Course Reflection on “Intermediate to Advanced Grant Writing, Managing, and Reporting: Approaches to Becoming More Successful”
As a result of successfully completing and obtaining a certificate in the Intermediate to Advanced Grant Writing, Managing, and Reporting: Approaches to Becoming More Successful course, I was able to improve my knowledge in grant writing. This course was impactful and the instructor, Dr. Jesse Lutabingwa, is very knowledgeable. Dr. Lutabingwa has vast experience in grants and proposal writing as evidenced by his involvement in “grant writing and project implementation for more than 30 years and has been awarded more than $20 million in funded projects.”
One of the key elements in the course that I really got engaged with, by following every deliberation, was the webinar on “Story Telling.” In this, I followed the presentation from 2017 Reciprocal Exchange Participant Katy Kutzner who provided some insights about how to tell an effective story when applying for and while reporting on grants. Her insights helped widen my scope of understanding regarding the pivotal role a successful story can play to influence decision-makers. What comes to mind is the fact that, beyond becoming familiar with your organization, every donor is interested to know the impact your institution is making. What makes this element more important to me was the fact that Katy was speaking from her experiences as a recipient of the Reciprocal Exchange when she collaborated with 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna Chikondi Mandala from Malawi.
I can say this course has certainly been rewarding as it further improved my understanding on how to pitch my ideas as well as what donors are really looking for. I highly recommend this course to any leader wishing to improve their grant writing skills.
Written by James Papy Kwabo, Jr., 2019 Fellowship Alumnus from Liberia. Edited by Chris McKeown and Charlotte Renfield-Miller.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government.
Fellowship Alumni and selected candidates for 2021 who are interested in learning more about this topic are encouraged to take the “Intermediate to Advanced Grant Writing, Managing, and Reporting: Approaches to Becoming More Successful” course through the Fellowship Portal. Learn more about the course.
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Djonabaye Israel
2018 Fellowship Alumnus, Chad