Supporting organizations to quickly respond to the Covid-19 pandemic

“In this global crisis, it is important for organizations on the frontlines of responding to COVID-19 to quickly mobilize financial resources so that help can get to where it’s needed sooner, ” says Prof Tom Kariuki, the Director of Programmes at the African Academy of Sciences.

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is today announcing a fixed cost of $100 to allow organizations of any size to assess their compliance against the requirements of the global standard for Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP). This allows organizations of any size to rate their capability to receive and manage grants. The offer not only includes access to the GFGP pre-certification framework but also access to an assurance framework for areas falling outside the scope of the GFGP standard such as safeguarding, health and safety, legal compliance and risk management. The offer is restricted to grant makers and grant receivers who can demonstrate the funds will be used to combat the COVID 19 pandemic.

The reduction in costs by the Global Grant Community (GGC), a financial governance platform of the AAS, makes accessible and expedites due diligence — a process that helps grant makers to assess a prospective grant recipient’s financial and legal compliance. This process can typically take months, but the GGC provides a “one stop shop” for any grantor’s and grantees due diligence requirements which expedites the process. “With this announcement, the Global Grant Community can facilitate faster disbursement of grants to organizations so that they can support the world’s most vulnerable populations affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic,” says Dr Michael Kilpatrick, Senior Advisor of the AAS.

Additionally, governments, aid agencies, philanthropists and foundations need to adapt to the fast-emerging needs from COVID-19 and administer emergency funds rapidly, and with good fiscal assurance, to help not-for-profit organizations, charities and research institutions to continue to support the world’s most vulnerable populations who are affected by the pandemic.

Organizations can complete the entire pre-certification assessments and be eligible to receive grants within one to two weeks for faster implementation of their Covid-19 related community-based activities.

Benefits for Grant Makers and Grant Receivers.

• Grantmakers can disburse funds quicker through searching the GGC organizational directory to seek out new partners who have completed an assessment to GFGP and who are “ready to be funded”.
• Grant recipients can achieve greater credibility and attract more funding for their COVID-19 related activities through completing pre-certification assessments on the GGC portal. Subject to permissions, the responses to the assessments can be viewed on-line by potential funders who can quickly evaluate whether they are financially capable to safely administer their funds.

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Note to the editor

About the African Academy of Sciences

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit pan African organisation whose vision is to see transformed lives on the African continent through science. Our tripartite mandate is recognising excellence through the AAS’ highly prestigious fellowship and award schemes, providing advisory and think tank functions for shaping Africa’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) strategies and policies and implementing key STI programmes addressing Africa’s developmental challenges. The Academy’s five strategic focus areas include: Environment and climate change; health and wellbeing; natural sciences; policy and governance; and social sciences and humanities.

Join us on Facebook.com/AASciences and Twitter @AASciences and learn more by visiting http://www.aasciences.africa

About the Global Grant Community

The Global Grant Community (GGC) is a financial platform of the African Academy of Sciences whose mission is to connect funders with trusted grantees through digitizing, standardizing and de-risking the due diligence process for both funders and grant receivers. The GGC reduces the cost and time taken to connect major state and philanthropic funders with the world’s most trusted grant receivers, that have a proven track record of managing funding effectively. The platform consists of a i) New international standard for Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) developed in collaboration with multiple African and global partners and adopted by the African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO) ii). Portal based pre-certification scheme to the requirements of GFGP and iii) Global network of audit firms licensed to undertake site audits for certification that an organization’s day to day operational activities are in compliance to the requirements of the GFGP standard. More information about the Global Grant Community can be found on http://www.globalgrantcommunity.org.

Media Enquiries:

Grace Oduor | Marketing and Communications Officer | African Academy of Sciences

Email: [email protected] | Tel: +254 729 380 256