospice & Bereavement Service, which provides palliative care and support to people with terminal illness, their families and carers, and offers a comprehensive therapeutic service for the bereaved. The first organisation to provide these services in Africa, Island Hospice has evolved to address a growing reality of Zimbabwe, that of child carers.
· 2007 Education Award: Student Partnerships Worldwide, whose goal is to ensure that young people make responsible choices concerning their sexual reproductive health and have a lead role in the decision-making processes that affect their lives and their communities. All its work is led by young people through a youth-led volunteer model which enables it to deliver full-time holistic sexual reproductive health programmes in the most remote rural communities.
· 2007 Protection Award: RAPCAN, which focuses on the prevention of child abuse and neglect and the promotion of children’s rights in a country which faces serious challenges in combating child abuse. RAPCAN works at a local, provincial and national level in South Africa and in the Southern African region.
The process for the 2008 Impact Awards is just being completed and we will be announcing the recipients very soon. Please keep an eye on our website www.starsfoundation.org.uk for more information.
For 2009, the Impact Awards are expanding into South Asia, in addition to Africa. There will therefore be three Awards in total for Africa and three for South Asia. The 2009 Impact Awards will target the countries in Africa and South Asia which feature in the top 100 Under-Five-Mortality Rank listing from UNICEF’S State of the World Children’s Report 2006.
2009 STARS Impact Awards
What STARS is looking for
Over a two stage process, the recipients will be selected against a range of criteria which STARS consider reflect the hallmarks of effective practice and demonstrate a positive impact on the lives of the children supported. The specific criterion that STARS is interested in at Stage 1 is:
Delivery of programmes that positively affect the lives of disadvantaged children and an ability to measure and demonstrate impact - We are looking for indications of overall delivery and impact. This requires evidence that organisations have established a clear need for their work, have defined the key issue(s) on which they are focusing their work and the ways in which they have chosen to tackle them. We are also looking for organisations that involve and take account of the advice of their intended beneficiaries when formulating their objectives, set realistic and achievable milestones for their work, measure the impact of the services they provide, and review their work regularly in light of feedback from beneficiaries.
Further detail is provided later on in the application form on what we are looking for during this stage of the process (please refer to the ‘question specific guidance’ section).
Applying: the 10 step process
There are 10 steps to Stage 1 of the application process which are as follows:
1. Check that your organisation is eligible to apply by reading the eligibility criteria section below (“Is your organisation eligible to apply?”). Please note that if your organisation does not meet all the eligibility criteria, your application will not be assessed.
2. From the STARS website (www.starsfoundation.org.uk), download the Stage 1 application form or request that it be emailed to you. To do this you will be required to give some basic details about your organisation.
3. Carefully read these guidance notes which include the Awards Terms and Conditions. The application form can be found at the end of the guidance notes.
4. Save this document with the name of your organisation. You can then complete the form at your convenience offline and do not have to do so in one attempt. Please complete the form in English or French using a computer, and remember to refer to these guidance notes as you are completing the form. Handwritten applications will be accepted only if they are clearly legible.
5. Complete all sections of the application form, ensuring that you remain within the word limits specified. The application contains 2 different sections, including:
· Section 1 - questions about your organisation
· Section 2 - questions about your organisation’s delivery and impact
Please note that sections 1 and 2 require thorough research and planning time. If you have any technical problems completing the form, please email us at .
6. Ensure you can supply STARS with a copy of an accreditation document showing the name of your organisation (this may be its certificate of registration or any other signed legal document) and its two most recent sets of annual audited financial accounts.
7. Read the checklist at the end of the application form to make sure you have completed all the stages in the application process.
8. Once you are ready to submit your application, email your completed application to by 6pm GMT on Friday 28 November 2008. Your two most recent sets of audited annual financial accounts should also be submitted at the same time if these are available electronically. If they are not, your accounts can be sent by post along with your signed application form (see point 10 below).
9. Print off your completed application, sign the declaration in section 3 and ask your organisation’s CEO / Chairperson / Board Member or equivalent to sign the declaration in section 4.
10. Post your application along with supporting documents - a copy of an accreditation document showing the name of your organisation and your two most recent sets of audited annual financial accounts (only if these are not available electronically) to STARS no later than Friday 28 November 2008. You may wish to use a courier or registered post. The address is:
STARS Foundation
Charles House, 4th floor
375 Kensington High Street
London W14 8QH
United Kingdom
Please keep a copy of your application for your records, as STARS is unable to provide you with a copy once it has been submitted. Please note that the postal copy MUST be the same as the email version submitted. In the event that they are different, your organisation will be deemed to be ineligible and your application will not be assessed.
Please submit only your application form and the required supporting documents. Any additional materials submitted will not be considered and will not be returned.
STARS support for applicants during the application process
STARS will offer the following support during the application process:
· Guidance notes à it is recommended that you read these guidelines before preparing your application, as they provide detailed information on completing each question
· Frequently Asked Questions à you can find further information and guidance in the FAQ section of the STARS website www.starsfoundation.org.uk
· Further queries à if you have specific queries that are not addressed in the guidance notes or the FAQ section on the website, you can email
The assessment process – what happens once you have submitted your application?
STARS will check each Stage 1 application for eligibility. STARS will then score all of the eligible Stage 1 applications received by the closing date to compile a shortlist of 60 applications for each region (Africa and South Asia) across the categories of Health, Education and Protection. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will conduct a review of the shortlist to ensure that consistency and fairness has been applied in the assessment process.
The 60 shortlisted organisations from each region will be invited to apply to Stage 2 of the process and will be emailed the Stage 2 application form to complete. Further detail about the assessment process for Stage 2 will be available with the Stage 2 application form. Organisations will have approximately 6 weeks to complete the Stage 2 application.
The assessment of applications throughout the process will be based on the criteria listed above in ‘what STARS is looking for’ as well as the overall strength of the application. Please respond within the word limit, as additional words will not be considered.
Timescales
The following timescales will apply to the 2009 STARS Impact Awards:
· Deadline for submitting Stage 1 application form – 6pm GMT – Friday 28 November 2008
· Announcement of outcome of Stage 1 - Invitation to complete Stage 2 application form/Feedback to unsuccessful applicants – end January 2009
· Deadline for submitting Stage 2 application form – 6pm GMT – Friday 13 March 2009
· Full scoring and assessment of applications to arrive at shortlist – end April 2009
· Financial and propriety checks on shortlisted applications – mid May 2009
· Consideration of shortlisted applications by the independent Awards Panel – mid May 2009
· Trustees’ final decision – early July 2009
· Applicants notified of outcome of their application – early August 2009
· Award event and ceremony – autumn/winter 2009
What happens next?
When you submit your Stage 1 application for the Award by email you will receive an email notifying you that STARS has received it. If you do not receive this email, please re-submit your application. After your application has been submitted, you will not then be provided with any further feedback until the end of January 2009.
What STARS is looking for at Stage 2
For those organisations invited to Stage 2 of the process, the following criteria will be assessed. Please note that the following is provided for information purposes only to enable organisations to start to think about what is required at Stage 2 and what STARS is looking for overall.
· Governance and accountability to stakeholders - We are looking for evidence of an appropriate governance and management structure for your organisation. This could include trustees and/or management team members who meet regularly and who have complementary skills, knowledge and experience. We are also interested in how organisations communicate with trustees, staff, donors, and
beneficiaries. We are looking for evidence that these interested groups are able to voice their perspectives, and where appropriate, influence the organisation’s strategies and objectives.
· Effective finance and administration - We are looking for organisations that maintain clear, timely financial and administrative records, and that understand the benefits of doing so. We are also interested in organisations that plan ahead to ensure sustainability and are able to use their resources efficiently to get the most out of what they spend.
· Use of technology and ICT to enhance delivery of programmes - We are looking for organisations that demonstrate effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) to carry out their activities, including the use of software packages and the internet. We are interested in organisations that display an understanding of the benefits of using technology to carry out their activities more efficiently.
· Innovation and flexibility - We are looking for evidence of innovation and creativity in responding to beneficiaries’ needs. Evidence is needed that organisations are flexible in how they deliver their services and are active in seeking and responding to feedback from users/beneficiaries of their services. We are also looking for organisations that plan ahead for the sustainability of projects after the initial input of funding and resources have been received.
· Networking and collaborating with other organisations - We are looking for organisations that can provide evidence of sharing learning and good practice with other organisations and the adoption of new, improved management practices as a result of networking. We are also looking for organisations that can demonstrate that they have identified areas where they can work in partnership with other organisations. This could be in order to acquire resources or skills that the organisation does not have, or to provide resources or skills that the partner organisation does not have, or to minimise duplication of services in the sector.
· Development of staff members and/or volunteers - We are looking for evidence of growth and learning opportunities for all staff members and volunteers, including in particular those who have been hired locally.
For organisations hiring staff - We are looking for appropriate policies in such areas as staff appointment, appraisal, training and development and staff safety. We are also interested in organisations that demonstrate a desire and a proven ability to develop local capacity to run and manage projects over the long term.
For organisations hiring volunteers - We are looking for organisations that can demonstrate that they use volunteers effectively and offer them opportunities to develop. Evidence is required that volunteers are managed appropriately to ensure that their contribution and worth is recognised.