Member Engagement and Travel Fund

1. Purpose of the METF

The APC Member Engagement and Travel Fund (METF) aims to support member-driven skills sharing, and planning for collaboration among APC members, as well as members’ participation in events organised by others.

Online collaboration can be very powerful, but it has limitations. Over the decades, the APC network has grown significantly in size and geographic reach. And while this increases opportunities for working together, it makes effectively facilitating collaboration and exchange more challenging. The METF supports APC member and staff travel and face-to-face meetings when effective collaboration requires it. Its goal is to make it possible for members to:

a) Meet for activities such as:

• Skills sharing or training
• Emergency technical assistance
• Problem solving
• Technical development
• Project planning and development
• Strategic planning
• Service and product development.

b) Attend events organised by others (e.g. conferences and workshops) where members’ participation in these events contributes to strengthening and/or diversifying the APC network and to achieving APC’s strategic priorities.

2. What does the METF support?

The scope of METF support is described in detail in the table below.

Exceptions

When it is difficult for members to cover their part of the costs associated with travel (costs that are not covered by the METF), they can request additional support as an exception. However, the overall cost of travel is the main factor taken into consideration to determine whether or not such an exception is made. In other words, where the total costs paid by the METF are low (e.g. under USD 1,000), it is more likely that support for additional expenses will be approved. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that the distribution of METF support is balanced and fair. 

3. Who is eligible for METF support?

METF support is available only to APC member organisations.

Only APC members in good standing are eligible for METF support. This means that the member organisation must not owe APC any of the following: dues or other outstanding funds, contractual work paid for but not yet delivered, financial or narrative reports from activities previously supported by APC.

4. General principles guiding usage of the METF

For long-distance international travel, individual awards are not expected to exceed USD 2,500 per individual involved in a member exchange or traveling to an event organised by others. For local travel within one country, the maximum METF support is USD 500 per individual involved in a member exchange or traveling to an event organised by others.
Exceptions can be made in cases where evidence is provided that even the most economical airfare and accommodation will exceed this amount, and such extra costs are justified.

• The principle of the METF budget is one of shared responsibility and commitment. In practice, this means that members are encouraged to contribute as much as they can to the costs of participation in an event or member exchange.
• The METF covers the costs of a return airfare (discounted economy) and accommodation in a reasonably priced hotel (for a given location). See table above for details on accommodation.
• In general, METF only funds the participation of one member representative in any given event (can be two in case of local travel).
• In general, METF will only fund a member for participation in one event that requires long-distance travel, in any given calendar year. If, in given year, a member received only support for local travel (maximum USD 500), support for another local travel can be requested. Alternatively, members can also request local-travel support for two participants.
  Under certain circumstances (such as under-utilised funds), members may apply to the fund more times than as is outlined above.
• Members whose travel has been supported by the METF must comply with the sharing/reporting obligations to the network within three weeks after the event has concluded. See section 7.2 Sharing outcomes of collaboration and travel supported by the METF for details.

5. When and how to apply

• Applications can be sent at any time. Applications for emergency technical support should be clearly marked.
• Applications for member exchanges should be submitted by completing the online form (in English). Write to mef-at-apc.org if you are not sure how to access it.
• For reasons of accountability, all applications must be submitted by the member’s first representative to the APC Council.
• Applications are reviewed by members of the APC Board of Directors with the support of APC staff. We aim to have a fast turnaround time. We estimate the review and notification process should take no longer than two to three weeks from the date that all the required information has been received.
• It is recommended that you apply for METF support no less than four weeks before your planned travel. Particularly when METF reviewers need to assess multiple applications at the same time, we cannot guarantee that your application will be reviewed on time.
• Updates on applications to the METF and awards made by the METF will be included in internal member spaces on apc.org.

5.1 Eligibility criteria for submitting applications

• Only APC organisational members who are up to date with their member obligations qualify for application.
• In the case of applications for member exchanges, applications must be submitted by one of the members participating in the exchange. All other participating members should be listed in the application if any support is being requested for their participation.
• Members applying for METF support must be willing to formally commit themselves to sharing the outcomes of their travel with the rest of the network, by submitting a report, contributing a blog post to APC.org, organising a webinar, or sharing outcomes in another agreed format.
• Travel support is provided only for travel to events that are directly related to APC-wide initiatives and contribute to APC's strategic priorities.
• Applicants for travel support are strongly encouraged to explore opportunities for their travel to contribute to further networking and collaboration in APC. Such plans should be clearly stated in the application.

5.2 What information should be in the application?

The applicant or applicants should demonstrate clearly what need/s the exchange will address, or how their travel to a given event benefits the network. Applicants should state how the exchange or travel to an event will:

• Increase the capacities of all or one of the participating organisations
• Help solve problems
• Respond to a technical or other emergency
• Help to develop collaborative project/s
• Be of benefit in any other way to the participating organisation/s
• Help APC to engage in a new initiative or partnership (in the case of support for travel to events)
• Further APC’s work in any of its strategic priority areas.

*Member exchanges are expected to address as many of the needs listed as possible, but not necessarily all of them.*

In the case of member exchanges/meetings, the applicants should explain clearly why face-to-face collaboration as opposed to online collaboration is necessary. A basic draft plan for the member exchange/meeting should be provided with the application. This draft should include a description of how the participating members are planning to share the outcomes of the meeting with the rest of APC.

6. How does the selection process work?

6.1 METF support criteria

All applications that meet the METF criteria and include all the required information wll be supported, provided there is sufficient funding available. APC staff will assist applicants in ensuring that all the necessary information is included before the application is submitted to the review team.

The main selection criteria which impact on awarding METF grants, particularly when funds are low and some applications have to be prioritised, are as follows:

• Contribution of member participation in a given event to APC’s strategic priorities
• Demonstrated benefits of member’s participation for their own organisation and for the APC network
• Quality of the plan for sharing outcomes of METF-supported travel with the APC network
• METF support in past years

Organisations who have not yet used resources from the METF will be favoured when their application is evaluated. That does not mean that members who have previously used the fund should not apply. Some projects may obviously require follow-up meetings and collaboration. Nevertheless, when available funds are not sufficient to comply with all requests, those who have not previously benefited from the METF will be given preference.

- Regional balance

Reviewers will try to ensure that regional balance is maintained over the longer term. However, we do anticipate that collaboration will not always be equally intense in all regions at the same time. For example, after a regional member meeting, several requests from that region should be expected.

If your member exchange application is not granted support at any given time, you can re-apply once the fund has been replenished.

6.2 Transparency in the application process

The METF working group is an advisory committee, established by the APC Board of Directors. It is composed of volunteers from the APC Board of Directors and APC Council, the APC executive director, the APC director of operations, and other support staff. The group’s work is coordinated by the APC network development coordinator. It is responsible for reviewing METF applications, discussing them and making decisions about eventual support from the METF. The METF coordinator often works with members on METF applications before they are submitted for review.

In June 2022, the METF working group had the following members:

• Chat Garcia Ramilo
• Karel Novotný (METF coordinator)
• Karen Banks
• Lillian Nalwoga
• Liz Probert
• Osama Manzar
• Valentina hvale pellizzer

7. Conditions that apply once the award has been made

7.1 Enabling other APC members to be involved

* Members who wish to apply for METF support are encouraged to share their plans in appropriate APC lists at the early stages of their planning. That way they can maximise the benefits from eventual collaboration and potentially increase the involvement of other members.

Members whose initiative has been awarded METF support should announce their plans in the [apc.members] list. That makes it possible for other APC members to consider the possibility of their own involvement in the exchange/meeting (where applicable). Although it is not always possible to incorporate other members with similar interests in a face-to-face meeting, there are usually other alternative means of involvement, ranging from real-time online participation to remote involvement and collaboration on preparations for the METF-supported exchange/meeting and follow-up initiatives that result from it.

7.2 Sharing outcomes of collaboration and travel supported by the METF

Members are responsible for sharing outcomes of their METF-supported travel with the network within three weeks after the end of the member exchange or the event attended. Consider developing a plan for sharing the outcomes and discussing it with APC knowledge sharing coordinator and/or the APC communications team. 

APC takes knowledge sharing in the network seriously and we want to make sure that we find a balance where documenting your exchange or the event you attend is enjoyable and useful for you without over-burdening your time, while the rest of the network gets a chance to learn from your experience and eventually join your initiative (if relevant and possible).

7.2.1 Member exchanges/meetings

Members involved in a member exchange/meeting who receive support from the METF are responsible for documenting the outcomes of their meeting and sharing them with the network.

The outcomes can include stories, training materials, documentation and lessons learned from project collaboration, or other forms of learning that can be documented and shared. Where relevant, it is highly recommended that members organise a thematic webinar as an effective way of sharing knowledge with the rest of the network. In such case they will be assisted by APC staff who can organise the logistics of the webinar.

Members are also encouraged to share their experiences using the various thematic and regional APC mailing lists and/or the APC.org blog section. That way the APC network can not only benefit from the member exchange, but also potentially contribute to projects you are working on with your APC partners.

7.2.2 Travel to events

When using METF support for travel to events, members are asked to share learnings from the event with the rest of the network. This can be done through a blog post on APC.org, an internal report for members, or a webinar.

When several members receive support to attend an event, they are encouraged to develop the report/blog post jointly, or to join efforts and organise a webinar dedicated to the event or some aspects of it.

Reports and other forms of sharing should focus on opportunities for members, interesting new initiatives or partnerships, and trends and developments that members should learn about.

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Failure to share the required report (or other learning outcomes) from your METF-supported travel will result in your organisation being considered "not in good standing with APC" and therefore ineligible for any further financial support from APC. It is equivalent to not being up to date with membership dues.

7.3 Use of funds and financial reporting

Members should use the METF resources strictly for the purposes stated in the application and provide APC with a brief financial report accompanied by copies of tickets and accommodation receipts. Purchases of services must comply with APC’s procurement policy.

If an organisation that was granted support fails to provide all required receipts and reports without providing a reasonable explanation, that organisation may become ineligible to make future applications to the METF or other APC grants.

Unspent funds

Unspent funds (whether partial or whole) granted for member exchanges or travel to events must be returned to APC within one month of the completion of the METF-supported travel, unless agreed otherwise with the METF coordinator. This includes situations where some or all of the funds remain unspent due to, for example, participants finding cheaper travel and accommodation options, participants being unable to attend the meeting or event, and so on. For more information on the METF, write to mef-at-apc.org. 

8. How to apply

1. Please read carefully METF fund criteria above.
2. Go to: https://metf.apc.org/node/add/apc-metf-appform and log-in with your APC member organisational account details.