Information on the assessment process is set out in Section 8 on pages 14-15 of the Grant Guidelines, and on the notification process in Section 9 on page 16.
We first review your application against the eligibility criteria (in Section 4 of the Grant Guidelines).
If eligible, we will then assess your application against the assessment criteria (see Section 6 of the Grant Guidelines) and against other applications. We consider your application on its merits, based on:
- how well it meets the assessment criteria
- how it compares to other applications
- whether and how well it provides value with money.
We assess the extent to which the application represents value with money through identifying:
- the overall objective/s to be achieved in providing the grant
- the relative value of the grant sought
- extent to which the geographic location of the application matches identified priorities and contributes to geographic priorities in the COALAR 2024-2025 grant round
- extent to which the evidence in the application demonstrates that it will contribute to meeting the outcomes/objectives
- how the grant activities will target groups or individuals
- the extent to which the project leverages additional funding (this includes cash contributions).
An assessment committee will assess applications. The assessment committee will be made up of members of the COALAR Board and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials. Board members are treated as Commonwealth officials due to their role in the assessment process, in accordance with Part 1, section 2.8 of the CGRGs and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
The COALAR Secretariat, within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will provide information and advice to the assessment committee to assist its determination of policy and its assessment of grant applications.
The assessment committee may seek additional input from relevant Australian missions overseas about you or your application. They may also seek additional information from other Commonwealth agencies, even if the sources are not nominated by you as referees. The assessment committee may also consider information about you or your application that is available through the normal course of business.
If the selection process identifies unintentional errors in your application, you may be contacted to correct or explain the information.
While an application may meet the assessment criteria, a grant is not guaranteed.
Who will approve grants?
The assessment committee will make recommendations to the delegate, Assistant Secretary, APEC and Latin America Branch, who decides which grants to approve.
Where funds become available during the financial year, DFAT may award funding to applicants that were previously shortlisted as suitable but were not funded.
The delegate's decision is final in all matters, including:
- the approval of the grant
- the grant funding amount to be awarded
The delegate will not approve funding if the application does not represent value with money.
COALAR reserves the right to offer less funding than that sought by the applicant. There is no appeal mechanism for decisions to approve or not approve a grant.
Notification of application outcomes
COALAR will advise you of the outcome of your application in writing.
If you are successful, we will advise you of any specific conditions attached to the grant.
If you are unsuccessful, you may submit a new application for the same project (or a similar project) in any future grant opportunity rounds. You may wish to include new or more information to address any weaknesses that may have prevented your previous application from being successful.
COALAR will not provide individual feedback in relation to your application.