Small Grants & Ambassador’s Fund Program

The program aims to support community-led development projects in various sectors, including education, civic participation, and others. As of January 2016, the program had received a total of 411 applications since its resumption in November 2014. The majority of applications received during January 2016 came from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), with 12 applications each, followed by Sindh with 10 applications. Cumulatively, the program had received 294 applications in the education sector, including 51 applications for the "Let Girls Learn" initiative, and 117 applications in the civic participation sector. During the reporting month, the program reviewed and submitted 32 applications along with initial review checklists to USAID for further action. USAID initially reviewed 19 applications and cleared 5 applications for further processing. The program also submitted 2 fully processed grant summaries to USAID, bringing the total number of grant summaries submitted to 59. As of January 31, 2016, the program had received approval for 85 grants, with 46 completed or closed, 34 ongoing, and 5 new grants under preparation. A total of US$ 10.716 million had been disbursed against the approved grant funds of US$ 18.404 million. The program staff conducted 23 monitoring visits to 17 ongoing grants to ensure transparency in fund utilization and provide technical support to grantees. The program also submitted a quarterly financial report for October 1-December 31, 2015, to USAID and advanced a request for operation and grants for the month of February 2016. An award ceremony was held on January 28, 2016, to recognize outstanding staff performance for the year 2014-2015. The program's grant cycle management is reflected in the statistical abstract, which presents achievements during the month and cumulative status as of January 31, 2016. The abstract highlights the number of applications received, processed, and reviewed by USAID, as well as the number of grant summaries submitted and approved.