MAN 3786 St. Petersburg College Management Discussion

Grant Request for the Innovation, Environment and Resilience Fund (Discussion: Post First)

Background.  The UN Refugee Agency provides innovation grants to increase the resilience of communities.  As their website says: the UN Refugee Agency wants to promote novel ideas and ways of thinking to tackle global climate and environmental crises. These complex crises require us to move beyond just responding to disasters but anticipating challenges and building resilience among refugee and host communities. The following five challenges are currently active:

1. Settlement: How might we improve or design settlements to make them more environment-friendly and able to withstand extreme weather and climate events? How might we reduce environmental hazards and sustainably benefit from the surrounding natural environment, while safeguarding its health and diversity?
2. Housing solutions: How might we design dignified, affordable, and sustainable housing solutions that respect a circular materials and ecosystem approach, and are adapted to environmental and climate conditions that might worsen in the future?
3. Water: How might we design eco-friendly and efficient water, sanitation, and hygiene technologies (high- or low-tech) for a healthier environment for refugees and host communities?
4. Energy: How might we create affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy technologies (high- or low-tech) and/or sustainable and protection-oriented business models for refugee settlements and nearby host communities, promoting the use of clean fuels and renewable energy? 
5. Supply chain and process innovation: How might we improve UNHCR’s business processes and supply chains to contribute to a more sustainable and respectful use of natural resources and minimize negative environmental impacts?

Initial post (Post first). Write a grant request for an innovative solution to increase resilience of refugee communities or their host communities ? whether climate change refugees, economic refugees, or disaster refugees.  Apply the concepts in Chapters 16, especially Resilient Design Principles and Community Resilience.  Consider innovations that use one of the three general approaches and/or ecological design ideas described in Chapter 17.  Be specific in identifying the problem area, the sustainability concepts leading to the problem and the resilient design principles, general approaches, and/or ecological design ideas leading to innovative solutions.  

Note: you do not have to invent a new solution; you may research solutions anywhere in the textbook or online that can be applied to help solve the problem.  Recommend writing the document and then copying/pasting it in the discussion post.  Be visually explicit (i.e., bold, italics) with the required elements to minimize the chance of lost points.  

TITLE

I. Proposal Summary (Executive Summary) (approximately 100 words ? 5 points)
The Proposal Summary should be about one paragraph of 1-3 sentences and should include the amount of funding requested and give the most general description of the use that will be made of the funds.

II. Background (100 words minimum ? 5 points)
Describe the problem that has created the need for the program that will be funded by the requested grant. It should provide evidence that the problem exists as well as that the proposed project will contribute to a solution to the problem or will reduce the harmful impact of the problem. Be sure to cite your research.

III. Project Description (300 words minimum ? 10 points)
The project description should give the reader a description of the program that will be funded by the requested grant. This description should explain the duration of time during which the funds will support the project, the goals of the project, how they will be achieved, how success or failure will be measured, what services you promise to deliver to what population and what results you expect to bring about. Be sure to cite your research

IV. Project Timeline (5 points)
Using your Project Description, provide the reader with a timeline that shows the chronological order in which the activities listed under each goal heading will be undertaken and/or completed. Also include information about how/when funds that are awarded will be spent to support each activity.

V. Budget (5 points)
Develop a table with categories of estimated expenditures that will be funded by the requested grant, a list of the people/items to be funded how much funding will be required for each category.  

Expenditure Item

Description

Number

Est. Fund Request

Personnel

e.g., project manager

1

Equipment

e.g., computer

1

Space

e.g., shelters

Transportation

e.g., buses, RVs

Utilities (energy, water)

e.g., electricity/water

Education

e.g., awareness, online

List of references (5 points)