Two years ago, the White Bear Lake club was applying for a Global Grant that would provide five rural schools in Nigeria with clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). However, when another grant opportunity presented itself, they asked our club if we wanted to take over the WASH grant so they could pursue the other one they were interested in.
I agreed to carry the grant for our club, but with the guidance and assistance of Patty Hall, a White Bear Lake member and veteran of other grants. After studying the Rotary Guide to Global Grants, I edited the grant application and went to work creating a PowerPoint presentation, which I then used to solicit support from other clubs.
About the end of last summer, with the help of about 15 generous clubs, we had raised our share of the money. Unknown to us, however, two of the four Nigerian clubs that had signed on to support the grant, defaulted on their commitments of $1,000 each.
Our principal Rotary partner in Nigeria (Princewill Oyakhilome) tried valiantly to recruit one or two other Nigerian clubs to fill the funding gap, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
In a truly odd twist of fate, White Bear Lake had encountered difficulties with the new grant they had initiated, and it had to be scrapped....which left them with $2,000 in their budget that they would now not need for their grant. And in an act of true generosity, they volunteered to donate that money to the Nigerian clubs to fill out their funding commitment.
I had to ask, “Can they really do that?” And, to my surprise, our District 5960 Grants Team Leader, Margie Horning, said “Yes, they can.”
What this means is that the grant is now fully funded and, over two years after we first got involved in it, it can now move forward into implementation. I have to say that this was not the most ideal way to learn about Global Grants management. But, in the end, it seems it will become a live project, and hundreds of Nigerian children will gain access to clean water for drinking, washing, and waste management.
This is not, however, the end of the road. Once installed, the wells, storage facilities, and reticulation piping will need to be monitored for water quality. And a lengthy training program involving many students, teachers, parents, administrators, and citizens will have to undergo training. All of the installation and training will be handled by a non-profit called Partnership for Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND). And we and the Nigerian clubs will be required to submit semi-annual reports to RI headquarters on what has been done, costs, water quality measurements, numbers of Rotarians involved in the project, etc., for several years to come. It’s all part of providing a “sustainable” solution.
Hopefully, the result will be valuable experience gained in managing Global Grants, and a club that is prepared and willing to initiate other grants benefitting people around the world. Sometimes learning is hard, but it is always worth the effort. And I am happy to say that it appears this grant is turning an important corner in its lifespan.