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CAGE’s Mandate and Identity
The CAGE Facility is primarily a grant maker set up through a Financing Agreement (FA) between the South African government and the European Union’s Programme for Reconstruction and Development.
The identity of the programme is defined by the FA which describes its overall objective and project purpose
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Participatory Consultations and Report
At the beginning of the grant process, CAGE engages with a variety of stakeholders to determine the themes for the Call for Proposals (CFP). A series of events take place, including workshops and roundtables for a sample of CAGE’s stakeholders.
During these consultations, CAGE consistently uses the Government Plan of Action (given its mandate to contribute to national policy) to shape discussions and help determine high priority policy areas. In order to facilitate greater public involvement in policy, CAGE also uses its website database to acquire expressions of interest for research areas which may inform policy debate into conflict and governance
The main outcome of these consultations is a report which details the agreed themes and a draft advert for the planned Call for Proposals.
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Approval and Advertising the Call for Proposals
The draft advert is approved by the Programme Steering Committee (responsible for the governance and oversight functions of CAGE) and endorsed by the EU. Upon approval of an agreed budget, the CFP is then advertised at a national level via newspapers, the websites of CAGE, National Treasury, the European Union and key partners.
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Application process
Applicants have 60 days to put together their proposals. CAGE provides detailed application criteria and guidelines and any queries are directed to CAGE’s call centre or to the FAQ section on the website. Applicants are required to submit both a concept note and a full application by the stipulated deadline.
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Evaluation Committee constitution and selection of Assessors
Once the CFPs are approved and then launched, the Evaluation Committee is constituted to support CAGE with the selection process. These members of the Committee are drawn from the sector in which CAGE operates, but with due regard to avoiding potential conflict of interests. The proposed members are approved by the Project Steering Committee and endorsed by the EU. Once constituted, the committee is fixed for the duration of the process.
The pool of assessors are recruited once the CFP is approved and endorsed and this skilled team, also drawn from the sector and also with due regard to avoiding potential conflict of interest, assist with the assessments of the actual content of the submitted proposals. The decisions of the Evaluation Committee are based on the recommendations of this pool of experts.
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Selection of Proposals
All proposals undergo the same administrative, eligibility and technical selection procedure, using prescribed evaluation formats, which are published upfront as part of the application pack. The team of Assessors put forward recommended proposals to the Evaluation Committee. Then, with the EU’s endorsement, this Committee makes the final decision on the specific proposals which are to be rewarded research funding.
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| 7. |
Implementation
Once grants have been signed, the successful grantees undergo training on the EU’s PRAG and other requirements of the funding partnership with CAGE. They then start the implementation of their research which, depending on the particular Call for Proposal, can last up to a maximum of 18 months. With implementation and CAGE’s project monitoring underway, the cycle then commences again with the next consultation process to determine the themes for the next Call for Proposals.
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