Determinants of effective grant management systems in Zambia: the case of the GIZ civil society participation programme.

Donor Agencies play a very important role in administering development interventions by providing financial and technical support to governments as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The support is mostly administered through grants. To achieve their objectives, it is very important for donor agencies to have in place an effective grant management system. A Qualitative Study was conducted to examine the factors that influence the effective performance of the Grant Management System (GMS) using the GIZ’s Civil Society Participation Programme (CSPP) as a case study. A review of the grants GIZ had concluded in the year 2019 revealed that 64% of the contracts were extended while 30% (including some of the contracts that had been extended) lapsed before the completion of the activities. The study intended to get the views, opinions, motivations and perceptions, from the respondents’ view point, of the factors influencing an effective grant management system of the respondents. The study was aimed at ascertaining whether the system was functioning in
accordance with its core purpose of guiding Programme implementation, operation and contractual processes. The study brought out a number of determinants of effective GMS which included well-defined standard operating procedures; simplicity of financial reporting templates, systems and Procedures; certainty (timely) of fund disbursements; effective Communication; training and continuous technical support; Capacity (Due Diligence) Assessments; and proper
donor follow ups on project implementation and reporting. The study concludes that there is need to address the inhibiting factors for the purpose of consolidating and sustaining the effectiveness of the grants management system. The study further recommends that the identified determinants above can be incorporated in the grant management model for the GIZ’s Civil Society Participation Programme