Mean score by the participants: 47 points (57% higher than the min. 30 points).

Minimal score for acceptance: 30 out of 50 points.

Visualisation of text-based questions uses simple word clouds (see next slides) filtering automatically for “stop words” (e.g., articles and prepositions).

The size of words in word clouds represents the numbers of time (frequency) that they occur in the dataset.

Each specific frequency is also associated with a colour. Words with same frequency in the dataset have same colours.

Computer-based random sampling has been used to select examples of answers from the dataset in a reproducible way.

Inputs to the results chain, outputs, and beneficiaries were shared by the local team right in the beginning of the assignment. The team used very well the online collaborative templates of the tables including the results chain, outputs by activity, and beneficiaries. Most importantly, the team followed the recommended sequence of steps in the process (first results chain and outputs, and only then start budgeting). This helped to achieve a good timing for the budget discussion so that it can be based on the output and beneficiary numbers (concrete results orientation). This was very important for the design process and is a best practice.

Local partners should communicate deadline changes in last-minute reviews in order to allow for better coordination with the proposal-submission task. It is important to inform movimentar of the suggested date for completion, so that we can generate the final PDF-version of the funding application.

Join online workshop sessions individually (each person with one device) and using headphones with a microphone for improved sound experience for the entire team. This is important even when grouped together in one room and can contribute to increase the overall team’s productivity with the use of collaborative tools such as Mural. We used this tool for graphical thinking and brainstorming activities, risk and stakeholder analyses. It also supported presenting contents and voting on titles.

Throughout the collaboration and especially during the final document reviews, use only the provided collaborative documents and tables (activating the suggestion mode - equivalent to track changes or adding comments) to ease the quality assurance and reduce the risk of mistakes. This will also help to avoid the risk that team members work on different versions while avoiding the unnecessary work related to comparing and integrating changes from separate text documents.

Contribute to the proposal design using a single text base in order to avoid duplication caused by adding different text versions for individual sections.

Text suggestions made by the client and partner staff are generally preferred by us if we need to choose between those and the drafts coming from our side of the team. We can provide technical advisory based on our past work experiences. However, we see ourselves as facilitators of participatory processes for the design of the funding application by, and following inputs and ideas from, the local teams. We try to include local knowledge as much as possible for improved relevance, ownership, and better adaptation to local needs and context. That is why we prefer to remove our drafts and prefer the text suggested by local partners when they share their versions. To improve this process, we recommend to change/adjust the text directly instead of preparing multiple versions for the same sections that already have a draft online in the collaborative version. It is less risky and more efficient and productive to work together online as a team on the same collaborative document.

Involve all staff members that will have a role in the process as early as possible and well before the final reviewing process. This will avoid last-minute changes, as the team members can provide their inputs earlier.

As part of the finalisation of the funding application, we recommend that the local partner generates PDF-versions from the collaborative version. It helps if this happens independently from the consultancy team since the partner needs to confirm the version before submission and will avoid double work from all sides.

Scale up and develop capacities on the use of online collaborative document editing as well as management information systems such as Teamwork Projects. They can help to increase productivity and to reduce face-to-face meetings and risks, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend enabling hybrid collaborative environments (online meeting with some members joining from a face-to-face meeting). It is good practice that gathered members in face-to-face meetings join the online meeting with their devices individually and using masks for reduced contagion risk / health safety.