About the Actions eligible to the Fund

• Can BUSAC Fund be accessed and utilized in buying computers, vehicles and other equipments to be used for the Action? BUSAC will finance the use of any equipment used to implement your Advocacy Action: the related running and depreciation cost of the Association's equipment will be included in the budget line called "overhead & indirect costs".
  
  The purchase of equipment is not eligible to the Fund. Other Projects may exist that can meet the demand for structure strengthening.
• Is Capacity building of our members (leadership, advocacy, management, technical & vocational matters, etc.) eligible? Can we access BUSAC fund to carry out our training program? BUSAC Fund currently concentrates on Advocacy. Thus, an Action aiming to develop this Advocacy Capacity through training of the Association's executives could be considered.
  
  Your Application is likely to score higher if it is "learning by doing"-oriented: for instance, if the training part is a component of a convincing Advocacy Action. Other Projects may exist that can meet the demand for training programs about leadership, management, technical & vocational matters, etc.

About the preparation of the Application

• Why does the application to BUSAC asks so many questions? Because BUSAC Fund gives away "free money", not "easy money"! The application form actually Calls for information needed to understand and score your project. It simply helps you provide objective information about your idea, your action and capacity of your organization. This is seen as the best way to ensure transparency and fairness of selection, whatever your size, wherever your location, etc...
• Could an Application form be handwritten? Your own internal draft can be handwritten, but the official document that you'll send to BUSAC has to be typed. It also has to carefully follow the format provided by BUSAC, to ensure a fair and transparent appraisal process.
• “To apply, can we use the Sample Application form provided in the sample Application package”? It depends on the size of your Action. The Standard Actions (up to almost 1 billion Cedis) cannot use it: they have to be made on the file to be downloaded from the website.
  
  Small grants (less than 20 million Cedis) can be applied for by using the form provided (without downloading the file, although it is possible to do so, from here): This Simplified Process has been designed to simplify the access to BUASC Fund for small Associations and small Actions: they just need to type-in the answer boxes provided. No handwritten application can be sent, nor other-than-English.
• Is it mandatory to use the Application forms provided by BUSAC? Yes. This will ensure that all the necessary information is provided in a consistent way, so that the appraisal and selection process can be fair and transparent.
• Is it possible/necessary to apply online, directly on BUSAC Website? No, mainly because it takes a rather a lot of time and external information to fill it properly.
  You will have to download the Application package from the Website, and then fill it, using a computer (it is not possible to deliver a handwritten application. See below). The same way, it is not possible to deliver your Application through the Internet: After completion, 2 signed hard copies and a soft copy on a diskette / CD must be delivered (by mail or hand-delivered) to BUSAC Fund within the advertised deadlines, to be considered.
• Where do I put the answers to the questions asked in the "Grant Application" form? Immediately under each question; just insert the answer below each question (just before the following questions.)
• Can BUSAC Fund Management help prepare Applications? BUSAC Fund Management can answer your preliminary questions: mostly about the eligibility of your intended Action, of your organization, and about the BUSAC Fund process.
  For transparency and fairness reasons, BUSAC Management will find it difficult to help you design nor refine your intended Action, because they need to appraise every Application in a competitive way. They will rather propose you get the support of an adequate Service Provider to do so, and tell you about the Outreach Facility, that can pay the support provided to you by a Service Provider to help you design your Action and fill in the Application (up to 1,000 USD-around 9 million Cedis- representing 10% of the a total amount of your intended Action's budget, in case your action has been selected).
• Can a public Administration help prepare and implement, and be paid for it? We appreciate the assistance of Public Sector institutions to disseminate information about BUSAC Fund, as part of their enabling role for the Private Sector. They can help you, but BUSAC Fund being dedicated to strengthening Advocacy Capacity within the Private Sector, only expenses incurred by your Association or its Private Sector Service Providers are eligible for grant.

About the selection process

• How do I know that my application has arrived in the BUSAC office? BUSAC issues a receipt to the person handing in the application or mails it incase the application arrives through mail.
• My application meets all the requirements in your guidelines (objectives, format, information to be given.). I cannot understand why it hasn't been selected and funded? Though you and your Application satisfied all the eligibility criteria, other Applications scored higher marks during the evaluation: budget for that call is therefore exhausted. Nevertheless, your application could be re-submitted in the next call for applications. You could even improve it. On our side, your application will not be disclosed, like every non-selected application. Only awarded Actions will be made public, for the sake of transparency but also as examples to be used.

About Service Providers

• Is it possible to express interest as Service Provider (to Applicants) and for Monitoring? Yes, for different applications. That Service Provider will not be able to be contracted by BUSAC for Monitoring of the Actions where he is a Service Provider.
• Does an Applicant need to have a written service agreement with the Service Provider, or will BUSAC handle this administrative matter? BUSAC recommends you to have a formal agreement with the Service Provider you select. BUSAC will not handle this for you, or contract the Service Provider on your behalf. BUSAC will only check (as part of the selection process) that a document from your Service Provider exists that clearly describes the service(s) he agrees to provide and its cost: the disbursement will be made according to this document, for the amount mentioned in the budget of your Action.
• Does BUSAC Fund guarantee that the Service Providers included in a selected and approved application will be paid? Will BUSAC pay them directly? No. BUASC Fund will not interfere in the normal business relation between an Applicant and its Service Providers. This said, the monitoring process and the sequential disbursement are designed to ensure that the Actions are properly managed and the Applicants meet their obligations. This includes the payment of monies due Service Providers, as per the Action description... BUSAC Fund will not pay the Service Providers directly: The entire mechanism aims to strengthen the capacity of the beneficiary Association, under the of the monitor and auditor.

Eligibility of Applicants

• Our Association is member of an "Umbrella" association. If this "Umbrella" association applies to BUSAC, can our Association also apply? Yes. Your Association is fully entitled to apply, if for a different Action.
  Usually, the large "Umbrella" Associations deal with wide concerns, while your Association will propose to undertake an action linked to its own concerns.
• Is it possible to make a "joint-Application" with another Association? Yes, It is allowed in so far as both Associations are eligible (they belong to the Private Sector, etc.). It will bear the responsibility of receiving the funds from BUSAC Fund for the implementation and reporting of the joint-Action.
• “Is an NGO eligible to the Fund?” NGO are welcome to help Associations within the Private Sector apply (see eligibility page, as BSPs (Service Providers). NGO's are not eligible applicants by themselves. Their possible expertise in advocacy and their knowledge about the bottlenecks to be removed and other area related to the objectives of BUSAC could strengthen a lot the proposal made by the Applicant they support.
  As a Service Provider, they will be remunerated for their services, so far as their action and budget is described in the Application and remains within the market price.