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Best Practice Case Study
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Experience of Grantee
Professor Nico Steytler, Director of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape, found the process of applying for grants through CAGE a positive and constructive experience.
Regarding the application process itself, Professor Steytler found the research themes offered by CAGE to be “broad and accessible”. The application form was quite tough and “required a real art and skill”. The CLC was in a fortunate position in that they had previous EU experience. They therefore had a familiarity with the use of log frames and putting together fairly technical proposals.
With CAGE being “bound by EU rules and regulations”, Steytler indicates that his experience of other funders has been somewhat less restrictive. On the other hand, “CAGE is very much engaged: they are the only ones (funders) who respond positively to quarterly reports. This indicates that they actually read them!” What made the CLC’s experience with CAGE distinct from that with other donors is “the real interest in (a grantee’s) work.. and giving constructive feedback”.
The CLC’s research results have been very well received and the grants that the CLC has received from CAGE have had tangible impacts. This has included research results being “adopt(ed) as a set of guidelines for the Department of Provincial and Local Government” and a subsequent grant is now “feeding into the review process of the White Paper on local government.”
Steytler sees CAGE filling a particular niche in the Social Science research field – that of their “interest in working with key policy makers.” Although Steytler points out that it is difficult to predict impact on policy in such a short reporting period, it is CAGE’s aim of “open and engaged research” that sets it apart from other donors.
On summing up the CLC’s experience of managing a grant through CAGE, Professor Steytler emphasises the “the personality they (CAGE) put in to it” and expresses that the people who make up the team there “really put a human face to the whole process.”
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