Community network travel & event fund for peers members

Click here to start the online application form for the community network (CN) Travel and Event Fund

1. Purpose of the 2021/22 CN Travel & Event Fund

The Connecting the Unconnected project by APC has established a travel & event fund mechanism that aims to support community network peers in three ways: a) peer learning by organising a community network travel learning exchange within country, and b) movement building by organising a local event within the community (with COVID-19 travel and health protocols in place). The community network peers’ participation in these events aim to contribute to the continuation of strengthening and/or diversifyingthe CN peers' network and to achieving the project’s strategic priorities around knowledge exchange.

2. What does the 2021/22 CN Travel & Event Fund support?

The scope of 2021/22 CN Travel and Event Fund support is described in detail in the table below.

(YES) or (NO) between brackets means that exceptions are possible under specific circumstances - see the "Notes/exceptions" column.

3. Who is eligible for the CN travel & event fund?”?

The 2021 CN travel & event fund is available only to members of the 16 CN peer organisations in the Connecting the Unconnected project.  The list of the CN peers for 2021 are found here: https://www.apc.org/en/node/35438/ 

4. General principles guiding usage of the 2021/22 CN travel & event fund   

The CNTF application are not expected to exceed USD 4,000 per CN peer organisation involved in an activity around CN peer learning exchange,or event organising. However, exceptions can be made in cases where evidence is provided that even the most economical local airfare and accommodation will exceed this amount, and such extra costs are justified.

• The principle of the local travel exchange and event organising budget is one of shared responsibility and commitment. In practice, this means that peers are encouraged to also contribute what they can to the costs of participation in the travel exchange or event.

• The CN travel and event fund can cover the costs of a return domestic airfare (discounted economy)  and accommodation in a reasonably priced hotel (for a given location).  See table above for details on accommodation.

• In general, the CN travel and event fund can cover the participation of an individual or for a group of people taking part in the travel exchange or a given event. The list of the group members will need to be included and the break down of costs budgeted per person (i.e. travel costs, accommodation, per diem, etc).

• In general, the CN travel and event fund will only cover one application per CN peer organisation in the given 2021/22 year. However, under certain circumstances  (such as under-utilised funds), a CN peer organisation may apply to the fund for a second time.

• CN Peers whose travel or event organising has been supported by the CN travel and event fund must comply with the sharing/reporting obligations to the LocNet initiative peer network within three weeks after the event has concluded. See section “7.2 Sharing outcomes of peer collaboration and learning supported by the travel and event fund” for details.

5. When and how to apply

• Applications can be sent at any time between the launch date and 31 May 2022.

• Applications for the travel and event fund should be submitted by completing the online form (in English). Write to cn-travel-fellows@apc.org if you are not sure how to access it.

• For reasons of accountability, all applications must be submitted by one of the CN representatives in the Connecting the Unconnected project.

• Applications are reviewed by members of the LocNet team. We aim to have a fast turnaround time. We estimate the review and notification process should take no longer than two to three weeks from the date that all the required information has been received.

• It is recommended that you apply for the CN travel and event fund no less than four weeks before your planned travel or your event. Particularly when the CN travel and event fund reviewers need to assess multiple applications at the same time, we cannot guarantee that your application will be reviewed on time.

• Updates on successful applications to the CN travel and event fund made by the CN travel and event fund mechanism, the CN peer representative is expected to share news about the forthcoming travel exchange or event with the rest of the cn peers through the communitynetworks2020 mailing list.

5.1 Eligibility criteria for submitting applications

• CN Peers applying for the CN travel and event fund must be willing to formally commit themselves to sharing the outcomes of their travel with the rest of the peer network, by at least of the outputs: a) submitting a short report, b) contributing to a blog post to APC.org (or their own organisational blog), c) organising a webinar, or d) sharing outcomes in another agreed upon format.

• Travel support in 2021 & 2022 is provided only for domestic travel to peer learning exchanges or event organising that are directly related to LocNet-wide initiatives and contribute to the LocNet’s strategic priorities (particularly events where joint strategies are being planned, and where the travelling peer represents several peers or the whole network, etc.).

• Applicants for travel or event organising support are strongly encouraged to explore opportunities for their travel to contribute to further networking and collaboration. Such plans should be clearly stated in the application.

5.2 What information should be in the application?

The applicant or applicants should demonstrate clearly how their peer learning travel exchange, and event organising will benefit the CN peer network. Applicants should state how the travel or event participation will:

• Increase the learning capacities of all or one of the participating organisations or individuals.

• Help solve policy or regulatory problems or engage in new policy partnerships.

• Respond to a political, regulatory or other emergencies.

• Be of benefit to movement building within the local community and the participating organisation/s.

• Help the LocNet initiative further share information in virtual global, regional or domestic forums.

*The CN travel and event fund are expected to address as many of the needs listed as possible, but not necessarily all of them.*

6. How does the selection process work?

6.1 CN travel and event fund criteria

All applications that meet the CN travel and event fund criteria and include all the required information can be supported, provided there is sufficient funding available. The LocNet initiative team will assist applicants in ensuring that all the necessary information is included before the application is submitted to the review team.

The main selection criteria which impact on awarding the CN travel and event fund, particularly when funds are low and some applications have to be prioritised, are as follows:

• Contribution of peer participation in a given event to further LocNet’s peer learning, policy and regulation, movement building or technology capacity building strategic priorities.

• Demonstrated benefits of CN peer representative’s participation for their own organisation and for the LocNet initiative.

• Quality of the plan for sharing outcomes of the CN travel and event fund-supported activity with the peer learning network.

Organisations who have not yet used resources from the CN travel and event fund will be favoured when their application is evaluated. That does not mean that peers who have previously used the fund should not apply. Some projects may obviously require follow-up meetings and collaboration. Nevertheless, when available funds are not sufficient to comply with all requests, those who have not previously benefited from the CN travel fellowship will be given preference.

Regional balance

Reviewers will try to ensure that regional balance is maintained over the longer term.

6.2 Transparency in the application process

The CN travel and event fund working group is an advisory committee, established by the LocNet initiative team. It is composed of volunteers from the initiative. The working group’s work is coordinated by the LocNet project coordinator. The working group is responsible for reviewing the CN travel and even fund applications and making decisions about eventual support from the appropriate funding mechanism or budget line. An appropriate coordinator often works with the CN peer on their applications before they are submitted for review.

As of April 2021, the CN travel an event working group (reviewers) have the following members:

• Steve Song

• Karla Velasco

• Kathleen Diga

• Valeria Betancourt

• Cynthia El Khoury

• Carlos Rey-Moreno (lead for policy and regulation applications)

• Mike Jensen (lead for technical capacity building applications)

 7. Conditions that apply once the award has been made

7.1 Enabling other CN peers to be involved

* Peers who wish to apply for the CN travel and event fund are encouraged to share their plans in the appropriate email list (i.e. communitynetworks2020@apc.org) at the early stages of their planning. That way they can maximise the benefits from eventual collaboration and potentially increase the involvement of other peers.

Peers whose initiative has been awarded with a CN travel and event fund should announce their plans in the same email list (i.e. communitynetworks2020@apc.org). That makes it possible for other peers to consider the possibility of their own involvement in the event (where applicable). Although it is not always possible to incorporate other peers with similar interests in a face-to-face meeting, there are usually other alternative means of involvement, ranging from online participation to remote involvement and follow-up initiatives that result from it.

7.2 Sharing outcomes of collaboration and travel supported by the CN travel and event fund

Peers are responsible for sharing outcomes of their CN travel and event fund with the network within three weeks after the end of the event or exchange. Consider developing a plan for sharing the outcomes and discussing it with the LocNet regional coordinator or the overall project coordinator.

The reason for this reporting is not for the love of bureaucracy. We take knowledge sharing within the LocNet initiative seriously and want to make sure that we find a balance where documenting your exchange or event you participate in is useful to you without over-burdening your time, while the rest of the peer learning network gets a chance to learn from your experience and eventually join your initiative (if relevant and possible).

7.2.1  Local travel to events

When using the CN travel and event fund to prepare a peer learning exchange or awareness raising event, peers are asked to share learnings from the event with the rest of the peer network. This can be done through a blog post on APC.org (or their own institutional website), an internal report for the peers, or a webinar.

When several peers receive support to virtually attend an event, they are encouraged to develop the report/blog post jointly, or to join efforts and organise a webinar dedicated to the event or some aspects of it.

CN travel and event fund reports and other forms of sharing should focus on opportunities for peer learning, interesting new initiatives or partnerships, trends and developments that CN peers should learn about, etc.

Failure to share the required report (or other learning outcomes) from your CN travel and event fund will result in your organisation being considered "not in good standing with APC" and therefore ineligible for any further financial support from APC.

7.3 Use of funds and financial reporting

Peers should use the travel and event fund resources strictly for the purposes stated in the application and provide the LocNet team with a brief financial report accompanied by appropriate documentation, i.e. copies of tickets and accommodation receipts, list of participant names, etc. Purchases of services must comply with APC’s procurement policy.

If an organisation that was granted support fails to provide all required receipts and reports without providing a reasonable explanation, that organisation may become ineligible to make future applications to the travel and event fund or other APC grants.

7.4 Unspent funds

Unspent funds (whether partial or whole) granted to travel to events must be returned to APC within one month of the completion of the travel and event fund-supported activity, unless agreed otherwise with the overall LocNet project coordinator. This includes situations where some or all of the funds remain unspent due to, for example, participants finding cheaper travel and accommodation options, participants being unable to attend the meeting or event, and so on.