Global Grant Community: August’18 Newsletter
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the latest newsletter from the GFGP team at The African Academy of Sciences.
The Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) standard.
Our excellent news is we have an approved GFGP standard. In June’18, the National Standard Bodies from 11 African countries (members of the African Organization for Standardization-ARSO- Technical Harmonization Committee that developed GFGP standard), unanimously voted in favour of adoption of the Final Draft African Standard for GFGP. This was ratified at the ARSO General Assembly at the end of June. GFGP is now officially a new international standard with the reference number of ARS 1651:2018. Shortly copies of the standard can be purchased from various National Standards Bodies and we will keep you informed where and when it is available.
Conformity Assessment & Certification to GFGP.
To be effective the GFGP standard requires a conformity assessment scheme that is globally trusted by grantors and grantees as well as those undertaking the assessment.
Therefore, a conformity assessment scheme is being developed by the AAS in accordance with the relevant ISO guidelines (ISO 17067). We will consult with grantors, grantees and potential assessment bodies throughout the development of the scheme. It will be submitted to the ARSO Conformity Assessment Committee (CACO) for approval. Following approval by the CACO, competent Accreditation Bodies that operate in accordance with the requirements of ISO 17011 will then set up an accreditation scheme for GFGP. The Accreditation Bodies will then accredit Certification Bodies as being competent (in compliance with the requirements of ISO 17021-1) to audit and certify grantee organizations against the requirements of the GFGP standard. Grantee organizations can then request Accredited Certification Bodies to undertake an on-site audit of their compliance to the requirements of the GFGP standard.
It is planned that the certification and accreditation schemes will be established by the end of ’18 to enable accredited certification bodies to commence Grantee Organization’s certification audits in Q1’19.
Production of the assessment portal and “go live”
The extensive testing of the beta portal in the last few months has identified some improvements that we would like to incorporate in the registration page, including ‘how grantors and grantees’ are able to ensure that the organisation(s) that administer a grant are identified where there is not a one-to-one match with the legal entity that the grant is made to. We will communicate shortly when the system will go live and be ready to receive subscription payments for grantors to request their grantees to undertake assessments to the requirements of the GFGP standard.
Non GFGP due diligence requirements
As GFGP was being piloted, there was feedback and demand to develop a bank of ‘non-GFGP due diligence criteria’ which will supplement GFGP and provide a one-stop shop’ for grantor due diligence. Over the past few months, through workshops and presentations we have been consulting on the appetite and potential funding for this work and given the commitment and interest received will expect to start this initiative shortly and a proposal will be circulated to those who have expressed an interest. If you like to be involved please email g.kiff@wellcome.ac.uk.
What’s in a name! We are creating a ‘global grant community’ which has the Good Financial Grant Practice standard at its heart. Its current functionality includes the self-assessment and reporting functionality and will be a repository for best practice policies, processes and procedures. The functionality will be enhanced as feedback and ideas are received from you, our global grant community and as funding allows. The next enhancement is the ‘Non GFGP due diligence requirements’ mentioned above. Other suggestions have been to include other globally applicable standards as they are developed or to host self-assessment against standards already developed. These enhancements come from your ideas and suggestions and of course subscriptions or funding. Please continue to feed these ideas to the team.
Humentum Annual Conference, Washington DC July 18.
For our readers attending the Humentum Annual Conference this week at 09.50h to 10.50h on Friday 27th July in Room 207B – we shall be presenting the Global Grant Community portal with the chance to see the standard, the self-assessment system and input into the non-GFGP due diligence criteria . We look forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards,
The Global Grant Community team.
GlobalGrantCommunity@aasciences.ac.ke
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